College, school and university event AV in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Tailgate parties, talent shows, campus DJ nights, galas and graduation ceremonies. We bring the sound system, the DJ, the microphones and the lighting, set it up, run it for the length of the event and take it back out.
What a campus booking looks like
Most college and school events are run by people who have a full time job somewhere else on campus. A student activities coordinator, a class sponsor, an alumni office, a booster club. They have a date, a room or a parking lot, and a budget approval that took three weeks. What they want from an AV company is for the sound to be there, be right, and be somebody else's problem.
That is the whole shape of how we work. Every campus booking is a full service rental. Our crew delivers the gear, sets it up where the space needs it, tunes it, stays with it through the event and loads it back out. The person running the mixer works for us, and every cable leaves with us at the end.
Sound, DJ, microphones and lighting come from one company on one quote, so there is a single advance call and a single load in instead of three vendors trying to find each other in a service corridor.
Tailgate party sound systems and DJs
A tailgate party is an outdoor event with open air on every side, a hard start time tied to kickoff, and a crowd that moves around instead of sitting down. The sound has to carry across a lot and still be clean by the time it reaches the row of cars three deep, and it has to survive being outdoors in Texas in September.
We build tailgate party sound around coverage rather than raw volume. Speakers on poles at the height of the crowd, aimed into the space the crowd is standing in, with subwoofers on the ground so the music has weight while the tops stay clean. If the lot needs its own power we plan for that in the advance rather than at nine in the morning on game day.
Add a DJ and the tailgate runs itself. Our DJ handles the music, the announcements and the volume across the whole window, drops the level when the band or the pep squad comes through, and brings it back up after. A wireless handheld goes in the kit so whoever is welcoming alumni or running the raffle is heard over an open parking lot.
The college and school events we get called for
These are the bookings that fill our calendar on the education side. Each one is a different problem behind the same two words, so the rig follows the room, the head count and the run of show rather than a package name.
Talent shows and student performancesStage sound, wireless mics, playback, stage lighting
A talent show is the hardest sound job on a campus calendar and the one most often handed to a student volunteer. Twenty acts, every one of them different, backing tracks arriving on four different phones, a singer who wants a handheld and a dance crew who needs the track to hit on cue. We take the running order in advance, build a playback setup that gets to the right track on the beat, and put an operator behind the mixer who can ride a level for a nervous fifteen year old and then push it for a drumline. Wireless microphones run our AI-powered De-Feedback system, which matters most when a performer walks downstage in front of the speakers.
Campus DJ nights and student partiesStudent union, rec center, Greek life, spirit nights
Homecoming dances, welcome week, Greek events, end of semester parties and anything else where the point is a dance floor. This is a DJ, a sound system that can hold a full room for four hours, and lighting that turns a gym or a student union ballroom into somewhere people want to stay. We read the crowd rather than a preset playlist, and we keep the level where the venue and the campus staff can live with it.
University galas and donor eventsBallroom sound, podium and lapel mics, program playback
A gala is a speech event with a party attached, and the two halves want different things. During dinner and the program you need a podium microphone that stays clean under a room of four hundred people talking, a lapel or headset for a president or a dean who prefers to move, and music underneath at a level people can talk over. Then the program ends and the same room has to become a dance floor in ten minutes. We build a professional AV setup for galas that covers both on one load in, and we run the transition before guests are watching. The gala on this page, with the monogram over a full floor and the uplighting running the walls, was one of those rooms, and the outdoor stage with the vendor tents was the other end of the same year.
Graduation ceremonies and awards nightsProcessional playback, podium mics, name reading, outdoor coverage
Graduation is a long form event where the only thing anyone remembers is whether they could hear their own kid's name. That puts everything on the podium microphone and on coverage that reaches the last row of families in the back of a gym or the far side of a field. We handle the processional and recessional playback, the podium and the name reader, the wireless for whoever is presenting, and a screen or a stream when more people want to be there than the room can seat.
Live bands and student ensemblesFull input list, stage monitoring, front of house
A student band, a jazz ensemble, an alumni act at a homecoming event or a headliner booked for a spring concert all need the same thing: an input list built before the day, monitors the players can work with, and a front of house engineer who has mixed a band before. Once a band is on the bill you are building an input plot rather than picking a couple of microphones, so send us the stage plot early. Our live music and band events page goes deeper on how we run those.
College event DJ services and sound setups
Three ways schools book us, depending on whether the DJ is coming from us or from you. All three are full service, and all three arrive with a technician who stays for the event.
A DJ from us
Rig DJ · booth · PA for the room · 1 wireless handheld
We supply the DJ and the system they play on, which is the version most student activities offices want because it is one phone number. Our DJs work campus rooms across Dallas-Fort Worth and know the difference between a homecoming dance and a spirit night. You get a music conversation before the date, a do-not-play list if you have one, and someone who will read the room instead of running a pre built set.
