When you organize a corporate event, it will have key objectives. You will be busy planning on how to achieve those objectives through the different elements that you are putting together.
Have you ever considered how important sound is to an event?
Sound is a crucial element for setting the mood or tone of any type of happening. Poor sound can ruin an event. Not being able to hear speakers properly, poor acoustics and even bad music choices can frustrate or irritate attendees and spoil their experience. Events that use too little or too much sound may not meet attendees’ expectations.
On the other hand, good sound design can elevate your event. Paying attention to the quality of ambient sound, sound effects, announcements and music are far from small details as these really can make an incredible difference to the atmosphere.
Here, we run through some of the basics of music and sound design for events and look at how you can apply them to your next corporate gathering.
Sound design for corporate events
The main aim of sound design for corporate events is all about creating a perfect environment for your guests. Along with lighting, sound is a key way to create the right atmosphere. It helps get your message across and ensures your guests have a good time.
Sound design for corporate events incorporates two basic elements.
First, there’s a practical need for sound design. Can all attendees hear properly without straining or being deafened? Does sound reach all the right places? Are the acoustics good? Is the right technology being used?
Then there’s the creative side of sound design. How can music and sound be used to affect the attendees? What sounds will help people focus on your message? How can they be affected emotionally by music and sound to evoke the response you want?
How sound can be used at events
There are several types of sound that can be used and curated at corporate events. Let’s take a look at each.
Music
The power of music to be emotive, exciting or mood-enhancing is no secret. Music offers one way to ensure your event has a big emotional impact. While you can make use of recorded music from a library, working with a sound designer can open up further exciting possibilities.
Original music composition has the potential to tick off all your requirements for being memorable, entertaining, culturally relevant and appropriate, and targeted to your audience.
A good sound design agency will have access to excellent composers, artists, bands and orchestras, studios and recording technology
Voiceover
Pre-recorded or live voiceovers are frequently used at corporate events for narration, making announcements and introducing speakers. They are an excellent use of continuity, threading the different elements of the event together. They can also add warmth, entertainment, a little drama and perhaps even authority when needed.
Voiceovers are a little different to using an MC, who is a live, visible presence, and they may be more suited to the intended atmosphere of your event. Voiceover artists are skilled professionals who can provide a variety of voices such as smooth and silky, commercial or even project a voice of God-like characteristic. You will also be able to access voice artists who can speak in a range of languages, dialects and accents.
Sound effects
There may be a reason to use sound effects for your event. Again, working with a sound designer will help you achieve any sound, whether you want it to capture attention, soothe or reinvigorate your audience.
Background and ambient noise
While the background noises of things like passing traffic and planes, people chatting, footsteps and air-conditioning are not within a sound designer’s control, they are very important.
Take a moment and just listen to how many sounds are already competing in your environment right now. A sound designer needs to make sure these sounds are not a distraction, so they must be balanced out.
Whether the event is indoors or outdoors makes a big difference to a sound designer’s strategy. The room you intend to use, its size, its structure, its furnishings and its surroundings will all affect acoustics and sound quality.
Optimize what sound can do for you
Sound design is more than entertainment. Sound design is more than making sure the right people can be heard at the right time. Sound design is a curation of sounds that are intended to influence your guests, their actions, their intentions and their engagement.
The idea of sound design for events is to fully immerse your attendees and capture their attention. Just slapping together some microphones and background music has the potential to be embarrassingly amateurish.
Working with professionals instead means that your event will have excellent acoustics and well-balanced sound equipment that makes sure all relevant sound is intelligible. Partnering with a sound design company also means you can access excellent options for music, voiceover and sound effects that will completely transform your event.
