Sound system and soundcheck

Da Hooley’s PA system is one which we have carefully grown to give us the best balance of quality, power, versatility and portability.

We recently (and after considerable research) upgraded our system with 2 RCF HD12-A active speakers delivering a combined 1200W of sound amplification. RCF is an Italian company, renown for their superb build quality… and we can confirm these speakers are the bomb! We have been hugely impressed with their performance

The system allows us to cater superbly for both ceilidh and disco.

1. Ceilidh music
   The benefit of all that power is not volume (no one expects a ceilidh band to be deafeningly loud!), rather it means that we can project the sound of our acoustic instruments with superb fidelity at a comfortable level for even very large venues.

   “Your playing was brilliant… and the sound you got was beautifully clear. So many people said ‘they are sooo good’”

   For every single gig, we will ‘ring-out-the-room’: a process designed to reduce the likelihood of feedback (the annoying, usually high-pitched, squeal often associated with rock bands or poorly setup PA systems). We then take great care to soundcheck each instrument (with special attention to the resonance of the dual fiddles) and then the overall mix to achieve the best possible sound for any given venue. We check the sound once the dancers are in full swing as the many bodies can affect the sound quality and balance
   To you, the client, that means your dancers can hear the full band across the breadth and depth of the dance floor whilst your non-dancing guests (though they will likely be few in number!) can carry on their between-dance conversations.

2. Disco or Club music
   As these are “active” (built-in amplifier) speakers, we can crank up the volume to max without fear of overdrive or distortion. The speakers also have an integrated “Bass Boost” to deliver those chest-thumping low beats in the music. You’ll be amazed how effective these speakers are at rendering your party mix from your phone, ipod or laptop.

For some especially large venues hosting a dance for very large crowds (say, over 300) it might be necessary to augment our PA with additional hired systems or an altogether separate system. Some venues have in-house PA systems with dedicated sound engineers. We are happy to work with them and advise you on all such eventualities.