In fact Production House, the Belfast-based company set up back in 1995, had already made the decision to purchase by the time the sound engineer arrived at this year's event on Lake Geneva - for which Digidesign were again a major sponsor. Placing an order with Digidesign resellers, Marquee Audio, he admits "I'd had my heart set on it."
The order included a complete Venue D Show System with Sidecar extender and FOH, Stage Rack, DSP and HDx cards. At the same time Production House purchased a second digital multicore system.
The company has been buying from Marquee Audio since its inception - commencing with an L'Acoustics dV-DOSC rig. "While we may not be their biggest customer we have always enjoyed a close relationship. [sales director] Andy Huffer is always quick to respond to any questions we have and over the years he has given us a lot of advice on new products and technology," says Willis.
"Delivery times were going to be an issue with our console and Andy immediately offered his demo system which arrived in plenty of time for its first outing. Production House already run digital desks in their hire fleet but wanted to mark their latest upgrade programme by investing in another brand. The Venue had received so many great reviews, it sounds great and has superb flexibility - plus I remember how much I had enjoyed mixing on the D-Show in Montreux last year."
(Jim Evans)
