Creating A Positive Acoustic Environment In Your Venue
Have you ever met an old friend at a trendy restaurant to catch-up, only to find your much anticipated conversation impossible to hear over the “background” music and surrounding noise? Have you ever entered the dance floor of a club, ready to bust a groove to your favorite song, only to be assaulted by excessive decibel levels? Or had ear piercing feedback morph your date into Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” right before your eyes?
Would you return to those venues? Would you recommend them to your friend in the future?
Your sound system is an integral part of your venue’s success. A professionally designed sound system with exceptional clarity and fidelity will create a positive acoustic experience and help attract a loyal customer base whether you venue requires only background music or if music/video is the main attraction. Taylor professionals can design a system that is customized to your needs and optimized to provide many years of reliable and quality sound for your investment.
People Will Repeat Positive Experiences
It’s not complicated – we avoid pain & move towards pleasure. A well-designed commercial quality sound system will allow you to offer your patrons enhanced comfort and an enriched audio/media experience.
The Benefits of Quality Sound
Increased Customer Dwell Time
Getting the basics like volume, speaker placement and music choice right will improving the the comfort and overall experience for customers and increase their dwell time translating into a higher bottom line.
Reliability
Professional equipment is built with better quality components that can endure the demands of day to day use in commercial settings.
Fidelity
Hearing the full spectrum of sound greatly enhances the sound whether it be background music or if the music is the main attraction. The key to good fidelity is having enough headroom and the right type of speakers for the room.
Flexibility
Your sound system should be flexible enough to accommodate all your needs – from a DJ to Karaoke night or live music – having the proper system means all your events come off without a glitch.
Efficiency
Newer equipment is more efficient. If you are still running that old pre-Y2K system it could be driving your energy bills up higher. Sometimes upgrading can yield enough savings over time to pay for the cost of the equipment.
Less Fatigue for Customers
When a sound is distorted the human brain has to work harder to sort out frequencies & make sense of the sonic environment. This causes stress and results in fatigue for your customers and staff.
Anatomy of a Quality Sound System
There are several things that affect the quality of a sound system. Understanding how the sound interacts with the enclosed space of your venue is vital in assessing & choosing the proper sound system. An audio professional will have the proper training to know how to correct for dead zones & extremely “live” rooms.
If you want sound to be an integral part of the experience, it’s not as simple as buying speakers and turning on the music.”
— Crave Restaurants owner/CEO Kam Talebi
The Acoustic material used in a venue will also affect how much sound is reflected. Hardwood floors, low ceiling and open kitchens popular in more trendy establishments can create acoustical challenges. Consulting with an audio pro during the design phase of your project can save you costly adjustments later on.
It’s easy to overlook the importance of having a high quality source for audio. For example, are you running off of a lap-top? Be sure to check your audio card & upgrade if necessary. The quality of components & speakers will certainly affect your sound systems capability of producing a high fidelity result. However, having the best quality equipment will not make up for the wrong speakers or poorly configured systems.
Tips on Choosing a Sound System
- Consult w/ an pro BEFORE building or buying
- Use the right speakers for the room
- Forget stereo
- Leave home HiFi systems at home!
- Make sure you are not under-powered
- Plan for the future
Music Licensing
When you’ve secured a quality audio source, purchased and set-up your sound system make sure that you understand music licensing laws before booting-up Spotify or iTunes. Many business owners don’t realize that paying a subscription fee to a streaming service does not allow for the public performance of music. and appropriate fees must be paid to one of these organizations to be in compliance with copyright laws.
So whatever source you decide to use take the time to understand copyright laws. It’s advisable to hire an attorney who may even be able to negotiate licensing fees on your behalf. Below are some links with more information about music licensing.
Visit the National Restaurant’s FAQ on music licensing
A Crash Course in Music Licensing Laws