Sound Test
Quick Tips to Improve Your Sound Quality 

Good sound quality in a nightclub or bar venue does not come cheap or without effort.
    Go to any venue where the music is happening, where the crowds come back week after revenue-rousing week, and it’s a safe bet that those kicking audio vibes did not come about by accident. For every upgrade in the decibel level that is heard or not heard within the walls of a nightspot, a few decimal points likely have been added to the bottom line cost of producing all of that sound and fury.

Rule of Thumb
    In his dozen years as a professional sound technician and consultant to the nightclub and entertainment industry in greater Phoenix, Ariz., Timothy Heit has seen the correlation between cost and bitching beats played out time and time again. Ask him about his experiences in more than 25 ground-up installs at such clubs as Radius, a high-energy dance club with a capacity of 1,300 club-goers, Mist and Axis, along with any number of consulting and trouble-shooting gigs at other venues, and the graduate of Arizona’s Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences will tell you that throwing money at a sound system does not guarantee great sound either.
    Speakers that constitute the right cabinets for the specific club in which they are being installed are important to the overall audio configuration, he says. But so is having the right crossover –– a piece of equipment that Heit calls the heart of every sound system –– which governs the individual sounds, from highs to mid-level to lows, that are coming from the mixer and out into the amplifier.
    “A mediocre system put together right with the right amplification can sound like a $60,000 system,” Heit says. “My rule of thumb is to take a look at a place and find out what kind of music the lounge is looking for. A lot of it has to do with budget.”
    The size of a venue and its composition, be it wood, stone or
concrete, and the style of the venue itself, whether dance club, live music club, etc., also make a difference in his design specs and equipment to
be installed.
    “I just finished the sound renovation of the Pussycat Lounge here, and I ended up keeping the amplifiers and the equalizers and getting rid of the speakers,” he says. “I put in EV (Electra Voice) ZX1 speakers. We did that for the zones, such as his VIP section, and we upgraded to EV QRXs for his main speakers.”

Tips
    Heit offers operators the following tips to improve the sound quality and get the most out of the equipment they have.
    “Make important design or re-design decisions before deciding on costly sound equipment such as speakers,” Heit says. “We build systems around budgets and building style. Is the club a dance floor or a lounge? In a lounge, the speakers are going to represent a lot smaller cabinets for the most part.”
    It may cost more, but in the long run, it’s best to rely on industry standards. “There is so much stuff out there,” Heit says. “I stick with EV and EAW (Eastern Acoustic Works). As companies, they are industry standards, and they are easy to work with.”
One of the biggest mistakes that venues make in the use of sound equipment is to buy low-end stuff and try and treat it like it’s high-end. “Usually, it ends up getting abused, and it won’t take the caliber of abuse that these nightclubs subject it to, and they end up just replacing drivers for a quick fix.”
    Check with other club owners and managers who operate venues similar to yours, and find out how much they spent on their sound systems, their speaker upgrades, and other key audio elements. “The Radius club, which is a large dance club, spent about $75,000 for their sound,” Heit says. “That’s about right if you are going to do it correctly. Some restaurants and lounges can get away with spending less. “
    The sound quality coming through good speakers still can suck if the crossover is a piece of junk. “Every system is a little different. A nice crossover makes a world of difference.
    Insist on professional installation. “I have worked with clubs that have decent equipment, but it is just poorly installed,” Heit says. “The processor may not be set right, or maybe it is just kind of pushed in there. If you are going to spend the money, you should make sure that it installed correctly.”
    Avoid the glitches by doing it right the first time. “Club Mist is a perfect example. I haven’t touched their system in seven years. You honestly do get what you pay for.”                      NCB