The last quarter saw us on tour with Toyah Willcox and some additional dates with Beth Nielsen Chapman. We provided the sound for 40,000 people at several high profile municipal firework shows, and once again produced and managed the Salisbury Christmas Lights show which this year went out live on BBC South Today. Around 8000 people attended the event and it was hailed as a great success. This was followed by the Wilton Lights event and the ever popular Lantern Parade at Salisbury Cathedral. Rentals saw us in London and Manchester on a regular basis and locally at Salisbury Arts Centre and The Chapel. Yet more Roland console sales and rentals kept things moving along nicely despite the bad weather, and we also supplied all the sound equipment for a Highlands Distillery function venue and a couple of bars at UEA Norwich.

Our best summer to date. We supplied systems for FUN LOVIN CRIMINALS, THE BLACKOUT, and we toured and engineered with BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN and TOYAH WILLCOX. We also engineered for MARTA SEBESTYEN at the ROYAL OPERA HOUSE and provided 8 rooms of audio for their DELOITE IGNITE FESTIVAL which was headlined by JAH WOBBLE and TALVIN SINGH. Sales continued to be strong to Universities, Churches, and rental companies with another 5 x ROLAND M-400 consoles supplied.

We also took care of 888FESTIVAL and several outdoor and indoor events with CANDLELIGHT OPERA. We also supported RED SQUARE AUDIO at the PLASA SHOW.

The second quarter of 2010 was our busiest yet. Coming off the back of another highly successful FAREHAM FOLK FESTIVAL (the biggest of its kind in the UK) we also provided full systems for the FORCES FESTIVAL and NAMFEST.

We also toured with the TOYAH WILLCOX BAND and worked with DREADZONE, THE BEAT, ADE EDMONSEN, The BARBICAN THEATRE London, and JEFF WAYNE'S THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. Sales included another 4 ROLAND Consoles plus a couple of large SHURE Radio Microphone systems. We also completed our latest Church and School installations.

The first three months of the year have been exceptionally busy. Sales of Tannoy speakers, Roland consoles, and Shure microphones have continued to be strong. We also invested in a new APG monitor system for our rental stock which was used for the first time at the Fareham Folk Festival.

We also supported The HUMANS on a two week tour which Paul engineered. The Humans are Toyah Willcox, Robert Fripp (King Crimson), Bill Rieflin (REM), and Chris Wong. We provided PA’s for Beth Nielsen Chapman and attended trade exhibitions at the RAI Amsterdam (ISE) and Prolight in Frankfurt.

The run in to the end of the year was hectic to say the least with numerous hires to local schools and venues. We teamed up with The Albion band once again for their Christmas party show at the Arts Centre and we were blasted by icy winds at the Salisbury Lantern Parade at the Cathedral. The event saw the debut of our new Roland M-380 digital console, the first time it had been used in the UK. So that was 2009, here's to 2010!

We ventured back outside in November with numerous firework shows and the Salisbury Christmas Lights event.

Once again we were the production company for the show which this year included the Salisbury Cathedral Junior Choir, City Stereo, Jamie Eldridge, and Salisbury Playhouse, all topped off with a firework display from the Guildhall roof.

Rentals included 13 on 13 (13 bands on Friday 13th!) at the City Hall and Edward II at the Arts Centre. We also opened a new business www.theyardsalisbury.com

We had our best sales month of the year moving on new products to schools and colleges and ex rental equipment across the world. Rentals were also strong and varied including some screen and projector hires. We also took on some consultancy work for a large multipurpose venue.

This month saw us providing systems for several shows at SALISBURY ARTS CENTRE and SALISBURY CITY HALL. One of the City Hall shows saw our debut as an event promoter with the marketing support of SPIRE FM. The ABBA GOLD show sold out a couple of weeks before the event and was a great success, so we are now planning further shows and a local festival of our own for summer 2010. MIDAS was also able to donate over £1000 to the Stars Appeal from the proceeds of the ABBA GOLD event. We also supported RED SQUARE AUDIO for the duration of the PLASA Show at EARLS COURT. Sales this month included a TANNOY POWER V installation at SUSSEX ACADEMY of MUSIC and ex rental sales across Europe remained very strong.

August saw us at several festivals and more College installations. Festivals included the WATERFRONT in Gosport where we provided a full PA and recording system for 28 bands over 3 days and nights. The festival was attended by over 4000 people every day and a good time was had by all. Other festivals we supplied included NORGFEST and Paul engineered for Toyah at the REWIND FESTIVAL in Henley. We also provided several PA systems for country fairs. College installs continued in Manchester, Glasgow, and Chichester all with RSS by ROLAND Consoles and Snakes.

July saw Paul engineering for TOYAH and T’PAU at South Shields in front of 15,000 people. Paul also system engineered for CROSBY, STILLS, & NASH at Edinburgh Castle and MIDAS supplied a VQ LIVE system for TIESTO at the SECC in Glasgow.

