STRUCTURES AND TRUSS
Sound Structures
Sound structures are the physical support that puts an audio system where it needs to be: PA towers and lifts, bumpers and flying frames for line array, chain hoists and motors, ground stacks and stands, anchor bars and the rigging components specific to loudspeakers. This Instalia section brings together news on that hardware and the rigs it is used in. It is distinct from Professional Sound, which deals with the audio technology itself, and from Truss Structure, the general hub for the structural field: here the criterion is structure put at the service of the sound system.
- Line array and PA
- Towers and rigging
- Flown systems
Latest sound structures news
PA towers, bumpers and flying frames, hoists and stands: news and rigs from rigging applied to sound systems.
Explore the fields it intersects with
The general hub for the structural field, and the two sections where the sound system it supports ends up working.
The field’s hub: truss, towers and structural systems across all their applications.
The field’s hub: news, companies and technology from across the world of sound.
The live application: sound reinforcement, control and mixing on the stage itself.
Structures and rigging for professional sound systems
A line array only performs if it hangs where the prediction says. The bumper or flying frame sets the angle of the first cabinet and, with it, the tilt of the whole hang; from there each inter-cabinet angle distributes energy across the audience. Trim height, distance to the stage and the anchor point are part of the acoustic design, not a rigging detail.
When there is nothing to fly from, PA towers and ground stands come in, with ballast and bracing calculated for outdoor use. Safety is governed by the same criteria as the rest of the rigging — working load limits, certified motors and slings, secondary safeties on anything flown over the public — and is signed off alongside the truss structure of the general rig. It is what turns a professional sound system into one that is genuinely deployed.
Want to feature on Instalia?
If your company manufactures, distributes or rents out structures and rigging for sound systems, you can present your rigs and product news to Instalia’s professional audience.