What Makes Good Sound And What Does It Really Depend On? Let’s Dive In

by Alexandra Mansilla

What Makes Good Sound And What Does It Really Depend On? Let’s Dive In

13 May 2025

So you are heading to a party or a festival — the music is everywhere, and everyone is talking about that mysterious thing: good sound.

But what does that actually mean? Who is behind it? Is it all about the sound system? (Short answer: yes.) And how does it all really work? And more broadly, what are the biggest challenges facing the sound system scene today?

We had a bunch of questions — some technical, some maybe a little silly — so we asked Declan O’Regan. He is the guy who built the UAE’s first-ever hand-built sound system (yes, really built from scratch). You can hear that system at your favourite Secta events.

— Hi Declan! So, what was before Tonefarm? Tell me this story in detail, please! How did you come into this profession, and how did you end up with a sound system?

— I used to be deeply involved in music production, sound design, and post-production. I worked with a small but mighty team in the UK called Radium Audio, where I explored everything sound-related — from mixing and mastering to prop building, sound recording, creating internal sound libraries, and building custom DSP patches for sound processing.

Eventually, I took a leap and decided to travel the world, which brought me to Dubai. My plan was to continue recording sounds, expand my internal library, and channel that into more experimental electronic music. But producing commercially started to weigh on me, leading to a huge creative block, so I decided to step away for a while.

While exploring other areas, I realised I had always been fascinated by sound systems. I have had this lifelong obsession with understanding how things work — even as a kid, I would take everything apart (and never put it back together). It wasn’t about breaking things; it was about figuring out whether I could recreate them.

My interest in sound is music-centric — I come from a musical family. Both of my parents were classically trained and worked as music therapists in the 1980s.

Fast forward to Dubai’s underground scene: I began attending events and gradually got into sound engineering. I am an obsessive problem solver — if something doesn’t sound right, I want to step in and fix it. Not for credit, but because I understand the insane amount of work and creative energy that goes into producing music. It deserves to be heard properly, on the right system.

So I started offering help where I could, helping promoters get the best sound out of their setups. And eventually, as a form of obsessive control, I built my own.

— You created a sound solution from scratch. How was it? What was the sound system market in the UAE when you began doing your own thing?

— The solution itself comes from an online community called HOQS. There is a huge amount of collaboration that happens there, from shared designs to private chats focused on developing these speakers. The support network within the group (and beyond) is incredible, and I have learned so much from the brilliant people and designers who have supported me throughout this journey*.

As a group, we have gone through countless versions and revisions — it is an ever-evolving process. I eventually settled on the designs you see and hear now, but it wasn’t easy. Every speaker design involves a compromise. Some perform exceptionally well in certain areas but fall short in others.

There is an overwhelming number of specifications that influence speaker performance, and finding the right balance, depending on what you are building the speaker for, is a delicate process. You can't have it all. To gain in one area, you almost always have to sacrifice in another. “There’s no free lunch.”

The list of technical considerations is endless, so I won’t go into all of them here. But at the core, it comes down to understanding the electromechanical parameters of the transducer and translating that into a design that suits it. Once that foundation is solid, the performance characteristics follow, and the refinement never really ends.

— Tonefarm is the first-ever hand-built sound system in the UAE, which sounds both impressive and seriously challenging. What were some of the biggest obstacles you faced while building it?

— Oh, there have been so many challenges… but once I was fully committed, there was no turning back.

One thing that really sticks out? The heat. I had rented a small corner of a warehouse in Sharjah — no air conditioning — in the middle of summer. I was covered in sawdust, sweat, and splinters every day. The glue dried too quickly, and the surrounding carpenters were cutting green waterproof MDF for a kitchen project, which turned into clouds of nasty, possibly carcinogenic dust in the air.

It was way more labour-intensive than I had anticipated. The carpentry, the CNC tolerances — everything had to be so precise that I couldn’t just hand it off to someone who had never built a speaker before. It was a huge investment, and I couldn’t afford mistakes or multiple iterations.

Financially, it has been incredibly tough. I work in hospitality to get by, but every single component I used in the system is top-tier — from the drivers to the amplifiers to the connectors. They are all industry-leading parts, and that adds up fast. I saved and collected everything over five years and ended up pouring my life’s savings into this project.

Looking back, maybe I shouldn’t have been so obsessed — but I wanted to push it as far as I could. That is just who I am. I am obsessive by nature.