Paul also caught up with EFX Audio for the SIMPLE MINDS show at Edinburgh Castle. We also supplied several ROLAND Digital Snake Systems for live recording projects and we engineered and provided systems for several large outdoor corporate shows. Sales continued to be strong and diverse – radio microphone systems, high spec cameras, high spec music pc’s, and recording software packages, plus a TD20 ROLAND V DRUMS kit for one of our Church projects.

The ABTT show in London dominated early June for both MIDAS and RED SQUARE AUDIO. Despite the tube strike and a lower than average attendance both our companies had a really successful show. The MIDAS booth was predominantly ROLAND, EDIROL, and TANNOY with representatives from all three companies joining us for the duration of the show. We are now working on following up all our project and sales leads from the ABTT and looking forward to PLASA in September.

On the live front we took care of the NAMFEST in Chippenham where we debuted the finished VQ LIVE system to great acclaim. Installations included St. MARKS School in Salisbury and continuing design work at FOLKESTONE LIFE CHURCH in preparation for their lighting and video upgrades. Sales were also very strong across Europe and as far as Australia.

We also delivered a ROLAND M-400 system to the SUSSEX ACADEMY of MUSIC. This is the start of a long term relationship with the Academy and you can read the full story here:
http://www.lsionline.co.uk/news/?2L5RPP

May saw us at the world famous Metropolis Studios in Chiswick providing a Tannoy VQ LIVE system and a Roland M400 for their 20th anniversary party. Musical guests included Glen Matlock, Eleanor McEvoy, Nina Ferro, and Aret. Roland also launched their new V Piano on the night. Other musical highlights included a show at Salisbury Arts Centre with the Mediaeval Baebes.

Ongoing installations continued at local schools and Churches and in a London club, whilst equipment sales went as far afield as Scandinavia and Germany. Second hand and ex demo sales continued to be strong with an increasing number of companies asking us to broker deals enabling them to buy new equipment funded by the sale of old.

MIDAS ProSound will be exhibiting at this year’s ABTT SHOW June 10^th & 11^th. We will be demonstrating the ROLAND M400 digital console and M-48 personal monitoring system along with the TANNOY range of loudspeakers. We look forward to seeing you there. Please follow this link to access the show details and free ticket registration: http://www.abtt.org.uk/theatreshow/

April was a really busy month on all fronts. Shows included DREADZONE, SPIERS & BODEN, and the annual FAREHAM FOLK FESTIVAL. Spread over three days every Easter this year's festival included SHOW OF HANDS, ELIZA CARTHY, MICHAEL McGOLDRICK, THE UKULELE ORCHESTRA of GREAT BRITAIN, MARTIN CARTHY, The LARKRISE BAND, and JACKIE LEVEN.

New sales included a further 6 TANNOY Power V speakers for the ongoing FAREHAM COMMUNITY CHURCH installation project, a ROLAND M400 and 3208 Stage Box to a London rental company, and the first UK sale of 6 ROLAND M-48 PERSONAL MONITORING systems for FOLKESTONE LIFE CHURCH. We will be covering this project which also includes 12 TANNOY POWER V loudspeakers, a ROLAND M400 Console and stageboxes, plus 8 SHURE Radio Microphones and IE Monitoring systems in more detail through the pro audio press. Another installation project came in at the end of the month for more TANNOY Loudspeakers.

Second hand sales included 8 x L-Acoustics SB218 and 2 x SB118 subs to a rental company in Finland, system controllers to Germany, and some desks, loudspeakers, and multicores here in the UK.

Finally, we were pleased to support our chosen charity, Salisbury Hospice, at their annual Guildhall event.

We decided to add another ROLAND M400 to our demo stock and supplied another M400 console to an installation in Leamington. We also attended a ROLAND Dealer Seminar at their Swansea headquarters and brought back the first M-48 personal monitoring system in the UK to demo to clients.

We upgraded some of the L-Acoustics SB218's at the UNIVERSITY of EAST ANGLIA with SB28 drivers and sold SALISBURY CITY HALL 4 SHURE ULX Radio microphones including an antenna distribution system. They also bought 4 TANNOY POWER V12 loudspeakers for use for various front of house and monitor applications.

A further 11 TANNOY POWER V12's and POWER V8's have been ordered by a Church in Kent for installation during April. This project also includes a ROLAND M400 system along with 6 M-48 personal monitors and 8 Shure radio microphone systems.

Apart from the usual hires in and around Salisbury and London the month was rounded off in style when we provided a full production service to SALISBURY DISTRICT COUNCIL who commemorated the passing of SDC to Salisbury City Council. We provided sound, lighting, and fireworks for the event which was held at Salisbury Guildhall.

