Sound Advice

Sound Advice Professional Sound Advice is your choice for installation of sound systems, video, lighting and more!

04/18/2024

Sound Advice begins our 41st year of service this month. Several new projects in the pipeline that we will reveal soon. Many in new types of businesses for us. All meet our criteria of working for groups that benefit the community through faith and education or ones that promote the welfare of the community. We are also proud of the new Fultondale High School which included an auditorium, (2) gymnasiums, a lecture hall and dance, band, and choir rooms. Great new facility we hope will be in service for decades.

03/20/2024

Sound Advice has become a stocking center for Community outdoor speakers. Community is the leading brand in outdoor speakers in high school and college stadiums. Many times when folks want to add to or replace their system there is no stock. We decided to keep speakers on hand so nobody will have to struggle with inventory shortages. Sooner is always better than later so if you have a need or just want someone to evaluate what you have give us a call. We would love to help out.

12/14/2023

Like many system integrators it has been very difficult for Sound Advice to find products since Covid hit. Some companies have become real winners because they were smart enough and cared enough for their customers to have product available. Most of these were the least dependent on China. Sennheiser microphones are a great example. Much of their product is made in Europe and their wireless mic electronics are made in the USA. They are priced the same as the products I am Shure you are most used to seeing. Sennheiser has taken over a large part of the wireless market because of the inability of their main competitor to ship their mostly Chinese produced products.
What has surprised buyers is how much better the Sennheiser sound and how much better the build quality is. Most of their transmitter are steel construction compared to the plastic their competitors use. It’s been a win win for our company and our customers when using Sennheiser mics.

12/14/2023

We have been contacted to “redo” installations in 2 facilities recently. Both illustrate mistakes that seem to be more and more common. The first is a football field in a ten year old school. The original sound system used small paging horns that were totally inadaguate but a complicated and expensive head end. They replaced it with cheap indoor music store speakers that they left outside in the rain. They had estimates for a third replacement from a mail order/ internet source until they decided to call local qualified companies.
The second is a school that had bought a series of 4 ever increasingly priced wireless mic systems that never worked well until they called in professionals.
All illustrate the value of spending enough to solve the issue initially. Buying inferior products will not keep you from having to do it right eventually and just adds wasted money to the final cost. No remote provider can provide the insight, knowledge and service a local provider can and guess what due to the ever increasing shipping cost it is actually cheaper to shop locally.
Not all systems have to be complicated or expensive but all have to be adaquate to do the job. Anything less is just wasted money.

11/28/2023

Thought I had seen it all in 40 years of doing Av installs but…. Recently Installed a system in a church in Birmingham. The congregation was made up of older African American folks trying to make a difference in their neighborhood. Just as we were finishing there was a breakin. Nothing stollen but lots of stuff destroyed. Because there was a security system in place the culprit was caught. He was 10 years old! It was at least the 5Th time he had been caught during a burglary. It was believed his parents put him in buildings to steal for them. God help us! By the way we got it all fixed and it didn’t cost them any more. I’ve attended several services with these great folks and they are doing well!

09/07/2023

We are growing. Busiest times in our history. We are looking for good people to add to out team. If you know qualified folks that want a long term career send them our way.

07/15/2023

Don’t care about the politics of global warming but it’s hot folks. Already had one crew member on a live show taken to the hospital with a concussion after passing out and hitting his head. on the stage at an outdoor concert. It was 135 degrees F 35 feet up in a school gym doing an install. Keep your people safe. Any sign of nausea is a time to get indoors or at least under shade and drink water.

06/29/2023

Busy times at Sound Advice. Just completing eork at Oakwood university, Birmingham Holocaust Education center and several churches. In final phases of new area high school and several ball field upgrades. Lots of work lots of variety. Always looking for more folks to join the team.

02/13/2023

A good friend of ours took a tumble off a stage and broke his leg Thursday. NOT OUR STAGE. If it had been it would have had safety rails and he wouldn’t have fallen. Can’t remember how many times people demanded I remove the rails because they didn’t like the “look”. Now a major venue is sweating bullets wondering if they will get the Alexander Shanarra call. Your never too busy to be safe and protect folks.

01/30/2023

Remember Cobranet? It was the signal distribution technology that was going to render analog XLRs obsolete. Many jumped on the bandwagon replacing analog cable runs that were thought of as being too long or unreliable. Now 10-15 years later that technology is largely dead with the majority of components discontinued and unavailable. What’s replacing it? Dante another technology that promises to revolutionize audio. It may but one thing is sure “ if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Many of the Cobranet problems were cured by reverting to decades old copper that was still in place. No analog won’t have the bells and whistles of Dante but ask yourself what level of technology is needed to accomplish the mission and never exceed that level. We see too many over complicated systems that require huge levels of support to keep operating and a level of training and sophistication the clients just don’t have.

01/27/2023

Busy times with supply chain problems continuing but demand for services still high. With the upturn in corporate work there are fewer and fewer companies willing to work with small and medium size churches and K12 schools. Sound Advice is working hard to make sure our customers have their needs met. Call us if you need help. That’s what we have done for 39 years.

08/16/2022

We are approached every work by a church wanting a video wall in their church. We have installed many and would love to do more. There are important things for a church to think about before they buy a video wall
#1. These are heavy items requiring complex rigging and safety concerns. These are items where you need expert riggers and possible structural engineers involved. It’s not a church volunteer job.
People can die( seriously)
#2 costs have increased during the Covid period. Projects can range from $40-$100 thousand
#3 These walls need constant attention. If you are a large church with full time qualified techs on staff you will be fine. If not you need to partner with a great system integration firm.

Not trying to douse anyones dream just trying to make sure they don’t turn into nightmares. God bless and call us if you need us!

Address

4016 1st Avenue N
Birmingham, AL
35222

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+12052548003

Website

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