UK - Blue Thunder Sound is based just outside Ivybridge in Devon. The company was founded by Jake Prowse and has been running for the last 14 years, supplying events equipment to festivals all over the country, and touring internationally. Purchasing a DiGiCo Quantum 225 has been a game-changer for the company and the Big Weekender at Yeovil was the first outing for the console.
Jake Prowse, managing director and Ryan Gardner, senior audio engineer say the new Quantum 225 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 was provided by SoloTech, the Solihull-based DiGiCo supplier, and the Big Weekender in Somerset was the perfect opportunity to test drive it. The festival is a huge weekend of music, family entertainment, monster trucks and hot air balloons. The Quantum 225 was the ideal fit thanks to its fully programmable work surface, ensuring that everything engineers need is always at their fingertips.
“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.”
2024 was the first year that Blue Thunder had been responsible for the Big Weekender audio, so it was a great opportunity to show off their new equipment. Alongside the new console was their new Martin WPC PA. “The festival has a real funfair feel. With it being our first time, it was great to have plenty of toys to use,” Gardner recalls. “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 a major purchase,” Jake 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."
