Professional Equipment.
The first and most obvious advantage that a professional sound company brings is in the equipment they supply. Advances in technology have meant that sound equipment that was previously only affordable to the very top tier of the market is now much more widely available, but it still costs significant money to put together a proper sound system that will do your music and your act justice.
Even with mid level equipment, by the time money is spent on a capable speaker system and amplifiers, a good mixing desk (either digital, or analogue with the outboard to go with it), a selection of good quality microphones, a wedge monitor system, and all of the cables, stands and other equipment needed to complete things, you can easily be looking at tens of thousands of pounds. For top level gear, multiply this again. By 3!
Very few bands, and very few “weekend warrior” sound engineers, are in a position to invest this kind of money in a sound system, and so they are left with old and often badly repaired second hand equipment, or poor quality new equipment from the budget end of the scale. Disco Dave’s carpet covered speakers on sticks may be OK for the DJ to use at your granny’s 60th birthday party, but they will not give you the killer live sound you are looking for with a full band playing, and so it makes much more sense to hire in a professional company who can.
Experienced Staff
No matter what level of equipment is being used, it can be made to sound terrible by inexperienced engineers who are unable to use it properly. Even before switching it on, the acoustics of a venue can lead to massive changes in sound quality and anticipating this and setting the equipment up in the best possible way for that room is a skill and art all of its own.
It also takes many years of hard work to become a good sound engineer: learning not only the basics of how to work the mixing desk but how to choose the best microphones and position the well, how to properly add EQ, dynamic processing and effects to instruments, and most importantly what to do when things begin to go wrong. If a massive buzz from a ground loop is killing your bass guitar, or if microphones start to feedback mid show, will your local weekend warrior know how to effectively deal with this and provide solutions?
Soundcheck
Leading on from the previous two points, a professional sound company should arrive on time. They will almost certainly have all of their equipment properly stored in flight cases, and will have made use of patch panels on their racks, multicore cables to the stage, and multipin connectors hook everything up and make set up as easy as possible. On top of this they should be experienced enough to get it all together quickly and professionally, and there will hopefully be few or no gremlins to chase in the system.
As the musicians then, you should have time to have a proper, worthwhile soundcheck where your FOH mix can be dialled in, you can spend time getting the right balance in your monitors, and everyone can be made comfortable and happy on stage to provide a smooth and effortless evening. Rushing about right up to the last minute because equipment or cables weren’t working or because inexperience meant that the equipment wasn’t set up correctly, only ever leads to a stressful time for all involved.
Reliability
Disco Dave, Student Simon and all the other weekend warriors usually have day jobs. Which is fine for a lot of gigs, and many musicians often do too. But what happens when you have a crucial event on a week night? What happens when the venue can only open for set up from 2 to 4pm? What happens when Dave is sick, or has another commitment that he can’t get out of? Or his work or family life means that he has to give up sound engineering altogether?
A professional sound engineer usually does this full time. He can be with you for the long haul, and if a long term relationship is to be built up he will even be willing to come along to production rehearsals and work with you, helping you to perfect your sound and learning your songs so he can better replicate things on the night. And in the rare instances where he may be unavailable or double booked, the company will have a host of other engineers just as professional and capable that can fill in instead, saving you the stress of searching at the last minute yourself for a replacement.
