Summer's officially here, and that means one thing: it's outdoor party season. The weather's warming up, the days are getting longer, and everyone's itching to touch grass. Rooftop BBQs, beach hangs, park gatherings, and backyard bangers are about to dominate your calendar.
But here's the thing: outdoor parties come with their own unique challenges. From sound and setups to neighbors and noise complaints, it’s a different ballgame to getting down indoors. That's where Lars’ guidance and knowledge comes in. We figured if we're going to be partying outside all summer, we should learn from someone who's mastered the art.
With a freshly brewed coffee, video call fired up, and Roskilde Festival’s production mastermind sitting comfy, this conversation showed us exactly why Lars is at the top of his field. Get a load of how this pro preps for his parties.
It should come as no surprise that Roskilde Festival’s Head of Production is a doer.
Since he was 18 years old, Lars has been organizing parties and music events. Taking naturally to the role of the host, he hated parties that lacked a plan–a trait he shares with his mother. This passion for partying has evolved from doing the sound at local venues to producing some of the world’s biggest performances.
“I've always found it fascinating to organize things and make things happen. Since I was 18, I've been around music playing or organizing and that led to doing full time production, which I've done for the past 17 years now. Playing in smalls bands, it is natural that that bandmembers must be organizers, otherwise there will be no show.”
What initially started as a passion project has become his profession. In massively simplified terms, Lars coordinates, plans, and designs the countless elements that make the Nordics’ biggest festival as legendary as it is. As well as putting on parties for 130,000+ people, our expert loves to shred the guitar on his tube amp, play in indie bands, and manage tours for some of Denmark’s biggest musicians.
“I've worked at a boarding school in Denmark, but I've always been involved in music. I was the guitar player in my bands. I still pick up the guitar when I'm home, but live in a two room flat so I can't crank my tube amp as loudly as I’d like to.”
Lars isn't just a tech expert–he's someone who genuinely loves bringing people together. Throw in the fact he’s a qualified teacher and you can guarantee plenty of nuggets of info in this guide. There’s no better person to help you level up your outdoor parties, this summer and beyond. Class is in session.
According to Lars, everything starts by asking yourself the question: what do my guests want?
"Be aware of who you are doing it for. At Roskilde Festival, which of course is one big party and one big event, what I always try to work from is trying to take the view of the audience and have their perspective in mind. I would say that that's key."
While the average host focuses on their own experience, pros like him think about everyone else first. Figuring out what expectations they have will influence pretty much every aspect of your party. Whether they wanna dance, hang out, play a set, or get stuck into drinking games are just some of the things to consider. Understanding the crowd at Roskilde Festival allows Lars to create the experience they want.
Lars'll be the first person to tell you that there’s no such thing as a proper party without quality sound.
This isn’t a question of how loud your music is, though. According to Lars, it’s all about your setup. Where you place your sound system has a major impact on your experience of the music: distribution trumps volume every time.
“When you're with your friends, very often you're playing for people 15 meters away. So, when you begin looking into where you're going to meet outside, try and look at what your surroundings are.”
Say you’re splitting your outdoor party into two zones: a dancefloor and a chillout area. Chances are that your guests who are dancing will wanna hear the music a whole lot more than the chillers. The direction your sound system is facing is key here.
“Place your sound system close to where you want to sit or dance. You might benefit from putting the sound system five meters away and it will cover your group.”
Point that thing towards the center of the dancefloor and watch the vibe come to life. The location of your sound system plays a vital role, too.
“If you have multiple Soundboks that can be linked, you can actually play at a lower volume and cover your area perfectly”
Lars’ top tip is to spread the sound rather than crank the volume. Bar small gatherings or lowkey events, this is the case for almost every party situation. For Lars, that’s where TeamUp comes in clutch. Link those Soundboks up and spread them equally around your outdoor space or dancefloor.
At Roskilde Festival, lighting is an essential part of the show.
