New Midas-only rental company launches with XL8 console
Published: ASIA
AUSTRALIA: Owned by husband and wife team Tony and Tonie Miller, CEOs and founders of Tasmanian events company Production Works, new Melbourne-based Mighty Rock Performance Technology has purchased a Midas XL8 as its flagship console, the first to be based in Australia.
Midas distributor National Audio Systems supplied the XL8 to the new company, which is a Midas-only rental operation. Mighty Rock also purchased a Midas Pro9 digital sound system, with the addition of the Midas Pro2 series planned within a matter of months.
Mr Miller reports that he has long been a Midas fan, and decided to create the new dedicated Midas company to cater for the growing demand for its digital systems.
‘Our long established Hobart office will handle the admin,’ Mr Miller explained. ‘We deliberately sited Mighty Rock’s storage facility in Melbourne to facilitate hires to Australia’s east and west coasts, Australasia and beyond. We are set up to support worldwide tours, and as well as hardware we offer technical crew for touring, system integration, patching and programming support.’
The company’s Midas XL8 has already been put to good use at Adelphia Studios in Melbourne where it was used for two weeks of production rehearsals for John Farnham’s Whispering Jack – 25 Years On tour.
‘Until I knew the XL8 was available, I was having real trouble trying to spec my rider,’ said Mr Farnham’s monitor engineer John ‘Hendo’ Henderson.
‘The show is divided into two sets: one acoustic, one electric,’ he explained. ‘The opening acoustic set alone encompasses drums, wurlitzer, sax, harmonica, guitars, banjo, electric bass, double bass and four backing singers, and with the electric set we’re adding full drum kit with octo pads, 16 channels of keys and two electric guitars, and nearly everyone has stereo in-ear monitoring. Only the XL8 can provide the 36 outputs I need, and the sound quality is a real bonus. There’s no brittleness or break-up at the top end like I’ve experienced with other digital consoles,’ he enthused.
Jason Kelly, technical sales manager for Midas and Klark Teknik, added: ‘We are delighted to have done this deal – we have had a long and successful association with Production Works, and the new venture means that there is now an XL8 for rental on every continent and in every major territory in the world.’
Production Works continues to provide audio touring production services for tours and theatre shows.