The luxury wedding and corporate events market can be extremely competitive. High-bid contracts can skyrocket into hundreds of thousands of dollars for one event. Wedding and event planners who dominate those markets expect perfection from the vendors they hire for their events.

As a talent agency owner or bandleader who actively competes for those contracts, it isn’t a secret – good sound and lighting companies are hard to find. Like any smart business owner, you’ve realized that you need consistent quality in your events. One or two LED lights flashing at the wall isn’t going to impress anyone. Running sound from the side of the stage isn’t going to cut it when real money is on the line.

But the challenges a live band presents in wedding and corporate events is unique. Dynamic sets leap from being hush-quiet to party-loud in a single bound. Speeches by people who have no experience in public speaking are commonplace. Although many event AV companies may have good equipment, often they send out unqualified techs who have little or no experience mixing music. Add a big band with 10 people onstage and a little unpredictable public speaking and things can get squirrely quick! And you don’t want a novice AV tech getting paid to learn on your important gig.

The best billboard for an event production company is to be able to witness them live. But in lieu of “being there,” there are still many indicators which should tell you instinctively if they are reputable. In this article, RS Sound Inc will try to answer:

“How Do I Know You Can Deliver What You Say You’re Going To Deliver?”

Communication

When you reach out to a company to inquire about your event, first take notice of how quickly they get back to you. While 24 hours seems like a reasonable amount of time, same-day and even same-hour responses are more desirable. This is especially true in the live events market where last-minute bookings happen often. Since event coordinators and wedding planners may have to fill a vendor slot quickly, a fast and coherent response is vital.

Does the person you’re talking with understand what you’re asking of them? Do they ask intuitive questions pertaining to specific aspects of your event? If your instinct tells you they seem unsure about what you need, beware.

Most importantly, do they listen intently to the broader vision you have for your event? If someone is quick to interrupt, something will probably get bungled on show day. There are many solutions to different client’s needs. One size doesn’t always fit all. Respect and attentiveness to your requests should be the number one priority.

What Others Are Saying

In any city where there is a market for band wedding and corporate events, there is also a pool of professional audio, video and lighting technicians which revolve around it.

Don’t hesitate to ask the person you speak with these simple questions:
Are there any agencies or bands you have provided services for that I might know?
• What venues have you provided sound and lights for in the area?
• Do you have any testimonials from previous clients?

Reputable companies can easily show that they have an established presence in the community. If there are good reviews to be had, they will surely want others to know about it.

What Is Your Process?

Many event AV company owners come from a technical background. Others have experience in coordinating large event production. Even people with a background in sales and marketing find their way into the technical events services industry. A love for the process should be self-evident when discussing the needs for your event.

Providing sound and lights for wedding band and corporate events has its own unique set of challenges. There are a lot of factors which contribute to a successful show day.
Take a minute and ask the company rep some intuitive things, like:

What is your approach to preparing for a wedding band event?
• Do your best practices translate to those who work for you?
• What is your time frame for delivery and setup times on event days?

A company’s process should be clear and make sense to you. Plus, a good company owner or representative will probably be glad you asked! If either of those observations seems off, you may want to question if their approach is right for your event.

Actual Proof

These days, cameras are on every cell phone. Good-quality recording devices are ubiquitous. And social media is filled with pictures and videos of events in almost real time as they happen. First, check to see if a company has a maintained website or social media presence. Are they handling events for the general market related to the services you need? Specifically, are they providing sound and lighting services for high-end wedding and corporate clients? If a company’s main body of work is large scale flashy production, a smaller event like a wedding may mean they send out their b-list techs to handle it for you. Cell phone audio quality has come a long way. Audio techs know that an iPhone or Android video pretty faithfully captures the sound of a room. They use these recordings as a “real-world” test to check their own sound mixes. Ask the production company to send some audience-shot videos. If possible, play them over a sound system with a subwoofer to check for low end presence. Listen for separation between instruments. Most importantly, are the vocals clear and intelligible? If it doesn’t translate on a small scale format, it probably didn’t sound good at the actual event either.

Audience recorded video can also reveal aesthetic clues that a slickly produced and edited promo video won’t. Are speakers scattered randomly? Are wires criss-crossing the stage? Compare this to professional concert tour stages where everything is in its right place. The money guarantees for bands playing luxury wedding events rival those of club and theater touring acts. So why should your stage look any different?

In Conclusion

Although hiring an outside company to handle sound and lights for your big-money wedding or corporate band event can be daunting, we’ve shown you ways to discern good companies from not-so-good ones. Clear and direct communication and customer testimonials are a good start. Don’t hesitate to ask about a company’s methods and practices. And it’s also ok to ask for “actual proof” – that is, amateur recorded audio and video evidence that can be a good indicator of a company’s production value.

Ryan Sambrook is the owner / operator of RS Sound, Inc. He has over 30 years of experience working on stages big and small in both music and corporate events. The mission of RS Sound is the desire to bring the best ideas from large scale production to the mid-size events format for luxury wedding bands and corporate event planners at reasonable rates.