AV Equipment Dry Hire: What You Need to Know Before You Book

AV dry hire works well for production companies, freelance technical directors and in-house AV teams who have a clear picture of what they need, a qualified operator available for the event day, and a venue they already understand.

It is not the right model for someone doing their first AV event and hoping the equipment will be self-explanatory. Modern event AV — even a modest PA with a digital console — requires someone with genuine hands-on experience to set it up correctly and respond if something goes wrong in a live environment.

A dry hire booking is only as good as the specification. You are responsible for confirming that the kit you are booking will do the job. The questions to answer before you send an enquiry:

• Audience size and room dimensions. PA system design starts here. Undersized hangs or point-source boxes in a large room will not perform. Give the hire company real numbers, not approximate ones.
• Venue type. An outdoor event, a tented event and a hard-walled indoor space have different acoustic properties and different requirements. A system that works for one will not automatically work for another.
• Programme type. Speech, live music, DJing, playback and complex multi-source mixing all have different console and system requirements. Be specific about what the programme actually involves.
• Input count. How many microphones, DI boxes, playback sources and other inputs does the show have? An honest input list determines console size and whether you need additional stagebox capacity.
• Monitoring requirements. Do performers need stage monitors? How many mixes? This is separate from the FOH system and needs to be booked alongside it.
• Power availability. How much power is available at the venue and does the kit list fit within that budget? Your hire company can advise on power draw per item.

Most dry hire problems are predictable. They happen when one of the following has been underestimated or overlooked:

• Speccing by brand preference rather than application. A console you are comfortable with is not always the right console for the gig. If you have never multitrack-recorded from a Yamaha CL5 before, a large festival headliner is not the moment to learn.
• Relying on the venue's power without confirming the available amperage. A full PA system and a lighting rig drawing simultaneously can exceed what a cabled venue supply delivers. Do the math before collection day.
• Booking the system and forgetting expendables. Gaffer tape, cable ties, XLR and NL4 patch cables, spare lamp cartridges. Hire companies will not tell you to order these. You are expected to arrive with them.
• No pre-show test plan. Line check and full show run are not the same thing. If you have not decided when you are doing each and who is responsible for what, the load-in will run long and you will not have time to fix problems before doors.
• Leaving insufficient load-in time. The bigger and more complex the rig, the longer setup takes. On a dry hire, you have no production management from the hire company to flag this. Build the schedule yourself.

Many hire companies offer both options. The choice depends on your situation:

Collection is cheaper. You take control of transport, you know when the kit is loaded, and you can do a full count check before you leave the warehouse. The trade-off is vehicle availability, loading time and the physical demands of moving heavy equipment — particularly subwoofers, road cases and speaker arrays.

Delivery reduces your logistics overhead but adds cost and a dependency on the hire company's schedule. Confirm delivery window precisely. On a multi-supplier load-in, a late delivery from one company cascades into every subsequent activity in the day.

Whichever you choose, you need to be ready to receive and count the kit properly. Do not sign delivery paperwork without checking every item on the kit list against what is physically in front of you.

Dry hire technical support is phone support. The hire company can talk you through a problem, advise on system configuration and help you diagnose a fault. What they cannot do is arrive on site and fix it for you.

That distinction matters because the window for resolving a problem at a live event is usually shorter than a phone call allows. If the PA drops in the middle of a dinner auction and you are troubleshooting ampere bridging configurations on the phone, you are not delivering the event your client expects.

Dry hire is appropriate when your operator can diagnose and resolve the most likely failure modes for the kit they are running, without external assistance. Phone support is a safety net for edge cases, not a substitute for experience.

Run through this list at least 48 hours before collection or delivery:

• Kit list confirmed with hire company, any back orders substituted and agreed
• Collection time or delivery window booked and confirmed by both parties
• Power plan complete: total draw calculated, venue power confirmed, distribution planned
• Vehicle booked with sufficient load capacity for the full kit list plus cases
• Expendables ordered and packed
• Crew briefed on what they are setting up and who is responsible for which system
• Load-in schedule written with realistic time allocations per activity
• FOH operator has had hands-on time with the console being used. If not, resolve this before event day.
• Return time booked and de-rig plan agreed with crew
• Hire company support number saved and crew briefed on when to use it