Types of Risers
Types of Risers
September 25, 2019
In the performance world, there are many different kinds of risers. Different types of productions require a wide range of equipment to satisfy the event.
When considering purchasing a riser system, you need to consider your needs and what will work for your events.
Choir & Band Risers
The first type of riser we’re going to focus on is choir. This category encompasses two styles of riser options, the standing and seated risers.
A standing choir riser is obviously made for standing choirs, as the name suggests, and seated ones are for choirs that are sitting. Sometimes the event space or type of performance will dictate which system is best for you. See this post to help make your selection.
We can even take this another step further and talk about risers that fold and demountable risers. The determination as to what kind you’ll need will depend on your set-up crew and storage space. Typically, folding ones are easier to set-up while demountable ones store more efficiently.
Band risers are seated, but they’re different than seated choir risers because they have deeper treads to allow a little more space. Band risers are also usually demountable and be configured in different alignments depending how the director organizes the band and type of instruments that are utilized.
Audience Risers
The second broad type of riser is an audience riser. These are used in many different facilities and applications such as black box theatres, performance halls, stadiums, arenas, and temporary outdoor events.
There are also different types of audience risers and we’ll break these down into three categories. They are telescopic, retractable, and demountable.
Telescopic seating risers are typically used in arenas but have recently become popular for black box theatres. They are able to by set-up or put away quickly and accurately with the push of a button. When not in use, they store compactly up against the wall. They’re perfect for multi-purpose spaces when set-up time is important or there is a limited crew. The ones in the photo above are some that we installed at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion.
Manual retractable seating risers are similar to telescopic seating risers in that they both fold out. The difference is that retractable seating isn’t done with the push of a button. Depending on the system you have, retractable seating is easier to move to a different location. Telescopic risers generally stay where they’re installed whereas retractable seating risers, like the ones in the photo below, can be moved easier or set up in different configurations.
Demountable seating risers can be completely disassembled and put in storage when not in use. These are ideal when storage space is limited or if you will be transporting the risers to completely different locations on a regular basis because the space they take up while being transported is limited as well.
Conclusion
When deciding on your next risers, there are many different options out there and you need something that’s going to meet your requirements. Contact our experts so that we can help you get a personalized system that will meet the needs of your space.
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