Midas visits Indonesia as part of Asian tour
Published: ASIA
INDONESIA: In collaboration with its Indonesian distributor PT Gracia Auvindo, Midas recently held a fourth Asian Pro2/Pro2c workshop in the Bangga Dua Novotel, Jakarta.
Since unveiling the Pro2 digital audio mixing system at Plasa 2011, the UK console specialist has been conducting training seminars and workshops around the world. Midas brand development manager Richard ‘Fez’ Ferriday and Dave ‘Coops’ Cooper are currently in the Asian Pacific region, where they have been explaining the technologies and features inherent in the consoles to users in Seoul, Bangkok and Manila.
PT Gracia Auvindo’s general manager Thomsen Phan readily admitted that his company had never hosted a training seminar of this scale before in one of the Novotel’s ballrooms. ‘The hotel staff told me that this is one of the largest groups to have come here for a workshop,’ said Mr Phan. ‘We’ve had to raise the bar, as we’re now selling the audio equivalent of a Rolls Royce with Midas.’
Approximately 250 people attended the workshop, in which hotel staff had to add extra rows of chairs to avoid a standing room-only scenario. ‘I was expecting maybe 100 people and hoping for 150, so I am almost overwhelmed by how well it has gone,’ Mr Phan admitted. In addition to more than 200 dealers, systems integrators, sound engineers, houses of worship and venue technicians, more than 30 attendees from Sumatra, Surabaya, Bali and destinations outside the Indonesian capital made their way to the Novotel.
During the workshop, Mr Cooper gave an overview of the Midas brand before hosting a two-hour seminar on the Pro2/Pro2c consoles. This was translated by Big Knob Audio’s Harmoko Aguswan.
Mr Ferriday’s underlying message was for the attendees to listen to the performance of the console. ‘It’s not another digital console – it’s a networked audio system. It’s audio, so it’s important that you actually listen to the mic pre-amps.’ Mr Ferriday gave informative explanations on the consoles’ mic pre-amps, EQ, dynamics processing and latency to an attentive audience. A projector beamed live Pro2 shots onto a screen, focussing on Mr Ferriday’s close up explanations of the channel strips, groups and software.
After lunch, the 250 delegates enjoyed the performance of an acoustic band, before learning how to edit a Pyramix recording from a Madi recorder via a DN9650 network bridge. Following that, attendees participated in a Q&A forum before undertaking some personal one-on-one sessions. ‘You get much more out of one-on-ones,’ furthered Mr Cooper.
‘Gracia Auvindo has done an amazing job for us today,’ enthused Mr Cooper. ‘Like Sound Solutions in Seoul, they have worked very hard to pull this off.’
Mr Ferriday and Mr Cooper’s final Asian Midas workshop date will take place in Singapore, but they admitted that they will be taking the Pro2 tour to China in April.