The APM Series is designed to provide a simple and cost-effective solution to a familiar problem for sound engineers and production managers: how to provide distributed monitoring for a large orchestra/band setup (such as with a West End musical or a studio recording session) without the hassle and expense of either a wireless system, battery- or mains-powered headphone monitoring, or open loudspeakers. It also provides a perfect solution to providing large numbers of audio feeds at events such as press conferences.
According to Hand Held's Nick Bruce Smith, the APM Series addresses a very real issue to which they had yet to find a completely satisfactory solution. "We do quite a lot of work with orchestras, even more so now that so many pop acts are using orchestral backing, yet no-one had really come up with a monitoring solution specifically designed for large groups. We ended up putting something together ourselves, but it was far from perfect. However, the APM Series is a tailor-made device for just this sort of application with all sorts of useful features that make it so much more than just a headphone amplifier. We've already sent it down to some TV studios in Cardiff for its first job, and so far it has performed impeccably."
Hand Held Audio has initially taken one APM 200 main station that will accommodate up to 200 people, plus ten APM 12 local headphone amplifiers that will drive two pairs of mono or stereo headphones or in-ear monitors with a separate volume control for each output, and an APM 31. The APM 31 powers one pair of headphones or in-ears, but has three inputs, allowing the user (typically a soloist, orchestra section leader, drummer or conductor) to mix in two other sources such as his/her own instrument and a click track.
Garwood's Chrys Lindop comments: "It was great to be able to walk into Hand Held Audio with a solution to problems they have had to deal with since they first opened the business, and which it hasn’t been possible to address properly until now. As the premier supplier of a range of monitoring solutions for the live music environment, they’ve shown solid support for Garwood over the years, so this is a great way to begin with the APM Series in the UK."
(Lee Baldock)
