Following the purchase of their Martin Audio MLA loudspeaker system in 2012-14, comprising MLA, MLA Compact and MLA Mini, the London-based professional live sound equipment hire company have recently undertaken a new investment programme to focus on their infrastructure, maintaining and upgrading all elements of their professional sound equipment hire stock to ensure that it meets clients' needs in terms of commerciality, functionality and cutting-edge technology.
"Whilst we're known as the 'go-to' rock-and-roll touring sound hire company in London, Capital Sound Hire caters for a broad range of live sound market sectors including corporate and conference work, festivals, theatre and comedy" comments Paul Timmins, general manager at Capital Sound Hire. "It's important that our hire inventory is capable of servicing the needs of all of those market segments just as effectively as it does concert touring and this really drove our decision to invest in new and replacement hire equipment to support the work that we do across the live sound market."
Timmins and assistant general manager Lisa Santos Hannan visited LMC Audio to discuss their requirements.
"Lisa and I took a trip out to visit Will at LMC on a rainy January day", explains Timmins. "LMC and Capital go way back with business dealings, mainly due to our Martin Audio connections, yet we were amazed at the range of products they were able to offer and discuss with us. Will's in-depth knowledge of the pro audio brands and equipment solutions available, including LMC's part-exchange facility, together with his great character made getting a deal together productive and fun."
Will Hinkly, technical sales at LMC Audio comments, "When I was approached by Paul and Lisa to consult with them on their equipment needs, I was able to narrow down the immediate requirements into a package which plainly and simply worked for them. We were able to supply on a quick turnaround from the first meeting to the delivery of the goods and that was key for them with such a busy diary scheduled for the coming months."
Capital Sound Hire's new investment includes Yamaha QL digital mixing consoles and additional Rio racks.
"From a commerciality and functionality perspective, the QL consoles represent an important step forwards from the LS9s and M7s we had been using, enabling us to service the corporate and conference work that we do even more capably," notes Timmins. "This investment integrates well with our existing Yamaha CL5 and Rio stocks to allow for a larger networked system utilising the same audio feeds across a large site with minimal latency, which, although is largely down to the Dante technology, it is only as good as the system that controls it, and we feel the Yamaha offering is one of a known quantity to incorporate that technology and deploy it seamlessly. As part of a package including d&b M4 wedges and Martin Audio MLA Mini with DD6 fills as a combo, we have a very attractive offering that will comprehensively serve the sector."
"Channelling our latest investment into our hire equipment infrastructure includes updating our drive racks, cabling, panel systems and all of the ancillary equipment required to integrate the systems" comments Santos Hannan.
Historically, Capital Sound Hire's XTA processors play a key role in linking this infrastructure together, their DP224 and DP226s providing all of the processing for their systems and acting as the 'real work horses' says Timmins, running primarily as the crossover solution for their Martin Audio Wavefront W8L and W8LC systems over Audiocore.
"This new influx of DP448 and DP444 will replace the 224s and 226s of old. After what has been a solid run, we felt it was the right time to move on to the DP4 Series proce
