Japanese dealer Totsu International is reporting healthy sales throughout the country’s broadcast and postproduction community. Among them are more than 100 digital edit suite audio mixers taken by customers in Tokyo and other cities.
‘Over the years, we have come to expect more than the standard mutual support from a good many of our partners but Totsu International has provided a superior understanding of the technology, user interface and general requirements of the customers they serve and the products they demand,’ says Keith Knudsen, Renegade Labs co-founder/VP of Sales – the company behind these systems.
Japanese broadcasters and post facilities have taken four M16 Digital Edit Suite Audio Mixer systems to Imagica Shinagawa, plus M16 systems to Asahi Broadcasting, Art Plaza, Techno Max and Studio 38. A pair of M16 upgrades also has been supplied to Imagica and Welt. ‘These important upgrades consisted of new M16 control panels for existing Gray328|MXE systems,’ explains company co-founder/president Kirk Bradford. ‘They allow our customers to upgrade older systems to the new M16 status and available features – it’s an important upgrade path for many users.’
‘Totsu International firmly grasped the concept that the future of compact, powerful digital audio mixers for video professionals was coming from a team that formed the creative heart of Graham-Patten Systems,’ says Knudsen. ‘Effectively, Totsu Senior VP Sheen Hosoda communicated this concept to his customer base such that, with the initial product offering, Renegade and these new audio mixers already had an immediate following. Coupled with customer service, Sheen Hosoda and his team have ensured continuing sales success throughout Japan for our Renegade line of digital audio mixers.’
The majority of broadcasters and facilities in Japan use Sony video edit systems. Around 65 per cent of Renegade Labs’ audio mixers are connected to the newer Plug In Editor (PIE), with the remainder to BVE-2000 and older BE-9100 editors.
‘We have a number of linear and seven nonlinear editing rooms at our division of Imagica,’ reports the facility’s Toshihiro Suganuma. ‘Previously, we used Graham-Patten D/ESAM Series digital audio mixers, but we are now replacing those mixers with Renegade Labs Gray|328 mixers. The Gray|328 has similar functions and operation to D/ESAM, and can be controlled by editing systems. We appreciate eight channel outputs, the monitoring mixer and a very small console [surface], which allows us to flexibly design the interior of our editing rooms.’ Imagica is a full-service production, editing and postproduction facility.
More: www.totsu-int.co.jp
More: www.renegadelabs.com
