Factory Sound

Behringer Factory Tour & 20th Anniversary Party

2009-06-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

2009. It's the 20th Anniversary year for Behringer. Since we got on so well with Uli when he first came to Australia November last year, Tone and Artie were invited to go to China to help Uli and his team celebrate. A stop-off in Hong Kong was required for a beer and a bite first...

As usual, the video camera came out. If you want to catch any of the 'non factory tour' - sightseeing with Factory Sound, it's here (on YouTube).
But the real reason we headed over to Zhongshan was to visit Uli at home in Behringer City. It's HQ for Behringer, with a large R&D team and plenty of manufacturing taking place there. Plenty is an understatement! With over 3,000 staff on site, Behringer City cranks out over 2,000,000 products per year. Let's just take that in for a moment...

Per day that equates to around 5,500 finished products. Each individual component is checked before being ticked off as 'production-ready' then the products are manufactured, some parts by machine, many by hand assembly. At various points along the way they are checked, before passing a final inspection and packaging. There's no magic packaging machine either!

It was without a doubt an eye-opening tour of 'Team Behringer' and one that we were able to video along the way. Later that night we attended Behringer's 20th Anniversary Party. Amazing.

To see how excited all those individuals were, being able to show off their entertaining talents and getting to put into practice the English they'd been learning was simply awesome. We were given a generous dose of Chinese culture, and have tried our best to capture that on video also.

So...here is both Part 1 and Part 2 of our trip to Zhongshan, China.
Each episode goes for about 8 mins. The first one begins at the party (yes, it was a pretty crazy entrance we had!), and an impromptu interview with the man of the moment, before moving toBehringer City for the tour. We get some good running commentary along the way, courtesy Michael Jago who recently left his post as GM of Behringer Australia to go and sink his teeth into Behringer Europe.
In the second episode we leave most of the talking up to the experts - Michael Deeb (CEO, Behringer) tells starts us off, and then Uli lets us in on some of the secrets of his factory. We swap a couple of times back to the party.
Hope you enjoy, we certainly did!
Part 1

Part 2

www.factorysound.com

Stupid pricing - JUNE SALE starts Monday 1st June

2009-05-27T18:23:00.000-07:00

Can't believe it's that time already! Doesn't seem so long ago that the skies were brighter, the days were warmer, and we'd never heard of a Stimulus Package. Well, we're doing out bit to take us back there. It's time for our Stupid Sale - the Famous Factory Sound June Clearance.
1 week only, Monday June 1st - Saturday June 6th 2009.
or until stock depletes, whichever comes first.

Now, if you've had any experience with Factory Sound, you'll already know that we pride ourselves on giving the best possible pricing all year round. BUT the first week of June is when we just go plain stupid. We've got the stock, we've got the knowledge - it's time to make the deal happen. If you need to get something done, we're going to make it work.

There are hundereds of microphone in stock, ready for clearance. Wired or wireless. Studio, live and special application. Whatever you need, we've got it.

This gear is priced so low that we simply cannot publish the prices. No exceptions. Don't call. Don't email. Just come in, or send a friend. It's the only way to get the most serious deals in Australia.

Our range of mixing consoles is huge - live or studio, big or small, digital or analogue, all with one thing in common - stupidly cheap for the 1st week of June.

The great wall of speakers is ready to go as well. Factory Sound is well-known around town as the specialists in live sound. We've got a huge range of speakers, and they don't stop at PA speakers. Studio monitors are also a specialty.

And DJ - we are home to Pioneer, Denon, Numark, Technics, Allen & Heath Xone:Series, Native Instruments...you get the picture.

Home studio - Digidesign, RME, MOTU, Presonus, Apple and more.

Signal Modifiers for PA use, installation or studio...

Plus lighting, stands, leads, cases. The list is huge.

Headphones, connectors, cable, DI boxes, every single item in the shop.

And just to prove that ~~we really are~~ this sale is stupid...here's last year's promo video. Just in case you didn't have enough to do with your day.

www.factorysound.com

StudioLive now in stock!

2009-05-24T21:43:00.001-07:00

10 outta 15 ain't bad! To us it has felt like a long wait...but the highly anticipated StudioLive16.4.2 has finally arrived. And it's a perfect 10.

15 have landed in Australia, and we're rapt to know that 10 of those are (as at lunchtime today) sitting in stock ready for action. You can see more on the product here, or our orignal blog post here, or if you'd like to delve deeper - check out the Presonus StudioLive blog here.
Actually, that Presonus blog is pretty cool - you'll see both articles and youtube clips on how to use StudioLive for monitor mixing, FOH, and in the studio with Apple Logic.

and for a late-breaking news flash on expandability and connectivity, go here.

May 21st - Rode University
We had a great night. Here are some pics, and we've also put a highlights reel together for Factory Sound TV.

Above is the view from inside the fishbowl...where we had Event Opal monitors cranking. And below looking from the outside at the great spread of Rode microphones.

We had a terrific turnout, and all who came were rewarded with beer, nibblies, a free Rode PopShield, and the chance to ask as many questions to the experts as they needed.

Here's to the next chance for a gathering - any excuse will do.

