Poor Venue Acoustics Can Ruin Your Big Day

When planning your wedding or another big celebration, you want to leave no detail untouched. Nothing is too small to consider when making sure your big day is as wonderful as what you have pictured in your mind’s eye.

Unless you’re a sound engineer or a musician, you probably don’t think to consider the acoustics of a venue when you are sizing it up for your celebration. You’ll look at the dimensions, the capacity, access to a staging area for caterers, parking, accessibility, and more. But if you are planning to have music at your event, the acoustics of the venue are not something you want to overlook. Poor venue acoustics can ruin your big day.

One way to prevent lousy acoustics from becoming a big problem at your ceremony or reception is to partner with an experienced audio company. At Adagio Djay, it’s our job to assess a venue for acoustical challenges. We can even make suggestions for what kind of equipment and where to set everything up. This knowledge is crucial if you are not an experienced sound engineer and aren’t familiar with how to place the speakers for the best possible clarity and volume.

We even have a curated list of select venues that we know and trust. Our DJs work with these venues often and utilize their experience to provide the best possible sound quality. No one wants to suffer through audio issues that will keep you from enjoying your celebration.

If you’re looking at a potential venue for your wedding or another big event, and you plan to have live music, a DJ, or sound amplification through a microphone or PA system, here are some tips from the pros for what to look for in a venue.

What are Acoustics?

The word “acoustics” refers to how sound travels. Sound waves travel out of an instrument or a microphone and bounce around inside a space, eventually making their way to your ears.

A lower ceiling at a small wedding venue may seem cozy and intimate, but it will amplify sound when the room is full of people. Whether they are talking, or music is playing, the sound will bounce off the low ceiling and back down on your guests. As more people talk, the background noise will rise, and it will become hard for everyone to hear.

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People compensate by speaking louder, and soon you are in a vicious cycle of the sound bouncing everywhere while your guests start losing their voices as they shout at each other trying to converse.

On the other hand, a high ceiling and a large space without ample furnishings or carpet to dampen sound will often create echoes. As sound travels in the area, it bounces off the walls and ceiling and then reverberates, leaving an echo that then competes with new sounds. This echo can distort voices and music and ruin the sound.

If the Walls Could Talk

When you go venue hunting, pay particular attention to the walls. The wall material will affect the room’s acoustics. There are many types of wall material: plaster, drywall, glass, air, brick, stone, and more.

An air wall refers to a movable wall that travels on a track, commonly used in larger spaces to subdivide them. Although they are somewhat insulated to help with acoustics, they are notorious for allowing noise between rooms.

Imagine this: it’s the quiet, intimate moment when the happy couple gazes into each other’s eyes, preparing for their first dance together. Suddenly someone on the other side of the airwall shouts “Bingo!” and a chorus of groans follow. Or worse, there’s another wedding or celebration, and they’re blasting their tunes. The two of you get into an acoustics war over who gets to hear their music.

If this is something you would like to avoid, make sure to pay attention to air walls at your venue and to ask about other events scheduled at the same time as yours. If another event is coinciding with yours, you might be competing with their music, microphone, or crowd noise.

Ask about the sound integrity of the walls. Newer air walls have much better acoustic insulation and can almost approach hard walls in terms of soundproofing. If you notice any gaps when you close the walls, then you can assume sound will travel easily between the rooms.

Look Up and Down and Pay Attention to Ceilings and Floors

What type of ceiling does your chosen venue have? If your space has high, exposed, or metal ceilings, then there will be acoustical challenges. The same goes for concrete, granite, or tile floors, and bare block walls. Any amplified entertainment or speaking will have difficulties in such a space because sound bounces off these bare walls, floors, and exposed ceilings to create reverberation.

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If you have your heart set on a chic industrial venue or a rustic barn, you might want to consider rental plush couches, ceiling draping, chair covers, or temporary carpet to cover the bare floor. These additions will absorb the sound and help eliminate some of the echoes or hollow sounds. The additional décor will also enhance the look and theme of the venue. Many event rental companies offer chairs, tables, or couches also rent area rugs. You can add lovely accent rugs in colors that match your theme or style to absorb sound and tie the room together.

 

Work with a Preferred Venue

At Adagio Djay, we have many venues that we know and trust to work well for receptions, dances, and other celebrations that include music and amplified voices. We know that not everyone is a sound engineer, and what looks like a lovely small wedding venue may turn into a nightmare if there are audio issues.

Don’t be one of the many event planners who doesn’t find out about acoustical problems until it is too late. We are happy to talk with you about sound needs in a venue or to point you towards one of the fantastic spaces that will not give you problems. The acoustics of an event space are not something you want to overlook. Your day is too important to let sound problems take over.