Author: Darren Hughes
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Mic hire for weddings: what you actually need
A wedding is already one of the most expensive and stressful days a couple will ever plan. So when it comes to the sound, I think people tend to overquote and overcharge, and I do not believe it should be that way. Mic hire for weddings does not need to cost a fortune, and it…
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What to look for in a live sound company: a band manager’s checklist
People ask me what separates a good live sound company from a bad one. The honest answer is that I wouldn’t know, because I only work with good companies. That is a joke, but there is a serious point underneath it. Whether you are booking a live sound company in North Wales or hiring a…
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Live sound for community shows: 24 radio mics and a stage full of kids
People assume the big, famous events are the technically hard ones. Often the hardest job of the year is a community show, with a stage full of children, a cast that has never done a soundcheck, and no chance of a second take. We genuinely love this work, and there is real skill in it.…
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Lighting hire for outdoor events: a practical guide
Lighting is what turns an outdoor event from a field with a stage into something that feels designed. But outdoor lighting comes with a set of practical realities that indoor events never have to think about, starting with the weather and ending with where on earth you are going to run the power. Here is…
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Large-scale event production: how to manage AV for 2,000+ attendees
Running AV for a few hundred people and running it for a few thousand are not the same job scaled up. They are different jobs. Once you cross into the thousands, with multiple stages and zones all running at once, the challenge stops being about equipment and becomes about coordination. We have done this work…
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How to hire a PA system for a small event
Hiring a PA system for a small event is much simpler than most people fear. You do not need to understand audio, you do not need a van, and you do not need to spend a fortune. You need the right bit of kit and someone to show you how to switch it on. Whether…
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FOH vs monitor engineering: what’s the difference and why does it matter?
Before founding PSL, I spent years as Technical Manager at the William Aston Hall in Wrexham. One night I was looking after sound for Martha Reeves, of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. The first time she played, I ran front of house and monitors myself from the one desk. No issues. The second time, the…
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Fan zones and outdoor sports events: the AV challenges nobody talks about
Fan zone AV looks, from the outside, like a party. Behind the scenes, it is one of the more demanding outdoor AV jobs you can take on, because it has to be fun, loud, weatherproof, and able to go silent and serious in an instant if there is a safety announcement. We ran a full…
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Working events in churches and cathedrals: the AV challenges nobody mentions
AV for events in churches and cathedrals is some of the most rewarding and most unforgiving work we do. A cathedral is one of the most beautiful places you can ever put on an event, and one of the most unforgiving places to get the AV right. The same stone that makes a choir soar…
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Corporate events in North Wales: venues, logistics, and getting the AV right
Corporate events in North Wales are rarely run in the same kind of room twice, and every venue has its own personality and its own way of catching you out. A cathedral, a theatre, a lecture hall, and a slate museum are wildly different rooms to run an event in. Knowing what each one needs…
More posts
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Wedding sound system checklist: what to ask your hire company
When you hire sound for a wedding, the questions you ask up front decide whether the day runs smoothly or whether you spend the morning of the wedding fighting a microphone. The good news is that there are only a handful of questions that matter, and a decent hire company will answer all of them…
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Behind the scenes: AV production for the UEFA Under-19 Championship Finals Draw
A finals draw for a UEFA tournament is live, international, and unforgiving. There is no second take. It was one of the highest-profile pieces of event production Wrexham had seen, and the venue we were asked to do it in was a lecture theatre at Wrexham University, a room never designed for an event of…
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What we learned from delivering AV production for the UEFA Under-19 Finals Draw
Delivering the AV production for the UEFA Under-19 Championship Finals Draw was one of the proudest jobs we have done. It went out live, internationally, without a hitch. But the more useful thing to share is not the result, it is what the job confirmed about how good events actually get made. We told the…