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Festival Sound Engineering

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Grades 6-860-75 minSource: Creative Dad Company

Teams design speaker placement for a mock outdoor stage, balancing full audience coverage against the screeching feedback loop that happens when a mic gets too close to a speaker.

Budget levels

Amazon prices checked Oct 9-10, 2026 and may change

Materials links go to Amazon. Prices are estimates and may change. As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases.

Quick Start

Digital downloads only.

$0 to buy. Printing noted separately.

Student time: one class period, one day.

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one class period on a single day.

Scale back: Fit it into a shorter period, use fewer effects, or run a demo instead of a build.

Scale up: Add one extra effect, or spread the share-out across another day.

Ambiance video

Ambiance video coming soon from Creative Dad Studio

  • flashlightBorrow or school hasuse what you have
  • school device tone generatorBorrow or school hasuse what you have
  • sound-meter and light-meter appsBorrow or school hasuse what you have
  • decision matrix worksheetPrintinguse what you have

Full Experience

Required materials for the class.

$48.56 per class (class of about 30, 6 groups). Exceeds $25 per class.

Classroom cardboard or boxes can lower the cost.

Student time: one day.

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one school day.

Scale back: Fit the build into one period with fewer effects.

Scale up: Spread the work across days, or add more effects.

  • FoamRequired1 x 10 sheets10 sheets$6.99Amazon
  • fabricRequired1 x 10 sheets10 sheets$9.99Amazon
  • cardboardRequired1 x 25 sheets25 sheets$16.49Amazon
  • foilRequired1 x 1 roll / 75 sq ft1 roll / 75 sq ft$5.97Amazon
  • hard plastic and clear plastic sheetsRequired1 x 4 sheets4 sheets$9.12Amazon

Total Transformation

The bigger kit, with every optional item included.

$48.56 per class (class of about 30, 6 groups).

Student time: one day (one session, one-day event).

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one session, a one-day event.

Scale back: Shorten the event, or run a demo for a smaller audience.

Scale up: Spread the build and the event across days, or invite a bigger audience.

Choose your version

Every level teaches the same core idea — pick the one that fits your time, budget, and energy today.

Student time: 40 min, one class periodTeacher prep / build-ahead: 15 min$0 to buy. Printing noted separately.One table or a clear section of floorBeginner-friendly

Setup

Print or hand-copy the essential prompt for Festival Sound Engineering, then set out only paper, pencils, and the common or recycled items needed for one test. Use a tabletop representation whenever the original version mentions a room, specialized device, or digital tool; the learning comes from the decisions and evidence, not elaborate scenery.

Activity

  1. Define the central success test in Festival Sound Engineering and make a paper planning sheet for the inputs, actions, and expected result.
  2. Represent the system without electronics by using labeled cards, paper controls, tokens, a ruler, or a student acting as the device; follow the same cause-and-effect rules described in the project.
  3. Run at least three cases, including one difficult or unexpected case, and record positions, cue times, sound readings, and listening observations.
  4. Revise one rule, layout, mechanism, or decision after the failed case, repeat it, and explain with the recorded evidence whether the change worked.

Ambiance video

Ambiance video coming soon from Creative Dad Studio

Done when: The group has completed Festival Sound Engineering when it can pitch the final sound plan to a festival producer, pointing out the coverage map and how feedback was solved and point to the observation, measurement, comparison, or trial that supports its conclusion.

Materials

bluetooth speaker, school device with sound-level app, string, tape, graph paper, cardboard for scale model; Foam; fabric; foil; hard plastic and clear plastic sheets; flashlight; school device tone generator; sound-meter and light-meter apps; decision matrix worksheet

Shown for the Quick Start version — switch tabs above to see what changes.

Materials links go to Amazon. Prices are estimates and may change.

As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases.

Steps

  1. Sketch a mock festival field and predict where sound will be too quiet or too loud and where stage light will cause glare.
  2. Sound test: play a steady tone from a school device at fixed volume and measure decibels with a sound-meter app 1 m away with no barrier, then behind cardboard, foam, fabric, and hard plastic. Measure sound bouncing off a hard wall versus a blanket. Record all readings in a table.
  3. Light test: shine a flashlight at a fixed distance into a free light-meter app with no barrier, then through the same materials plus clear plastic and foil. Measure light bouncing off foil versus black fabric at the same angle. Record lux readings in a table.
  4. Draw a wave model for each material for both sound and light, with arrows showing how much is reflected, absorbed, or transmitted and arrow thickness matched to the data. Point out a material that treats light and sound differently (for example fabric blocks light but lets sound through) and explain it with the model.
  5. Write the criteria and constraints: every grid point within 10 dB of the loudest point, no feedback at the microphone, at most 4 speakers, and a panel budget of 5 foam sheets.
  6. Build a scale cardboard model of the stage and field and use the wave models to design two or three speaker and panel layouts.
  7. Test each layout: measure decibels at marked grid points across the field and note any spot where sound reflects back into the microphone and causes feedback.
  8. Score the layouts in a weighted decision matrix against every criterion and constraint from step 5 using the grid data, then use the wave model to add absorbing panels or move reflective surfaces in the best layout.
  9. Retest the improved layout and compare grid readings with the first round.

Standards mapped

  • NGSS · MS-PS4-2

    Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.

  • NGSS · MS-ETS1-2

    Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.