The next challenge is actually storing and running the system while keeping up with a physically demanding full-time job. But that is where I am now — still fully in it.

— How would you describe the Sound system culture in the UAE? What are the issues now? Do you see any ways of solving them?

— We still have a long way to go when it comes to sound in this region — and sound, of course, includes the music itself. The alternative music scene here has always faced challenges, and at some point, nearly every promoter struggles. It takes an incredible amount of work to make an event both successful and sustainable.

That said, there are amazing brands and communities here, full of raw talent and vision, doing real work to help the alternative scene grow. We also shouldn't forget the pioneers and showcases that came before us. But building a self-sustaining ecosystem within this community is incredibly hard.

People are starting to get more curious about the music, the vibe, and the feeling of these events. I feel lucky to have been part of many of them. When people associate those events with positive experiences, and I have had a role in making the sound right, that, to me, is doing my part for the scene.

The tricky part is that sound is still often an afterthought. Most people don’t think about it, but they feel it. They may not realise why they had such a good time — maybe it is because they didn’t have to scream to talk, or because they actually felt the music in their bodies. My goal is to make sound an experience — and to get people asking themselves: what was it that made that night feel different?

I would love to see more people building sound systems here and sharing their journeys — whether they are putting together speakers from existing setups or creating something entirely new. Building a community around that would be powerful.

People underestimate how much hearing truly matters. When I worked in post-production, the films would come in completely silent. Only after layering tiny details — foley, textures, nuances — did it come alive. Most people don’t consciously notice the sound, but that is what gives the picture its emotional weight. And it is the same at an event: without a good sound system — the beating heart of the experience — all the energy, effort, and music curation is at risk of being lost or misrepresented.

— A silly question from someone who knows almost nothing about sound systems: What are the main pillars of good sound?

— I could go into technical specifications and what I believe is the best strategy for speaker design and tuning — but honestly, what matters most are the meaningful, emotionally charged moments that come from the right music played on the right system.

It is about feeling the bass through your body, not just your ears. It is about being able to talk to the person next to you without shouting, and still feel completely immersed. It is about creating space for real, shared experiences.

Some of the foundational elements include:

– Speaker placement

– Room acoustics

– Music genre and how it is played back

– Headroom and power

– And above all: Phase! Phase! Phase!

…And time.

There are no absolute “main pillars” — only the most popular ones. The truth is, nothing should be ignored if you know how to make it work in your favour. You have to explore, test, and most importantly — use your ears, not your eyes.

— Another silly one, from someone totally outside the sound world: What is the difference between loud sound and good sound? Because sometimes at parties, it is just… loud.

— Yes — this is a common issue in Dubai. People often think that if it is loud and noisy, it must be good. But that is not how sound works. The louder a speaker plays, the more you push it into distortion — and all speakers distort, to some degree.

When you play harmonically rich music at high volumes, you are essentially stacking multiple layers of that same sound on top of each other at slightly different intervals. That overwhelms the ear, causes listening fatigue, and becomes mentally exhausting. Ever noticed how, after walking through Dubai Mall, all you want to do is sleep? That is noise fatigue — your brain working overtime to filter out everything it doesn’t want to hear.

Of course, some tracks include harmonic distortion on purpose — sometimes to add character or warmth (as overused as that word may be). But when that is combined with a speaker’s own distortion and the acoustics of the space, it quickly becomes too much — especially at high volumes.

Our ears don't respond the same way at all volumes. As loudness increases, sounds tend to feel more harsh — that is the Fletcher-Munson curve at play. It is something we need to be more mindful of. Our ears are incredibly precious, and high SPL (Sound Pressure Level) can become unsafe, even causing permanent damage.

As events get louder, EQ adjustments need to evolve throughout the night to reduce fatigue — for both the audience and the integrity of the music. Different genres demand different tuning approaches when played at high volume.

It is all about balance.

— Can a great sound system really change how music feels? And what makes your system stand out?

— Absolutely — the efficient reproduction of sound on a speaker is directly linked to the technology it uses. Horns, for example, function as acoustic transformers, directing sound exactly where it is needed — ideally to the ears of the audience, not bouncing off floors, ceilings, and walls. They are also incredibly efficient, requiring relatively little power to achieve high output.

That concept of power conversion and efficiency is something I wanted to carry through the entire system, from the midrange drivers to the subwoofers, allowing me to keep the speaker count economical without compromising performance.