Sound and DJ as one setup
Rig Full PA · subwoofers · DJ · wireless mics · dance floor lighting
The same booking scaled up for a bigger room or an outdoor lot. A larger speaker system with subwoofers under the dance floor, microphones for announcements and awards, and lighting so the space reads as an event rather than a gym with the houselights on. One crew sets all of it, one technician holds it through the night, and it is quoted as a single line rather than as a rental plus a DJ plus a lighting company.
Sound for your own DJ
Rig PA · subwoofers · booth feed · booth monitor · our technician
Plenty of schools already have their DJ. A student who runs the campus radio station, a Greek chapter's usual guy, a professional the alumni office has used for years. We bring the system and the technician and hand them a clean feed at the booth, with a monitor so they can hear what the floor is hearing. Send us what they play on and we will confirm the connections before the date.
Not sure which one you need?
Send the date, the space, the head count and whether you already have a DJ. We will tell you which setup fits and quote it. Our DJ services page covers how we work generally, and the CDJ rental page has the players and mixers a booked DJ is likely to ask for.
Sound setups for your school's own DJ
This is a common booking and it deserves saying plainly: you can hire us for the sound alone. The school books the DJ, we build the system, and the two meet at the booth. It is the same arrangement we run at weddings where the couple already has someone, and it works the same way on a campus.
What your DJ gets is a system sized for the room, a booth position clear of the dance floor, a clean feed with the connections they asked for, and a booth monitor so they are mixing against what the room hears rather than guessing. What you get is a technician who stays with the system, so if a channel dies at ten at night it is handled by somebody whose job that is.
We will take a call with your DJ before the date. Five minutes on what they play on and what they want at the booth settles almost everything before the night.
The audio we bring to campus events
All professional grade gear from our own inventory, delivered and operated by our crew. What goes on the truck depends on the room, the head count and whether anyone is speaking.
Speakers for a gym, a quad or a ballroom
Rig Powered tops on poles · sized to the space
The starting point for most school events. A sound system rental built around the space you are in, on poles at crowd height and aimed at where people will be standing rather than at the back wall. Gyms are reflective and need the coverage kept tight, and outdoor lots need more boxes than the head count suggests because the sound has open air to fill.
Subwoofers for a dance floor
Rig BassBoss subwoofers · ground stacked at the floor
Once there is dancing, the tops alone will run out before the room does. BassBoss subwoofers put the low end where the floor is, which lets the whole system stay clean at a level a gym full of students will call loud enough. We place them for the dance floor rather than for the stage.
Line array for a big hall
Rig Line array speaker system · on stands or stacked with fills
A long auditorium or a full arena floor makes the front too loud before the back is loud enough. A line array speaker system holds the level closer to even from the first row to the last, which is what a graduation ceremony or a large university gala needs when families are seated a hundred feet apart.
Wireless microphones that hold up
Rig Handheld · lapel · headset · podium · AI-powered De-Feedback
Handhelds for hosts and performers, lapel or headset for a dean or a principal who moves, and a podium microphone for the name reading. All of our wireless microphone rentals run an AI-powered De-Feedback system, so a presenter can step in front of the speakers and stay intelligible. That system comes with every microphone we send out, so the microphone is ready as soon as it is placed and stays clean once the room fills. We put fresh batteries in on our own schedule, and we set the level for every microphone with a person standing where the speaker will stand.
DJ booth and playback
Rig CDJ players · mixer · booth monitor · laptop input
Whether the DJ is ours or yours, the booth is the same: CDJ players and a mixer, a monitor, and an input for a laptop or a phone when the show is running off a playlist and a running order. For talent shows we build the playback so the operator moves to the next track the moment the last act clears.
A technician for the whole event
Rig On site AV technician · through setup, show and strike
Every booking includes one. They set the system, set the microphone levels at the speaking positions, hold them through the program and handle the changeovers, then strike it at the end. Our operator stands behind the mixer, and your staff and your student committee get to watch the show.
Tell us the room and we will size it
Send the building or the address, the expected head count and the run of show. We will tell you what the space calls for and quote it. Our event audio services page covers the rest of what we run, and the equipment list has the wider inventory.
Lighting for talent shows, galas and campus dance floors
School spaces are lit for classes and basketball, which is the opposite of what an event wants. Lighting is the cheapest way to make a gym stop looking like a gym, and on a stage it is the difference between an audience watching a performer and an audience watching a room.
For talent shows we light the stage so faces read from the back of the house, with a follow spot when a soloist needs to be found. For galas, uplighting around the perimeter takes a ballroom or a cafeteria into event territory, and a monogram projector puts a school seal or a class year on the wall or the dance floor. For dance nights we bring DJ lighting over the floor, with haze so the beams read and lasers where the venue allows them.
Stage wash and pin spot lighting are available as part of a larger package. Ask and we will tell you what the room can hang and what has to go on stands.
AV rentals for graduation ceremonies
Graduation has a fixed run of show and one job that matters more than the rest, which is that every family hears the name they came for. Here is what we plan around.
Indoors or outWhere the ceremony happens
A gym holds sound and throws it back at you, so coverage gets aimed tight and the level stays under what the room will ring at. A field or a stadium is open on every side, so it takes more boxes spread further and a plan for power that starts weeks before the date. Tell us which one you are in and the system changes accordingly.