February was a month of sales, installations, and dry hires. Sales included a TANNOY POWER V monitoring system for a live music venue, and further ROLAND V MIXER Consoles to Churches. These sales were made after comparative tests against other well known brands. Installations included the refurbishment of a local factory's sound system, and dry hires went to the MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, Corporate Clients, and to local venues amongst others.

We invested in 3 SANYO 32” TFT screens, 2 ACER projectors, and 4 SHURE ULX radio microphone systems to keep up with rental demand. The local corporate market has certainly grown in the last few months despite the downturn in the economy. It’s good to see that local companies still want to get their messages across to their clients.

The first live show of the year was with Hull based band THE TALKS. The band emerged in the summer of 2006 and since then, they have been selling out shows with their unique bass driven, reggae/punk influenced sound. Already veterans of Glastonbury and Leeds/Reading, spending many cold nights in the back of the van, plus numerous encounters with the AA along the way, their tour continues. For the Salisbury Arts Centre show we debuted the brand new TANNOY VQ 60 LIVE systems which RED SQUARE AUDIO will be distributing. The sound from the two tops and two subs was nothing short of astounding. Andy Reeves the front of house engineer was “blown away by the power and clarity” of the system.

Fareham Community Church purchased a ROLAND M 400 V Mixer system and we will be installing a complete audio visual system for them in the coming months.

December was a busy month. We sold 3 Lodestar motors and their associated control infrastructure to Salisbury City Hall. This allowed the technical staff to move the front lighting truss back into the auditorium thereby freeing up the original points for flown PA system applications. This restructuring has benefits for us as a rental company and for all the touring systems that frequently visit the venue. As the acoustics of the venue are problematic the provision of PA points will certainly help to reduce the reverberant effect of ground stacked systems.

Adriano Adewale the world famous percussionist visited Salisbury Arts Centre at the beginning of the month and we provided the PA and monitoring systems for the concert. We also debuted an Earthworks microphone drum set and posted the following press release.

Earthworks

We also supplied a distributed PA system and several radio microphones under the west front of Salisbury Cathedral for the Salisbury Lantern Parade. The event made its debut in 2006 and is fast becoming one of Wiltshire's main festive events. Organised by the local charity Circular Arts, and led by community artist Alex Grant from Toozalii Community Arts in association with Salisbury Arts Centre and Salisbury International Arts Festival, the traditional Japanese inspired event has literally taken off. Around 250 people took part in 2006, over 600 in 2007, and this year an estimated 1,000 people helped to light up the streets of Wiltshire's only city.

We also packaged three four way Lab Gruppen amp racks and a Yamaha LS9 for EFX Audio who utilised them at the Edinburgh Hogmanay event. This is a long standing commitment stretching back some ten years and it’s always a delight to work with our good friends in the north who run the best PA company in Scotland!

More Roland M400 sales and a press release in PERFORMING MUSICIAN MAGAZINE



  Going digital - Download PDF (3Mb)


 

November was an exceptionally busy month. We provided systems and Engineers for TOYAH WILLCOX, OSIBISA, DENGUE FEVER, FEARNE, ELIZA CARTHY, BELLOWHEAD, and ABBA GOLD amongst others.

We also provided several large PA systems for local authority and privately held firework shows.

Long term rentals continued with a dV-DOSC system out at WARWICK UNIVERSITY and a KIVA/KILO system for THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE LONDON.

MIDAS ProSound were once again the Production Company for the SALISBURY CHRISTMAS LIGHTS event in the Guildhall and Market Squares. The show which took place on the 27th was some 5 months in the planning and we brought together a great team of individuals and companies to provide SOUND, LIGHTING, STAGING, a 40ft LED BIG SCREEN, TV CAMERA CREW, FIREWORKS, a 25T CRANE, BARRIERS, SECURITY, etc. We also programmed all the entertainment, liaised with the Police, Fire, and Ambulance services, took care of all the Health and Safety aspects of the show, and put together the presenters scripts and the soundtrack for the fireworks.

The Event will be featured in the February 2009 edition of PERFORMING MUSICIAN MAGAZINE.

Notes from the production manager
Salisbury Christmas Lights review from PERFORMING MUSICIAN Magazine

November also included further ROLAND M 400 sales and a full AV INSTALLTION AT GRATELY SCHOOL.

LONG TERM RENTAL FOR WARWICK UNIVERSITY

Early October found us back at WARWICK UNIVERSITY installing an L-ACOUSTICS dV-DOSC system into their temporary venue. The Delta structure measuring 50 x 30 metres will be home to their live music, nightclub, and conferencing events until the refurbished campus venue comes back on line in the spring of 2009.

