Leading Indian sound hire company Sound.Com has invested in DMI-Klang cards to accompany its fleet of DiGiCo consoles, as well as the Klang:konductor system for use with its extensive collection of other consoles.

Founded in 1998, Sound.Com is owned by Warren D’souza and has consistently pushed technical boundaries and service provision for its turnkey audio rental solutions. D’souzais known for his mixing skills, his enthusiasm and his investment in the industry, and also his young and highly skilled workforce.

With rich music arrangements and up-tempo songs, Klang is well suited to Bollywood music, and is gaining popularity with Indian artists. Sound.Com is finding that this demand is being compounded by the many international artists requesting it for their Indian tour dates.

Most recently, Academy Award winning instrumentalist and composer, AR Rahman, has been using the Klang:konductor system for his live dates.

AR Rahman is a prolific composer, responsible for many movie soundtracks and Bollywood classics. He wrote the music for the movie Slumdog Millionaire and is responsible for the story’s mega hit ‘Jai Ho’.

‘Klang’s clarity in rendering spatial audio means that even complex mixes with many layers remain clean and intelligible,’ explains Mark Thomas, long-time Sound.Com employee and monitor engineer for AR Rahman. ‘Using Klang’s immersive in-ear mixing technology has significantly transformed how I approach mixing. The depth of spatial audio that Klang offers has allowed me to elevate the sonic experience in ways that were previously difficult or even impossible to achieve. Klang’s spatial audio tools enable me to place each element in a mix with a heightened sense of direction and depth, crucially without muddling.

‘This means that whether it’s intricate arrangements or the layering of different instruments, I can ensure that every sound feels like it’s coming from its own distinct position in space, creating a more dynamic and immersive monitoring experience.’

Creating an immersive experience is not only a technical support, Thomas also supports his artists creatively. Using Klang has developed a deeper connection with the music, allowing a greater emotional impact to be achieved with his monitor mixes.

‘AR Rahman’s music carries a lot of emotional weight, and the ability to use Klang’s immersive sound features helps me enhance that emotional impact,’ he says. ‘The technology allows me to move sounds around the musician/singers listening plane, creating more emotional highs and lows, and helping the performer feel more connected to the music.’

Among musicians and artists, Thomas has found the Klang:kontroller is the best interface for orchestras, delivering tactile control from an ergonomic device. For Bollywood bands, where musicians often play multiple instruments, he finds they are happier adding Klang:app to existing iPads.

‘There’s a huge demand for Klang, both cross-platform and also with higher channel counts, so that was a key reason to invest in Klang:konductor,’ he says. ‘India is a major stop for touring acts, we’re really on the map now. Many of these artists are using Klang, so we’re seeing a big uptick in enquiries about it.’

The live event season gets underway in India in September, with many performances across the country. AR Rahman has also toured extensively this year, and with such a variety of work across vastly different venues, it is inevitable there will be some issues. For Thomas, the ease of communication with Phil Kamp and the Klang team means that he always feels supported.

‘I have spoken to Phil many times, we often hire locally, so sometimes I encounter questions about compatibility, but he is always available to help me sort out little things like that,’ Thomas notes. ‘The Klang team are very supportive and the musicians have been very happy with the results so far. In short, Klang has been a game-changer for me, particularly when working on AR Rahman’s music. It allows me to maintain the clarity and emotional depth of his compositions while pushing the boundaries of how the music is experienced by the listener.’

D’souza is pleased with the integration of Klang into the company’s existing inventory. It is an investment that will not only provide excellent service for years to come, but improve the experience of the artists and engineers that he and his team serve.

‘Our Klang:konductor and DMI-Klang are both popular and effective, and we share a fantastic relationship with the Klang team,’ he reports. ‘In keeping with our tradition of naming our consoles and rackmount equipment after Star Wars characters, the Konductor has been christened Podracer, taking its inspiration from the immersive surround effects of the Boonta Eve Classic podrace in The Phantom Menace, famously driven by Anakin Skywalker.’

More: www.klang.com