Grant Sound & Lighting provides concert production in Santa Barbara, covering sound, stage lighting, rigging, power and crew for club shows, theatre dates and outdoor festivals. We own the inventory, including Meyer Sound line arrays and generators, so the rig at your show is gear we maintain.
What concert production covers
Concert production is the technical build behind a show: sound and monitors, the lighting rig, stage and rigging, the power feeding all of it, and the crew who run it from load-in to load-out.
It is a different job from corporate AV. A conference system is designed for speech intelligibility first. A concert system has to carry music at volume across a wide crowd and give the performers something usable on stage. A room that flatters a keynote falls apart the moment a band walks on.
We work concerts across Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo counties, from club stages to festival fields.
What we have actually put on stage
Most pages selling concert production describe capability. Here is the work.
We provided front of house and monitors for Toad the Wet Sprocket and Jim Messina across a weekend, running a Yamaha CL-5 at front of house, a Midas XL250 monitor console and eight Meyer Sound MJF-210 powered wedges. We ran a Solvang show for twenty-time Grammy winner Vince Gill and the Time Jumpers with a Meyer system and a separate monitor rig.
We have also worked a Foreigner show in Phoenix. A Solvang Festival Theater fundraiser with Clint Black ran on one of our Meyer Sound systems.
On the festival side, Fig-toberfest uses line array towers to fly a large Meyer system for crowds reaching 13,000. At Old Spanish Days we run Meyer Mina compact line array, 700HP subs, UPJ-1P front fill and a Galileo 616 processor. We have worked the Summer Solstice Festival in Alameda Park for three days at a stretch.
That list is the point. A tech rider is a promise about equipment, and the only real evidence you can offer is the shows you have already delivered on.
Sound: coverage is designed, not turned up
A concert system is specified for the shape of the audience, not the size of the room. Line arrays exist so the back of a crowd hears roughly what the front hears, and delay speakers exist because past a certain distance the sound arrives late enough to blur.
Outdoors there are no walls to reflect anything back, so a system that sounded right at an empty soundcheck goes thin once a few thousand people absorb it. Outdoor rigs get more boxes at lower level rather than fewer turned up.
Monitors decide whether the band can play. Wedges, in-ear systems and a separate monitor console are not extras on a show of any size.
Our concert sound systems are our own inventory, maintained in house, from manufacturers including Meyer Sound, JBL, Yamaha, QSC and Shure.
Lighting, and what a large rig actually involves
Concert lighting is about movement and timing rather than even coverage. Moving heads, washes, spots and strobes mark the changes in a set, and none of it reads without haze in the air.
We have run over 450 moving lights on a single production. The number matters less than what it implies: dimming, data and power distribution to drive them, rigging rated to hold them, and an operator who can cue a show rather than run a static look.
Our stage lighting comes from the same owned inventory, which is why we can tell you a fixture’s condition rather than hoping for it.
Outdoor shows: power, weather and load-in
Open ground has no power, no cover and no dock. Those three facts shape a festival quote more than the headline act does.
Generators belong in the plan from the start, sized with headroom, because one booked late costs more and arrives at the wrong time. We carry multiple generators for exactly this reason.
Wind moves anything tall, including line array towers, so outdoor rigs get ballast and a wind plan rather than optimism. Salt air and overnight damp are hard on connectors, which is why multi-day shows are quoted differently from a single evening.
Anything that has to be seen after dark is built and focused in daylight.
Tech riders and touring artists
A touring act arrives with a rider specifying consoles, wedges, microphones and often a named line array. We meet national-level rider requirements and provide backline alongside audio and lighting.
The honest part of that conversation happens before you book, not at soundcheck when the artist’s engineer finds a substitution nobody mentioned.
What a concert production costs
Concert production is quoted per show and per day rather than from a rate card, because the same headline act needs a different rig in a 300-capacity club than on a festival field.
The variables that move the number most are crowd size, indoor or outdoor, stage count, and whether the show needs generators. Crew is usually the largest single line, and it scales with stage count rather than audience.
