Posted on: Nov 30, 2015
Our love of the summer sunshine is epitomised by the number of festivals and outdoor events we hold across the UK each year. From huge music festivals right down to small family weddings and celebrations, we British people love to party outdoors, come rain or shine.
If you’re planning an outdoor even, no matter what size, you’ll need to get the support of businesses that provide the necessary equipment. This blog post is our guide to what to look for when hiring outdoor equipment for your summer celebration...of course, in addition to hiring the very best PA system and lighting rig from ourselves!
There’s a number of marquee types that are suitable for different outdoor occasions. Weddings often require a marquee that’s quite elegant, where outdoor show’s, fetes and festivals don’t require this level of sophistication.
For wedding tents and marquees we would recommend that you ask your local marquee hire business for a window sided marquee. The sides of the marquee are fitted with clear PVC panels that allow the best use of the daylight for your afternoon reception. Other nice touches that can be set up in your marquee are chandeliers for evening lighting. Chandeliers look fantastic in the evening, giving the impression that you dance floor is an outdoor ballroom.
For all uses of marquees consider whether you need flooring laying down inside the marquee. For weddings this is almost certainly needed whereas fetes and other outdoor events may not need this. Your marquee supplier should also be able to supply any flooring, including dance floors for your marquee.
Your outdoor event may not be near any source of power, this is something you should find out early in the planning stages.
If you are not able to hook up to a mains power supply or if you need a larger source of power you will need to hire generating equipment. We spoke to Tim of Event Electrix a Kent based company supplying electrical generators to events across the UK. He told us ‘it is essential to speak to someone who can work out the power requirements of your event. Not having a large enough power supply could be enough to put the lights out on your event. Our business is capable of supplying events of all sizes, our largest generators can supply enough power for a small town.’
Whether you’re blessed with glorious sunshine or a drizzly day, any food and drink you serve at your event will need to be kept cool until it is ready to be served.
Refrigeration is one thing that often gets overlooked when planning outdoor events. Many people, understandably, expect the caterers to bring any refrigeration equipment they need with them. Some caterers however, will expect this to be provided for them by the event organiser. It is essential to find out when planning your event.
If the responsibility of providing fridges does fall upon you, they too can be hired in from companies such as Fridge Rentals who provide equipment for exhibitions and events in the UK.
Our last tip for planning your summer outdoor event is to work out what equipment you need to hire and book well in advance. As we said in the introduction, outdoor celebrations are extremely popular and so demand for the necessary equipment is high. Book everything you need early and secure it with a deposit if necessary to avoid disappointment.
We’ll sign off by wishing you a great event and hope that the weather is with you on your day.
Category: general
Posted on: Aug 28, 2015
As a new band, one of the most exciting yet, at the same time, daunting experiences is heading into the studio to record your first EP. The same goes for vocalists recording their first demo, DJ's putting together their first professional mix tape and even video producers laying down the voice over to their latest masterpiece. The bottom line is that, whilst studio time can be immensely fun, one thing which can make or break a session is the studio chosen. It may sound bizarre to those who've yet to experience the joys of the recording studio, however the location where you choose to record is one of the most importance decisions you'll make at the early stage of your music career and, as such, understanding how to choose the right studio for you at this stage is one of the most important things which you can get to grips with.
Whilst it may sound a little too obvious, it's important that you take the time to work out how much you can afford to spend on studio time. If you're a new band, it may be a lower figure than you'd ideally like, however by having an understanding on what budget you have available, you'll be able to start shopping around for studios which fit within that price bracket. Whilst there's no denying the fact that the top studios are expensive, you'll always find somewhere that works for you and trust us when we say that the end result will be far better than you'll manage to do yourself at home using a DIY set up.
The best studios get booked up months in advance and, if anything, this should be a sign that they're great at what they do (although you've hopefully already researched your options and understand that). It does mean, however, that you need to, wherever possible, aim to be flexible to ensure you're able to fit in around your chosen studio and not be limited by having to find a studio who can accommodate you on your set dates.
Perhaps one of the biggest mistakes any new band or recording artist makes is that they spend far too much time researching studios as opposed to people! A studio, at the end of the day, is just a room full of gear and it's the engineer and / or producer who will turn your music into a masterpiece. Once you start to think about trying to identify engineers who you know have a previous record working with artists of a similar genre to yourself, you'll find you're able to connect with those people directly. Yes, there may be some studios which sway you, however as a general rule, you need to find an engineer who gets excited about your music and the way to do that is to focus your research on people, not rooms!
On this front, it's also important to understand who specialises in what in terms of both studios and engineers. As an example, Tim G of Big Tone Recordings in Manchester is known for his work with ska and rock acts, Matinée Multilingual in Reading are known for their fantastic voice over work and Romesh Dodangoda of Longwave Studios in Cardiff is known for his work with metal and heavier rock acts. Once you take the time to research which studios have worked with others whose music you love, you'll quickly start to develop a shortlist of the perfect studios for you.
If you're recording your first demo, you'll often find that the studio which you choose will handle both the mixing and mastering as well, however if you're putting together and recording a commercial release, you'll usually need to source mixing and mastering elsewhere from a specialist. This, of course, means you'll need to find additional budet for this. Always ask the question if you're unsure as to what's included and what you'll end up with after the session.
As with many things, choosing the right studio largely comes down to understanding what and who you want and carrying out the research to find someone suitable. Yes, recording can be a daunting experience but it's so much fun at the same time and something which, over time, most artists grow to love!
Category: general
Posted on: Dec 30, 2014
Well, here we are again - New Year's Eve is just under 24 hours away, and if you haven't got anything planned - you better get planning!
As we love any excuse to throw a good old knees up - we hope you're all welcoming in the New Year right - with good mates, good music and of course, good booze! And we hope when you look back on the past year, you're filled with as much happy memories and good times as we are.
We'd just like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you for all your lovely and loyal custom over the past year (and all the other years, too!) 2014 has been a fantastic one for London Speaker Hire and the team, and for that - a big 'cheers' to you! We've had the honour of working with some fantastic people, on some amazing projects, and we just hope 2015 will be as fun-filled and wonderful as '14 has been to us.
In the New Year, you can expect as much music-love, fun blog posts and party-essentials as you've had this year (and all the years before that), but as always, we promise to continue to provide you with the great service you have come to expect from us here at LSH. We'll be extending our event treats, enhancing our speaker systems to provide you with the speakers that'll get your party pumping, and of course, making sure you've got all the support you need when planning your P-A-R-T-Y!
So, just because we love you - throwing a party? We hope you've rented out a few of our party-prizes to make your NYE event that little bit more awesome. Love jager? How about renting out our cheeky Jagermeister machine? Your guests will love it! Who wouldn't love jager on tap for an evening? Hello, heaven!
Once again 'a very big and very merry Happy New Year folks, and from all the team at London Speaker Hire' we hope 2015 is filled with love, music, good times and happiness for you all.
Don't forget to check out all our other lovely party supplies over on our website, and feel free to get in contact with us on 020 3333 4444 if you need any further information or just fancy a chat. Our friendly and helpful team are always here to answer any questions you may have. Happy 2015, guys!
Category: general