Questions for a Live Party Band Series: Sound Technical Questions

Questions for a Live Party Band

Here is the third part from our series of ‘questions a live party band is often asked. Many clients have often commented to us that a band can often sound week when working opposite a DJ. This blog post discusses some of the questions to ask to ensure you get the best audio quality at your event.

PA Equipment

We’ve all be at a corporate party or wedding function and the DJ is blasting away; the band get introduced; crack in to their first tune and it sounds weedy and unexciting. Sound familiar?  The reason this happens is not down to the quality of the musicians; it’s down to the quality PA equipment being used.  The vast majority of clients aren’t technically minded however it’s always worth trying to get an overview of how a band approaches their sound.

Full Band System

The PA (short for Personal Address) are the speakers which the band uses to amplify its self. PAs roughly fall into two systems for live bands:  A ‘vocal PA’ and ‘Full Band PA’. The vocal option is a small rig where literally only the vocals get put through the system. The rest of the sound comes directly musicians on stage. A full band system is a normally a much bigger system, where everything is amplified. A sound engineer is normally always used to ‘mix’ the singers and musicians. The second option requires a lot more equipment; normally a van to transport it; more set up time; dedicated operator.  If you go to a large venue such as the O2 Arena this is what you hear.

What's The Difference?

Why do the two sound so different? Essentially a vocal PA means the sound is coming from lots of different sources.  The sound will change quite dramatically depending on where you stand on the dance floor. A full band PA means everything is coming from once source. This is exactly what we are used to hearing when we listen to a CD or IPod. In reality this sounds more constant when you walk around the venue as well as much fuller and rounder. Generally it is much more pleasing to the ear! It gives a studio quality sound which a DJ will have as standard when playing CD.Metropolis always carries the second option as standard. Why not check out Entertec our PA Company? These guys really are “specialists in professional audio engineering”.