We quote equipment, crew, transport and power separately so you can see what is driving the total and cut the right thing if the number needs to come down. The wider scope of what we cover is on our production services page.
Who else ranks for this, and what we have that they do not
Search for concert production in Santa Barbara and page one is mostly encyclopedia entries about concert production as a topic, industry directories, and event design firms whose main business is weddings and corporate work. Very little of it is a company that will actually fly a line array for you.
What we bring is owned inventory and a named show history. The consoles, wedges and line arrays above are ours, and the shows are ones you can look up.
We also design permanent installations, including the Atmos system at the Dolby Theatre and the Meyer Sound system at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. Specifying a system that has to work for a decade is what makes our show rigs conservative rather than optimistic.
What clients say
| “They were able to pivot when we had last-minute changes and unplanned weather. They took our company’s vision for this event to the next level with their creative and technical expertise.” | Taylor Wilson, Google |
| “I hired them for my corporate parties, holiday parties, as well as virtual events. The lighting they did was truly incredible! They not only listened to what I needed but also had such skilled input, talent, and creative ideas.” | Ana Baatar, Google |
| “Their attention to detail and the ease of the load in and load out process was the best. I would highly recommend using them for all your sound and lighting needs for an event.” | Tania Henry, Google |
About the team
Grant Sound & Lighting is co-owned by Margaux Macgregor, who grew up in live event production and now leads client strategy and experiential event work for the company. You can find her on LinkedIn.
Frequently Asked Questions
What concert production services does Grant Sound & Lighting offer?
Concert production services at Grant Sound & Lighting include professional sound systems, stage lighting, rigging, power generation, and full audiovisual support for concerts and music festivals. The team handles everything from small live music venues to large outdoor festival stages across Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties.
What size concerts can Grant Sound & Lighting support?
Grant Sound & Lighting can support concerts ranging from intimate club performances to large outdoor music festivals. The inventory includes equipment capable of meeting national-level tech riders: Meyer Sound line arrays, lighting rigs running to hundreds of moving fixtures, and multiple generators for sites with no power. Festival work has covered crowds reaching 13,000 people across multiple stages.
Does Grant Sound & Lighting provide sound systems for outdoor concerts?
Sound systems for outdoor concerts are a specialty at Grant Sound & Lighting. The company deploys line arrays, subwoofers and delay speaker systems for outdoor venues where coverage, throw and weather all shape the design. With no walls to reflect sound back, coverage is designed rather than assumed, and rigs are built with more boxes at lower level rather than fewer turned up.
What lighting equipment is available for concerts?
Lighting equipment available for concerts includes moving head fixtures, LED wash lights, spot lights, strobes, hazers and full lighting consoles. Past productions have used over 450 moving lights on a single show. That scale needs matching dimming, data and power distribution, plus trussing and rigging points rated to carry the fixtures, so the rig is planned before it is quoted.
How far in advance should I book Grant Sound & Lighting for a concert?
Booking Grant Sound & Lighting for a concert as early as possible is strongly recommended, particularly for summer festivals and peak season dates. Early booking secures the preferred equipment and gives the production team time to plan rigging, power and staging. For an outdoor show it also allows a site visit, which is where power, cable routes and stage position actually get settled.
Can Grant Sound & Lighting coordinate with touring artists’ technical riders?
Grant Sound & Lighting can coordinate with touring artists’ technical riders, providing audio systems, backline support and lighting packages that meet professional touring specifications. The audio department handles national-level rider requirements with equipment from manufacturers including Meyer Sound, JBL, Yamaha, QSC and Shure. Where a rider names something we would have to sub-rent, we say so and quote it as a sub-rental.
What areas does Grant Sound & Lighting serve for concerts?
Grant Sound & Lighting serves concerts throughout Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The team regularly supports music festivals, outdoor concerts and club performances across the Central Coast and the greater Los Angeles region. Travel and crew lodging are quoted as their own lines for shows beyond the immediate area rather than folded into equipment costs.
Call (805) 963-7756 for a free quote, or send us your show date, venue and expected attendance and we will come back with a scoped estimate.