Take the subwoofers, for instance: each one houses a single 21-inch cone, but the design uses both sides of the cone. There is a high resonator chamber at the rear, and the front energy merges with it inside the box, radiating out through the main mouth. This design follows the Paraflex concept. Yes, the boxes are big and cumbersome — but that trade-off results in incredible efficiency. At 50 Hz, I can put in just 1 watt and get 105 dB of output.

We recently used six of these subwoofers at the Secta Open Air event — and they effortlessly moved a crowd of 500 people, with plenty of headroom to spare. The entire sound system drew just 4.5 amps for the speakers — less power than a microwave.

Of course, they are not commercially viable at scale and won’t be appearing on any tech riders anytime soon. Every speaker manufacturer has its own priorities and patents to define its USP — some more unique than others.

The one that has inspired me the most is Danley Sound Labs. They stand out not just in design but in principle. The first time I felt a subwoofer in my soul — truly felt it — was at Notting Hill Carnival, and it was one of Thomas Danley’s designs. That moment sparked my speaker obsession.

Now, I feel incredibly lucky to be doing sound engineering for Danley Sound Labs in the Middle East through Modul-(production). Danley’s approach is something I believe in wholeheartedly — a harmonious balance between all the necessary compromises in speaker design, done right from the ground up.

Through building my own speakers and collaborating with fellow “speaker freakers” around the world, I have learned more than I ever imagined about sound — and I am incredibly thankful to be part of this world.

— Regarding your new venture, what exactly is Modul-? Could you share the story of how it all started?

— Modul-Production came together organically through years of collaboration with the Secta team. Secta had already built a reputation — not just for its music, but for its full-on commitment to production quality, especially when it came to sound. What made it unique was that we did everything in-house: stage design, lighting, audio engineering, social media, 3D artwork — the works. Every cent earned was reinvested into creating a better experience, and that kind of all-in mindset started to get noticed.

Then, in December 2023, everything changed. Julian, Secta’s co-founder, got a call from Nike. They were planning a unique, wellness-focused festival in the desert and needed someone who could deliver custom audio setups across multiple stages. We said yes, assuming we would just be doing the sound — but it snowballed quickly.

In a matter of weeks, we went from simply deploying speakers to managing the entire project: bespoke music curation, VJ setups, health and safety planning, custom-built acoustic panels — the list went on. It became five months of intense work, culminating in a week-long build in the desert and a truly unforgettable event.

It was somewhere in the middle of all that when we connected the dots. We realised we had an amazing pool of talent — individuals who each brought something specific, whether it was gear, skill, or experience. No one could do it all alone — but together, we could do something remarkable.

That is how Modul- was born: a production company structured more like a creative collective, where independent specialists come together to deliver high-end, bespoke solutions. We are a boutique production house, deeply focused on sound, stage and set design, engineering, and rental for clients who value quality and who align with our mission.

Since launching, we have continued to grow. We provided audio for two stages at Sole DXB 2024 — the Power Horse stage powered by our Danley system, and the Adidas stage supported by Tone Farm. We have also worked with hospitality brands like JA Hotels, Accor, IHG, and Marriott — and of course, we handled full production for the recent Secta Open Air in April.

At its core, Modul- is about doing things properly — with care, with the right people, and with a mindset that prioritises collaboration and craft. It is not just about delivering events. It is about creating a new kind of production ecosystem — one that is agile, thoughtful, and grounded in shared values, trust, and real creative vision.

At Declan’s request, we’re sharing a list of the people who supported him along the way:

HOQS Team members: Matthew MJ (HOQS Founder), Lewis Cafaro (HOQS USA), Ty Cention (HOQS Australia), Bryce Jones (HOQS NZ), Philip van Heijningen (Plippie), Gareth Coatzee (HOQS Africa), Mark Tomlin (HOQS UK), Ben Wells (HOQS UK), Chris Iwasjuta (Motionlab Berlin / HOQS Europe), Clement Noel (HOQS France), Nicolai Grymer (HOQS Nordic)

Special thanks to: Calum Young (Calum Audio), Bennet Prescott (B&C), Andrew Richardson (Faital Pro), Andy (Blue Aran), Lean Business (Andrew), Kyle Marriott (Neuron Pro), Fahad Fayyaz Kohkhar (CNC)

by Alexandra Mansilla