Alan Burgess turned to theatre, event and broadcast systems specialist Orbital, following advice on line-arrays and consoles that would meet its criteria for rider-friendly brands. ‘The Q1 system is our first line array – we’ve used them before, but have had to hire them in,' Burgess says. 'Having our own line array ups the scale of project we can handle from stock. It gives us the sonic quality that we value, and puts us in a more rider-friendly position, so we can respond positively to specific Q1 requests, whether from engineers, production companies or venues.

'We have had d&b audiotechnik in our inventory for around 10 years, and have always found them to be a good investment,’ he adds. ‘In fact, the brand’s own profile has been important to us, and it’s certainly helped our business to have d&b systems available.'

Since receiving the new systems, Amber Audio has taken them out on a number of projects, including Swindon Invincible 2010 – Battle of the Bowl, the South West’s annual dance music festival. ‘We wanted to go the cardioid sub route, hence choosing to go with the J-Subs and B4-Subs rather then the more obvious Q-Subs,’ Burgess continues. ‘In fact, we’re finding that the J-Subs will integrate well with our d&b C7 rig, for example, and across our whole d&b inventory there’s a lot of mix and match flexibility – combinations of product types that theoretically shouldn’t work too well together but in practice are very successful. This aspect of the d&b audiotechnik brand is giving us even greater flexibility for handling different venues and event types.

‘The Venues are the result of our policy decision to invest in digital consoles – it’s the way things are going, and it’s becoming an increasingly important capability. There are a lot of advantages with digital, and it’s steadily displacing analogue. Our choice of the Venue was based on a combination of factors. We did look at various alternatives, but felt the Venue had the best overall sound quality – a critical factor for us – particularly at its price point. We also preferred its straightforward user interface. Price had to be the ultimate limiting factor, with the Venues meeting our targets across sound quality, usability and cost. We also did a lot of research before making our final decision, asking around to investigate aspects such as hire frequency and rider acceptability.’

In business for more than 20 years, Amber Audio has recently expanded its operation with an office in Swindon, increasing its reach beyond its Bristol-focused catchment. Amber’s projects encompass arts centres, theatres and conference venues across the region, as well as small to medium-sized tours. The company has also developed a market for delivering low carbon-footprint audio at outside events, using a combination of wind and solar energy to power its systems.

More: www.amberaudio.co.uk

More: www.orbitalsound.com