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Three Pitfalls To Avoid When You Want To Lay Down A Set Of Speakers For A Large Outdoor Crowd

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If you really want to give the crowd assembling at your outdoor event a good time, it's imperative that you not neglect putting in a sophisticated and venue appropriate sound system. But since there are many ways to configure sound systems and the added interference from wind and the elements makes configuring an outdoor system especially difficult, much care must be taken. When you want to lay down a set of speakers for a large outdoor crowd, remember these three pitfalls.

Not Carefully Measuring How Much Legroom To Give Each Chair Row

The larger of an area the crowd covers, the more likely it is that some people at the back or in the center are going to have a very hard time hearing the sounds coming out of your speakers. Even if you have enough speakers to cover all sides of your venue, it's much harder to sync up the sounds in a very large space.

To cut down on this problem, don't be careless when you're laying down your chairs. Instead of merely eyeballing the spaces between the rows, decide on a standardized length to use and obtain a yardstick or ruler to ensure that no space exceeds this length.

Not Tilting The Speakers On Tripods To Better Meet The Audience

Your speakers will work much better if they're facing the audience as directly as possible. While it's true that a speaker placed on a tripod will be able to project sound farther than a speaker placed on the floor, much of this projection will be wasted on the empty air above your audience if you're not careful.

This is especially important if your main speakers are on an elevated stage and your audience will be on level ground. In this case, tilting your speakers by as much as 45 degrees may be called for.

Putting Your Speakers In Too Many Places To Keep Up An Effective Delay Scheme

The total size of the crowd isn't the only factor on how difficult it'll be to sync up your speakers via electrical delays. Once you start putting significant numbers of speakers in more than two places at once (such as the very front and back of your crowd), it becomes very difficult to harmonize them in such a way that no part of the crowd is going to experience an unpleasant stacking effect.

If you must include some speakers on the sides of your crowd, and you already have a ton of speakers on your stage and towards the rear of the venue, back them up a little bit so that the people nearest to one of them won't be disoriented as much by hearing the same sound coming from three directions at once.

For professional assistance, contact a company like Metro Sound & Lighting.


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