We carried out a day of acoustic measurements around the campus grounds a few weeks prior to the installation and made comparative hardware tests between point source and line source devices, as well as omni-directional and cardioid subs. It was very clear early in the testing that the line source and cardioid subs were the right solution for the acoustically transparent room by allowing higher and more consistent SPL’s within the structure than would have been possible with a conventional system. By focussing the energy away from the material covered walls and decoupling the subs from the floor we achieved exceptional results. Even though the system is limited to 100dba at the front of house mix position there is still enough energy to satisfy the audience and technicians alike and we have managed to keep the local residents’ sleep patterns intact!

LAUNCH OF RED SQUARE AUDIO

Paul Nicholson has launched RED SQUARE AUDIO a sister company to MIDAS ProSound. The clear distinction between the companies is that RED SQUARE AUDIO is concerned with distribution of high end products whilst MIDAS ProSound is a dealer of high end products. Since leaving L-Acoustics Paul began looking for distribution opportunities and INNOVASON the legenday French console manufacturer has become the first company to be signed up. "Being the sole Distributor rather than just one of many dealers gives you the freedom to focus and manage a product much more successfully in your given market. There will be more announcements soon regarding additional distribution opportunities for RED SQUARE AUDIO."

RED SQUARE INNOVASON press release

PERMANENT INSTALLATION at THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE COVENT GARDEN LONDON

Six colour coordinated L-ACOUSTICS 108P have been permanantly installed in the main auditorium of the Opera House in three L/R pairs running up the proscenium. Custom telescopic flying bars have been fabricated that will allow the speakers to be situated in front of the proscenium or hidden in the adjacent private boxes. The choice of the 108P was relatively easy for the Sound Department as they have been using the cabinets in the other ROH venues for almost 18 months. Once the budget was allocated the 108P was the logical choice due to their open and natural charactersitics which are vital attributes for any discrete sound reinforcement system in an Opera House environment.

4 x ROLAND M 400 V MIXER SALES AT PLASA

Having taken delivery of the new Roland M 400 digital mixing system in July we were busy throughout August making client demonstrations in the run up to PLASA. After the show we received four confirmed orders for the M 400 standard package which includes the console and a pair of S-1608 stage boxes. The consensus is that this product is way ahead of its competitors both on specification and value for money, sounds great, and is very easy to use.

LAB GRUPPEN and XTA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA NORWICH

The UEA has just taken delivery of 4 x LAB GRUPPEN fP 6400 and an XTA 448 Controller. The amps and controller will be used initially to power their existing Martin Audio W8 system but will be moved onto a second ARCS system when the next phase of their audio development comes on stream in 2009. MIDAS ProSound supplied the UEA (which has the busiest live venue on the University circuit) with 12 x L-ACOUSTICS ARCS along with 8 x SB218 and 10 x LA48a amplifiers in 2005.

MIDAS ProSound supplies THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE COVENT GARDEN LONDON

We are pleased to announce the sale of an L-ACOUSTICS KIVA Line Array System system to THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE, Covent Garden, London. In addition to the 12 KIVA, 4 KILO, and 2 x LA4 Controllers, we also provided the following extra equipment:

16 x L-ACOUSTICS 108P • 2 x L-ACOUSTICS SB15P • 4 x TASCAM CD-OIUP • 2 x KLARK TEKNIK HELIX DN 934OE • 2 x YAMAHA SPX2000 • 3 x L-ACOUSTICS LA4 Controllers • 1 x L-ACOUSTICS LA8 Controller

The KIVA will be used for the first time for Swan Lake.  "Drawing inspiration from classical dance, traditional Chinese acrobatics and elements of Peking Opera, the Guangdong Acrobatic Company’s extraordinary version of Swan Lake has taken the world by storm since its premier in 2006.A co-production with the Shanghai City Dance Company, this spectacular ballet, a seamless fusion of breathtaking acrobatic feats and magnificent classical dance, has transformed its principal dancers into international stars and thrilled audiences worldwide".

A further 2 x 108P and 2 x 8XT were ordered by the ROYAL OPERA HOUSE at the beginning of September.

PAUL NICHOLSON RETURNS TO MIDAS ProSound

Paul Nicholson has returned to MIDAS ProSound after 10 years with L-ACOUSTICS. Paul will now concentrate on developing the rental, sales, and consultancy activities of the company alongside Hilary Nicholson and Andy Reeves. Further full time staff will be brought in soon to accomodate the expansion of the company.

Since Paul's return Midas ProSound has supplied systems and services to the following:

MARK RONSON • THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE • FEEDER • THE HOOSIERS • THE WOMBATS • EMC EVENTS • WARWICK UNIVERSITY • BIRMINGHAM UNIVERSITY • HAYSEED DIXIE • DARE 2 FESTIVAL • TOYAH WILLCOX • CITY GATE CHURCH CONFERENCE • WINCHESTER FAMILY CHURCH • FESTIVAL TOO • SETH LAKEMAN