Lars and his team use preview suite programs to ensure every laser and strobe is on point. These allow artists and their teams to pre-program their light show, stick this onto a USB, and bring it along to their performance.
“I could easily see having a party outside with two or three speakers and a few small LED party lights where you can change the color. These are quite affordable and usually come with an app where you can become your own light designer.”
That doesn’t mean it isn’t at your party, too. Instead of using complex professional setups, Lars believes a few LEDs and strobes are all you need to level up your atmosphere.
“Of course, lighting comes to the full when it's dark. But you can gain the power of the lamps and, of course, using smoke also does something.”
It’s no secret that party lights come to their own under the night sky. But don’t let a bit of daylight stop you–Lars has a few tricks up his sleeve just for that. Gaining the power and brightness, adjusting the colors, and using smoke and haze effects all help to give your light some extra oomph. Any excuse to crack out the smoke machine, right?
Keeping an open dialogue with their neighbors is what keeps Roskilde Festival from shutting down
“We've had systems at one of our electronic stages where we know of people who have felt it nine kilometers away from the festival site. Being the big party we are, we have a really good dialogue with the municipality because we don’t want to be shut down.”
No matter whether they’re invited or not, you need to factor your neighbors into your planning. Keeping an open dialogue and communicating is the first step Lars takes towards proper preparation for the festival. Noise complaints happen because of bad planning, not bad neighbors.
“Walk your site, your party area and the surroundings to check how your sound spreads. What you want to hear from the neighbors the day after is ‘we didn't even notice you were there.’”
The best way to do this is to get to know your outdoor space. Whenever Lars is setting up at Roskilde Festival, he scouts the entire site. While surveying the space, he gets to test, identify, and optimize.
“Download a free SPL Meter to check your dB level. There are many good ones for iPhone and Android.”
Playing your system at low volume allows you to listen to how it travels. This allows you to identify any sweet spots or problem areas–in urban areas, hard surfaces reflect sound, for example. Once you know what you’re dealing with, it’s easy to adjust and optimize your setup.
"There are frequencies that you don't hear, but these frequencies travel. Low end travels in quite high curves, so they might travel further than your high frequencies. They actually jump over trees and travel further away than you would expect, especially if you have systems like we have at Roskilde.”
As well as the actual area itself, understanding the frequencies of your music helps minimize the risk of angry neighbors. Lars explained how sound is split into two scales: A-level, which is what you can hear, and C-level, which is the full spectrum of frequencies. Considering the C-level of your sound system is important. Tweaking the EQ on your speakers saves your neighbors from rattling windows.
For a pro like Lars, considering every possible scenario is how you guarantee the goods every single time.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve got 10 friends over for a BBQ or 100 party animals round for a rager–every outdoor party requires the same level of planning. Having been in the game for 30-something years, Lars has learned this golden rule: you’ve got to plan for what isn’t there as much as what is.
“What can my backup plan be? I would be on a battery solution for everything, making sure I was charged up and ready to go, but also have an alternative backup plan.”
Don’t take the music or lighting for granted–when they’re gone, your party will be memorable for all the wrong reasons. To stop this nightmare from happening, Lars suggests two things: charge everything to the max before you party and bring backup batteries in case you need ‘em.
“It's down to all the simple stuff–if you have food and drinks, you also have some sort of waste plan so when you leave, you leave no trace behind.”
Taking what is there away at the end of all the fun is another of Lars’ non-negotiables. When you’re partying in public spaces, you need to have a ‘leave no trace’ mindset. After all, you aren’t the only crew who will enjoy them. All it takes is thinking about what you need to clean up. Trash bags, ash trays, and blankets are just some of the things you can use to make your impact as minimal as possible.
At the end of the day, the goal of any outdoor party is one that goes for as long as you want. The longer it lasts, the more moments that become memories. If your first one goes to plan, then who knows–maybe one day you’ll be producing a festival of your own.
