Audio Light makes major Martin Audio investment
- Details
The order was placed with Martin Audio distributors Atendi AS on the opening day of the ISE Show in Amsterdam, and fulfilled by head of sound Øystein Wierli.
After fulfilling last year’s festival season, the company required a bigger PA and approached Atendi. “First we talked about buying more W8LC but decided we wanted a bigger system that we could split in two smaller set-ups,” says Thomas Nordvik Olsen, co-founder of AudioLight. “So we started to look at what the market could offer, and after getting offers from all the major PA manufacturers we decided that Martin Audio still had the best system for our needs.”
Specifically they wanted a three-way enclosure, with 10" low-mid drivers which would make it smaller and easier to rig and store than their W8LC. “We also wanted a system with a lot of DSP so we could have a separate amp channel and DSP, especially on the subs.”
Wierli told them that the upcoming Wavefront Precision (WPC) would meet the criteria. Olsen auditioned the system at the Martin Audio open days last autumn and decided on the spot that the WPC system was the right one for his company.
“Atendi suggested the new [XE300] monitors, so we could have the same amps on both the PA and monitors,” Olsen continues. “As we managed to find a buyer for our old LE1200 system, we decided to go ahead. As for the SXH218, we are the first company to order it. We now have a larger system than previously, but with smaller boxes, while the SXH218 is bigger than the WLX subs we had before.”
With their new WPC system AudioLight are now capable of providing PA systems for medium-sized festival stages across northern Norway. According to Olsen, “The aim is to cover festival crowds up to 8,000 with a 32-box system while achieving good coverage for up to 2,500 indoors, with a 16-box system.”
Martin Audio’s Simon Purse and Wierli have already carried out full training in Harstad where AudioLight is based. “We even did a concert with Norwegian artist Dagny during the training,” Wierli explains.
AudioLight has been a supplier of sound, lighting and staging, for small and large events across the northern part of the country for over 15 years. Set up in 2003 by Thomas Nordvik Olsen and Rudi Brevik, mostly to cover gigs the two staged themselves.
When the company started to secure more work for other live sound and lighting events, it invested in Martin Audio from the outset, following up a Blackline PA order supplied by Wierli in his previous company, with LE1200 monitors. AudioLight later acquired a W8LC rig and early in 2015 invested in an MLA Mini followed by CDD-LIVE.
(Jim Evans)
