Protec continues equipment purchases

Published: November 15, 2011 MEA

UAE: Dubai-based rental company Production Technology (Protec) has continued to add to its inventory with the purchase of Avid’s new ProTools HD|X and ProTools 10 systems as well as a DiGiCo SD9 console. ‘It’s been a good summer of consolidation and expansion,’ said Protec head of sound Ed Ross.

Protec had been looking at purchasing a ProTools system for some time due to the number of shows that require a large amount of channel-count recording, but decided with the launch of the new system that it was the right time to make the move. ‘I had heard rumours of a new system coming out, so it made sense just to wait the extra couple of weeks and purchase the latest kit so we are future-proofed for a considerable number of years,’ said Mr Ross. ‘It’s a lot faster than the old ProTools system, which was already very powerful, so we shouldn’t have any issues going forward.’

The rental company has bought a 64 in and out system, but this is expandable up to three times that quantity as and when required. ‘We have an Avid Profile mixing desk which ProTools links directly to, so that is a handy feature. We’ve also purchased along with it a Madi interface so that we can link it to any of our DiGiCo desks and our Optocore system as well,’ explained Mr Ross. ‘You never know what an engineer’s preferred desk choice is going to be, but with the Madi capability we can pretty much connect it to anything we want which is quite useful.’

The system has been purchased through local distributor Mediacast and is packaged with a high-spec Mac. ‘I like the fact that there is a local distributor and they have been very helpful,’ said the head of sound. ‘I always prefer where possible to buy through a local supplier. If their prices are on a par with the rest of the world then there is no reason to go outside of the UAE.’

The second purchase for the rental company is a DiGiCo SD9 desk which it will use for corporate events. ‘It’s an incredible desk for the price and the footprint,’ enthused Mr Ross. ‘It’s as good as any of the other DiGiCo’s really, you just pay for how many channels you want,’ he continued. ‘I’m a big fan of DiGiCo in general, they are so easy to use.’

Again, Protec opted to buy the desk locally through distributor Delta Sound, and Mr Ross is keen to keep increasing the company’s inventory from the manufacturer. ‘I think we are going to expand our DIGiCo investment over the next year or two, I feel that they are really where desks need to be right now in terms of price, power and sound quality. ‘DiGiCo are just an awesome company really.’