The podiumName reading and speeches
The podium microphone carries the ceremony. We use a gooseneck or a wireless podium microphone with the AI-powered De-Feedback system on it, which means the microphone is ready as soon as it is placed and holds up once the room fills, set the level with somebody standing at the podium, and set a second microphone for the name reader so the reading carries on whatever happens to the first.
MusicProcessional and recessional
Playback for the processional, the alma mater, the recessional and anything a music department is performing live. We take the running order in advance so the cues land where the program says they land, and our technician runs them rather than a volunteer with a phone.
OverflowScreens and streaming
Most ceremonies have more family than seats. A projector and screen puts the stage in an overflow room, and live streaming sends it to grandparents who could not travel. Both get planned with the ceremony rather than bolted on the week of.
How a campus booking runs
Four steps, and your committee is only involved in the first one.
You tell us the event
Date, campus and space, expected head count, the run of show if you have one, and whether a DJ is already booked. That is enough for a quote within 24 hours.
We advance it
We confirm load in access, power, curfew and any campus vendor requirements with your facilities or events staff, so the day runs to the plan.
We set up and tune
Our crew loads in, sets the system for the actual space, sets every microphone level at the speaking position and runs a sound check against the running order before doors.
We run it and strike
A technician stays with the system for the whole event, then the rig comes out on schedule and every cable leaves with us.
Campus AV across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex
We work roughly a 40 mile radius from ZIP 76053, which sits between Dallas and Fort Worth. If your campus is further out, ask anyway and we will tell you honestly whether it works.
Dallas
University campuses, private schools and district event centers across the city.
Fort Worth
Campus quads, auditoriums and stadium lots on the west side of the Metroplex.
Arlington
Large campus events, entertainment district venues and stadium area tailgates.
Denton
Two university towns' worth of student events, performances and Greek calendars.
Irving
Las Colinas venues and school district ballrooms used for galas and awards nights.
Plano
High school auditoriums, banquet rooms and district ceremonies north of the tollway.
Frisco
Stadium district events, school gyms and hotel ballrooms taken over for a night.
Grapevine and Southlake
Private schools, alumni galas and hotel conference space running late programs.
Garland and Mesquite
District event halls and campus gyms east of Dallas with room for a full setup.
Things we will point a school elsewhere for
Cheaper to read this now than to find out on an advance call. If one of these is what you need, say so and we will point you somewhere useful.
Photo and video of campus events
Student events are for your photographer. Our photo and video work is corporate, so if what you are booking is a conference or a corporate event instead, the photo and video services page covers it.
Classroom and lecture hall AV
Permanently installed systems in lecture halls, classrooms and auditoriums are an integration job with conduit and ceiling work behind them, and that belongs with a campus AV integrator. We build for an event and take it back out.
Crew on every campus rental
Every campus rental goes out with our crew. Our crew builds the system at the venue, runs it and takes it back out.
Selling equipment
We rent, and every campus rental is full service. We rent now rather than sell, so everything here comes to your campus for the date and goes home with us.
Booking a band for a campus concert?
Input lists, stage monitoring and backline sit on their own page. Start with live music and band events and we will pick it up from there. You can also see real DFW events we've run in the photo gallery.
Campuses, schools and athletic venues across Dallas-Fort Worth we have run events on
From our own calendar of booked school, campus and sporting events. If your campus is here, we know the load-in rules, the power, the room and who signs the paperwork.
Universities and schools
- Southern Methodist University
- TCU
- The University of Texas at Arlington
- Grapevine Faith Christian School
- Dallas Christian School
- Centennial High School
- Krum High School
- Shackelford Junior High School
- Parkhill Junior High School
- Walsh Elementary School
- Hicks Elementary School
- Gene and Ruby Nichols Elementary School
- Arlington Career Institute
Athletic venues and fieldhouses
- Sport Support Athletic Center
- Duncanville Fieldhouse
- Drive Nation Sports
- Plano Sports Authority
- Fieldhouse USA Mansfield
- Rough Rider Stadium
- TCU Stadium
- Choctaw Stadium
Campus lawns and event rooms
- SMU Dallas Hall Lawn
- SMU Ware Lawn
- The Bowden
- Omni Las Colinas
- HALL Park Hotel, Frisco
- UNT Union, Denton
Every name on this list is a room we have loaded into for a booked event, taken from our own calendar. If your venue is a new one for us, we walk it or the floor plan before the truck loads.
College and school event AV questions
Do you provide sound and a DJ for a college tailgate party?
Can you run sound for a school talent show?
Do you supply the DJ, or can we use our own?
What do you provide for a university gala?
Can you handle a graduation ceremony outdoors?
Do you set up for live bands at campus events?
What is included in a campus rental?
What areas around Dallas do you cover?
Tell us about the campus event. We'll bring the sound, the DJ and the lights.
Tell us about your event and you'll hear back from us today, with a straightforward quote within 24 hours.