Headquartered nearf Ivybridge in Devon, Blue Thunder Sound was founded by Jake Prowse and has been supplying events equipment to festivals around the UK for the past 14 years. The recent acquisition of a DiGiCo Quantum 225 mixing desk from Solihull-based SoloTech has been a game changer for the company, with Somerset’s Big Weekend festival in July providing the perfect opportunity to test drive it.
Managing Director Prowse and Senior Audio Engineer Ryan Gardner agree that the new console complements their existing inventory and is a perfect fit for their style of working. ‘The versatility of the Q225 is very important,’ says Gardner. ‘We do festivals over the summer, but we are also doing theatre shows and corporate events. We need a console that has a simple user interface and is as versatile as we are as a company. The Quantum 225 can do all of this and more.’
The Quantum 225 proved an ideal fit thanks to its fully programmable work surface, ensuring that everything engineers need is always at their fingertips. The console benefits from 72 input channels with 36 buses and a 12 x 12 matrix, all with full channel processing. Also included are Mustard Processing channel strips, Spice Rack, Nodal Processing and True Solo.
‘I really appreciate its usability,’ Gardner says. ‘If anybody asks you for a feed, it’s just so quick and easy to get the result you want rather than fussing around in menus. It’s such a flexible and adaptable piece of kit, whether you’re doing broadcast or live.’
This year was the first that Blue Thunder had been responsible for audio at Somerset’s Big Weekend, fielding the new DiGiCo desk a new Martin WPC loudspeaker system.
‘With it being our first time, it was great to have plenty of toys to use,’ Gardner says. ‘There are monster trucks right behind the main stage, so we needed some powerful audio to beat those.’
Owning a Quantum 225 also has perks for the freelance engineers that work throughout the year for Blue Thunder, enabling a longer prep time because equipment is not being sub-hired. The prep room in the warehouse is already busy and engineers are looking forward to using the desk, rather than on off-line editors.
‘It’s great to have the desk available to us,’ Gardner says. ‘We’ve got a nice, quiet, isolated space for pre-prep. I know a lot of our freelancers are excited and a lot of them have asked if they can come in and play on the desk to get familiar with it. We’re hoping to do a bit of formal training with it next year.’
‘It’s always a big decision when making major purchase,’ Prowse concludes. ‘But the support we get from SoloTech and DiGiCo has made it an easy choice, we’ve got big plans for the Quantum 225 and are already planning to make further additions to our rental stock from the Quantum range.’
