The couple wanted an outdoor wedding. They also wanted shade, wind protection, and a plan B for rain. So they booked a massive white tent with vinyl walls on all four sides. Technically outdoors. Acoustically, a reverberant box.

The DJ set up as if he were outside: speakers on sticks, no thought to room acoustics because there was no room. Except there very much was a room. The vinyl walls reflected sound almost as efficiently as drywall. The tent peak created a focusing effect. The grass floor was the only absorption in the entire space, and it was covered with a dance floor and 200 chairs.

The officiant's lapel mic started ringing at 3.8 kHz during the vows. The DJ pulled the high-mid EQ down. It shifted to 1.2 kHz. He pulled that down too. Now the officiant sounded like he was speaking through a telephone from 1970. The bride's vows were delivered in what one guest described as "a tunnel of sonic regret."

Enclosed tents with hard parallel walls behave like small rooms with very little absorption. RT60 values of 1.5-2.0 seconds are common. The sound operator expected open-air conditions with infinite headroom and got a vinyl echo chamber instead.

The Moral: If it has walls and a ceiling, it's a room — even if it's a tent. Run SonaVyx Problem Detection before the ceremony. Enclosed spaces always need measurement.