Great sound is a must for any concert to be a success. But unfortunately this is not the case for the local music industry. We only have a taste of good sound on rare occasions like during international concerts.

Poor sound continues to define local concerts with the general perception being that ‘louder is better’ without quality. 

Ken Indula, a film production graduate and part-time music producer, says the problem is partly due to the limited knowledge about sound.

"The level of sound should depend on the nature of the venue. For every location there's a certain limit you can’t exceed. If you go past a certain level, it is going to produce discord.”

However, this goes with the equipment too, Alfred Gatarahira, the manager of Alpha Sounds, says good sound requires investing in good quality equipment which is very expensive.

"There's high end and cheap sound equipment. Organisers use cheap equipment thinking they will sound better, but cheap equipment comes with cheap sound engineers,” he says.

Gatarahira cautions that sound engineers need to know the difference between the types of sound equipment, and how they perform. He also says that organisers shouldn’t employ ‘sound people’ who are friends but without the expertise.

"Friendship and business normally shouldn't mix, but it's up to event organisers,” Gatarahira says.

On top of investing in good sound and speakers, one should know what they want, and how equipment, like speakers, perform and their quality.

The cost of high end equipment is high for most event organisers, and some people in the sound industry contend that a good technician can produce close to good sound with mid-range equipment; however, Gatarahira maintains that cheap equipment comes with poor quality sound.

Indula urges sound engineers to always take feedback from the audience seriously.

Annual events like the Isaano Arts Festival, Bralirwa's Primus GumaGuma Super Star and the Kigali Up Festival continue to set the pace in regards to providing good sound experience. 

However, according to Gatarahira, who has worked with Massamba's Gakondo Group for years, good sound is a result of team work. 

"With team work, the sound team will know their singer, their vocal strengths and weaknesses. They know how a singer holds the micro phone. They know how to bring the best sound out of them,” Gatarahira says.

Sekimondo,who engineered the sound for Yvonne Mwale, Joel Sebunjo and Aly Keita’s recent performance at the Isaano Arts Festival, points out that successful sound doesn't come in isolation, the culture of time keeping and planning plays a role.

"It requires good time to set up, if the organisers tell you a few hours to the concert, that is not enough, sometimes it requires a full day to check everything,” he says. Sekimondo also blames singers who come late and don't have time to do sound check, so the set up can't be used to accommodate them.

"It would be good for the organiser to give you a list of the activities for the event so that you set up the sound accordingly,” he says.

He adds that singers should stick to using one microphone because every microphone is set up differently to accommodate different people.

"The venue plays a big part too, in Europe you have to have the flooring, ceilings and walls made for sound. Most venues are not made for sound here and it becomes a challenge,” says Eric Nshuti, a sound system consultant.

He adds that the players and singers need to be trained; it's not all in the hands of the sound engineer even if the equipment is high end.

"When an engineer works at a venue more than once, they learn to provide close to good sound,” Nshuti says. 

With growing awareness among the artistes, event organisers, the people who construct the venues, concert goers who demand for more and the entertainment scene getting more vibrant, Kigali’s sound experience must improve if Rwanda’s entertainment industry is to remain competitive in the region.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw