The Top 5 Things That Affect the Price of Corporate Audio Quotes

In corporate audio there are a few major things that dramatically affect the overall price of your proposal.  Here are the top 5 that will get you every time.

1 - Venue Size

If you are used to small shows of 100-200 people and are planning your first medium show of 500-1000 people you may be shocked by the jump in audio (or all of the AV) quotes/proposals you receive.  Wait till you do your first 10,000 person show........The reason for that is because in audio, the venue size has a DRAMATIC effect on the amount of PA we need for even coverage of the space. Speakers are like flashlights, they are bright up close and get darker as you get farther away. So, if you want a large space to sound the same everywhere (which you should! Nobody want's complaints that attendee's can't hear) you need a LOT more PA to accomplish that task.

Typically speaking the speakers on tripod stands that are so common on smaller shows are effective out to about 50' or so from the speaker. So, if you have a 100, 150, 200' deep room, you need more speakers.   Now, you can't just go slapping speakers on stands every 50' in the middle of your ballroom, your client will freak out! Out come the line array's and rigging to fly the appropriate amount of speakers and possible delay systems to maintain even coverage of the space so all attendee's have the same experience.

Now with properly deployed line arrays (We'll get there too!) you have effectively doubled your even coverage distance to about 100'.  Nice!  Most hotel ballrooms are in the 100 - 150' range and 20+' of that is used up for A2 land and the stage itself.  You can typically get even coverage without needing delays in a room that size.  But, those line arrays are going to be hangs of 6-8 boxes each to accomplish that, hence the higher price.

2 - Schedule!

Production companies including audio companies bill based on a 10 hour day.........10 hours and 1 minuet from good morning how are you, that tech is in OT which is typically 1.5x time.  That adds up quick, especially as there are more techs on the show!  At the 12 hour mark they are in double time. Obviously it's 2x their hourly rate. Holy cow that adds up SUPER fast!

So, when you are making you master production schedule (You ARE making a master production schedule aren't you?) keep this in mind and save you and the client thousands!

3 - Quality

Not all Audio quotes or proposals are apples to apples!  How do you tell the good from the bad other than price?

One key thing you can do to ensure success is to ask for their prediction file! You don't need to know how to read them or understand them.  What you are trying to discover here is does this person or company know what they are doing?  This is a pass/fail question. If they don't have a prediction file for the show, they are winging it. Plain and simple. ALL PA systems made today that are worth a darn allow us to computer model the room or space it's going to be in and predict the outcome!  How cool!!!!  If a potential vendor doesn't have that or says they don't need it, RUN! RUN as fast and as far as you can! Anything they deploy will be a guess at best and you deserve better than a guess!  If they do have a prediction file, ask them for a low variance design.  This means you want the same sound in the whole venue. NOT stunning loud in the front and quiet in the back. I know this is new and seems like some nerd tech stuff, but SAY THAT WITH CONFIDENCE on your next call or email! We audio companies will sit up straight in our chairs and know we are talking to someone who knows what time it is!  The cheap quotes won't have it and the higher quotes will usually have it and also be able to send it to you in PDF overlayed to your room so you can see!

4 - Location

If you are in a major city, prices are higher because costs and logistics there are higher.  If you are in a remote destination resort the trucking and logistics to get to you are much higher and the crew MUST stay there.   If techs are being flown in, there is airfare, hotel, uber/lyft, per diem costs to budget for.

5 - Pre Production

The more pre pro you can do with the vendor after you have selected them, the happier everyone will be.  Here is the place to go over the production schedule and try to save on OT and DT costs, ask about how many hands they need for the in and the out. potentially saving you thousands in unforeseen costs or wasted expenses. For example if the vendor needs 4 hands for the in and the out but you ordered 8, you wasted money that could have been saved with a simple pre pro call.