Sound and lighting for a garden party

Sound outside behaves differently

Indoors, walls keep the sound in the room and soften it on the way. Outside there is nothing to stop it, so it carries further than you expect and the bass is the part the neighbours hear. The aim is a level that is comfortable at the far end of the lawn and ordinary at the boundary.

Placing the speakers

• Point the speakers across the garden, not at the house and not at a boundary fence.
• Raise them on stands so the sound goes over seated guests rather than into their knees.
• Keep the bass away from fences, sheds and conservatories. Those surfaces turn a modest subwoofer into a district-wide event.
• Add garden fill speakers for the patio or the far end rather than turning the main pair up. Two quieter sources cover a garden better than one loud one.
• If the party moves into a marquee later, the speakers come inside with it; plan the door and the run before the day.

Lighting after dark

• Festoon is the light people picture for a garden, and it is hired by the metre run. It needs a structure to hang from: a wall, a pergola, a fence or a marquee frame.
• Battery uplighters wash a wall, a tree or a gazebo and need no sockets at all, which matters in a garden with one outdoor point. Keep the standard fixtures under cover and use the waterproof ones for anything that has to sit out.
• Warm white for eating and for photographs; stronger colour once the evening gets going.
• Light the path to the house and the way to the toilets. Guests find those in the dark whether or not you light them.
• Candles and practical lights do a lot of the work. The kit is there for the parts they cannot reach.

Power and weather

• Garden power normally comes from a socket indoors, through a door or a window. Decide the route before the day and keep it out of the way of guests.
• Extension leads across wet grass are not acceptable. We will advise on the run and keep the connections under cover.
• The equipment needs a covered position even if the guests do not. A garden umbrella over the mixer is not a plan; a gazebo or a doorway is.
• Ask what the marquee or gazebo supplier allows to be hung from their structure, and whether it is weatherproof enough for electrics.

The neighbours

A garden party is a private event, but it is still the kind of event that ends up on a doorstep. Tell the neighbours the date and the finish time in advance; it prevents more complaints than any technical measure. Check whether the property has any conditions on noise, and ask the local council if you are unsure. We will set a level and a finish time with you, and keep to it.

What it costs

The plug-and-play party PA is £115 for three days, or £140 with local setup, and includes a small mixer and a wired microphone for the speeches. Garden fill speakers for a second area are £65 and a subwoofer is £45. Six wireless uplighters are £70 and ten are £100; festoon is £1.50 per metre run per day. The quote covers the figures for your garden and dates.