Economical Event Audio?

[Horton]

Sooooo my bro is in charge of doing the announcing at a big tournament this year and is trying to figure out how to make it sound semi pro without spending many thousands on equipment. Any Ballers do event audio for a living and could give some advise?

[6balls]

Tell him to give the mic to Chadwick Hunter and walk away.

[DaveD]

If there is a DJ Supply store near your event, look into renting equipment.

 

My son rents from this place when he needs extra equipment.

 

proaal.com

 

[ForrestGump]

Mackie Thump 12's have been working well for us with a 4 channel Mackie mixer at the BMX track. Very compact. We have it set up with 2 wireless mic's and music input from a satelite radio receiver. Cost would depend on the distribution of sound you needed. If your congregation of listeners will be towards the center half of the lakeside , you could do it with 1 pair of Thump 12s, the mixer, and two mics for about $900. If you need to distribute sound to both ends as well, you'd be looking at two pairs for a total cost of about $1600.

 

Or you can go rent. A lot of audio places rent out almost this exact setup for a couple of hundred dollars a day and will set it up.

[jjackkrash]

Rent is a good option for a one-off event. If he is going to do more events, BoneHead has good suggestions; Mackie makes good PA gear. I would also look at Monoprice 15" PA speakers. They are cheap and pretty good speakers. I know people who, when coupled with subs, use the passive versions for HT with good results.

 

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=604450

[MattL]

@ToddL

[ToddL]

Rent. Rent. Rent.

The rental shop should always have fairly recent models. You don't have to store it. Unless you plan on doing more than 4 events per year, rental is the way to go.

 

Local Austin, TX rental company is Rock and Roll Rentals. Check out their prices as a point of comparison. Their weekend rate is pick up on Tues and return on Monday. So affordable.

[ForrestGump]

Holy cow, @toddl! Those are NOT rental rates we see in Houston. We'd see $150-175 per day or $350-500 for the weekend for something similar.

[swc5150]

Any music (gear) store should be able steer you in the right direction. Agreed, rent! If the event is anywhere near the Minneapolis, St. Paul area, I have numerous sources to hook you up.

[lottawatta]

I agree with everyone above, Rent if this is a one time deal. However, if you have a place to store it, and you will use it a couple of tournaments a year, I have had good luck with awesome, barely used equipment I bought from Pawn Shops. Of course, I love to haggle and bargain, but the deals have been outstanding and I have found top quality stuff.

[ToddL]

More info:

 

Background music and announcements do not require super huge, high wattage systems. However, if you want to amplify party music, live music, or support a dance; then you want to consider higher quality and sufficiently powered systems. Powered subs even may be needed depending upon the event and expectations.

 

Treble is directional and the volume drops off quickly for areas which are off axis (not straight ahead) of the speaker. Bass is not very directional, but needs a room to push against. Outdoor venues require about 2-3x the wattage and subs to make them thump like an indoor venue.

 

There is no need for stereo in most all cases. It is better to sum your background music to mono and then send it to the PA. If you need to use multiple speakers to cover multiple areas, then everyone will hear summed L+R as opposed to half the music.

 

If running speakers down the berm, make sure that you space them far enough apart that the listener can't really hear both speakers at competing volumes. Only the nearest one should be dominant and the next closest should be pretty quiet. This will help with clarity and intelligibility. Ideally in such long coverage patters, each speaker is actually sent a delayed sound so that even if the prior speaker arrives at the listener's ear, that sound and the close speaker's sound arrive at the same time. #ProAudio ;-) It may not be worth the effort, but just be aware of the impact of echos and multiple speaker sources reaching the ear.

 

Lastly, for background music and announcements -

Search for a device called a Ducker. You route the announcement mic and background music though this. It automatically turns down (or ducks) the music when someone talks on the mic. Really helpful to ensure announcements are heard.

 

 

Anyway, hope this gives you some insight.

[storm34]

Good info @ToddL!

 

@Horton, give us some more info. Location, dates, general coverage area etc.

 

I'm in the production industry and can help with referrals to rentals or someone to handle the whole gig.

[ToddL]

@BoneHead - yeah, pretty amazing, eh? Makes it really hard to justify buying and storing items. They turn their inventory about every 4 years, so typically pretty current and nice equipment. Just look at some of the other items' pricing, like guitars and amps, etc. Fender American Pro Strat $69/month!?! Fender '65 Twin Reverb Reissue $80/month!

[Rob]

@Horton: Whatever you end up getting, rental or not, it may be worth looking at getting something with both XLR and "headphone" plug outputs. This way if you choose to record the video of the event you can capture the audio properly by plugging the audio feed from the announcers directly into the camera. If you have a high end enough video camera, you could probably plug in via XLR. If it's more consumer oriented, it likely still has the ability to accept audio from another source through the standard headphone jack. You can always get an XLR to headphone jack adapter fairly cheaply if that ends up being necessary with your equipment.

 

Doing it this way definitely beats relying on the built in camera microphone to re-capture the announcers audio from the speakers of whatever device you end up using - it's a relatively easy thing to do and definitely takes production quality up a notch. Hope this helps some.