Anyway, here's our YouTube clip from the night...

www.factorysound.com

Rode University on Tour

2009-05-12T20:53:00.001-07:00

The Rode University Tour bus is just about to land at Factory Sound.
We're eagarly awaiting Thursday 21st May 2009, with the welcome mat rolled out from 5.30 - 7.00pm, at Factory Sound.

Anyone who registers prior to coming will be able to claim a free Rode PopShield. In case you haven't registered yet, send an email off to us (to the infopool address) and we'll pop you on the list. We are closing registrations at 5pm on Wed 20th May - that'll give us the day to organise some nibblies and drinks for all!

Apart from having every Rode microphone, Event Opal studio monitors, Presonus studio gear - including soundcards and their all-new StudioLive digital console on show, we're also hosting Craig and James from Rode. Craig has been the Australian representative for Rode Microphones for as long as we can remember, and James represents both Event and Presonus in Australia. They'll be ready for all your questions.

And, it almost goes without saying, there will be cracking specials for anyone who buys up on the night. We'll have lots of stock - so take advantage!

www.factorysound.com

Dean's head in a box - Round 7 tipping video

2009-05-05T22:04:00.000-07:00

Terrible, really. Our latest footy tipping video is without doubt our dodgiest - but don't let us convince you, see them all here (via YouTube).

On a side note - shame these YouTube embedded videos don't fit onto the blog page anymore. We'll have to stop shooting in HD.

www.factorysound.com

Whatta Mann!

2009-04-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

OK, this was the most fun we've had doing a footy tipping video so far...

Click here to see Whatta Mann, for our Round 6 tipping video

If you haven't been keeping up-to-speed, here's the whole playlist (via YouTube).

www.factorysound.com

Behringer XL Series Mixers have landed

2009-04-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

The eagarly awaited Behringer XL series live sound mixers have made it, and they're in stock now at Factory Sound. We saw the first batch getting put together on our recent visit to Behringer's factory in China...and this is what they look like in our showroom now!

We'll pop some video footage up soon, so stay tuned to Factory Sound TV.
See the XL Series product detail here, or just come on in!
Special pricing will apply for existing Factory Sound customers. Sign on here if you're not already 'on the list'.

www.factorysound.com

Round 3 prize for $2009 Footy Tipping

2009-04-06T17:32:00.000-07:00

Just because we had a spare 5 mins yesterday...here's the short video for our Round 3 prize, available to all our footy tippers. If you haven't signed on, you've got until Round 5 to do it.

Round 2 prize for $2009 Footy Tipping

2009-03-31T23:19:00.000-07:00

We can't help ourselves, here's another footy tipping video. Our 'normal' talk page will resume shortly, but while the comp is still open...we'll keep pushing it!

Round 1 prize for $2009 Footy Tipping

2009-03-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

Ok... it's up and running. Get your tips in by going here.
In the meantime, check out our promo for this week's prize:

$2009 Footy Tipping

2009-03-10T23:08:00.000-07:00

This year looks to be the biggest one ever, so if you're ready for a bit of weekly escape from the usual, come in and join the family for our favourite 22 weeks of the year.
As always, you'll need to be a Factory Sound customer or supplier to enter.

Carl Cox: NI Traktor demo for the masses

2009-01-27T20:42:00.000-08:00

Favourite friend of Factory Sound - and legendary DJ to boot - Carl Cox (the original 3 deck wizard) always brings a smile to our face when he's in town. Seems he was rather busy this time around. Carl was interviewed by HeraldSun entertainment writer Nui Te Koha, with the focus on digital technology for DJing.

Read the interview here. For those who'd prefer to see Carl using Traktor at his home studio, go here for the HeraldSun multimedia presentation. You'll soon see why Carl has been at the top of the DJ tree since first being named number 1 DJ in the world in 1997.

You can see some of Carl's work from last year on an old Factory Sound TV episode here. Sure, you'll see Dean getting a little messy...

Of course, if you want to see the gear in question...
Native Instruments Traktor Pro & Tracktor Scratch Pro

pic via CarlCox.com

Pioneer BigWigs fly in to Factory

2009-01-21T17:42:00.000-08:00

Well here's something that doesn't happen every day...
Factory Sound hosted Pioneer dignitaries from Japan and a new Managing Director of Pioneer Australia today, with a tour of our shop and informal discussion on the agenda.

As usual, with Dean having not only his finger on the pulse, but every tentacle wrapped around where Pioneer Pro DJ is headed, he cut short a holiday to make sure he gave the word on the street. In return he got exciting new product whispers, and a big discussion about all things Pioneer Pro DJ.

But it wasn't all business and information think-tank...we had time for a group hug, huddled around the DigitalForce7000 pack.

Pioneer is definitely a company that knows where they've come from, where they're headed and how they're going to get there. We know that by keeping our nose to the grindstone, instead of in the food trough...and by keeping a foot in the door instead of in our mouth, we're going all the way with them!
If you'd like to keep up with Pioneer, keep an eye on factorysound.com - or just come on in.

We'll make sure you get looked after.

PreSonus StudioLive

2009-01-14T20:20:00.000-08:00

We had an entertaining visit this week from the brand new (soon-to-be released) PreSonus StudioLive16.4.2 digital console. After a quick introduction, we took it for a tour around the shop.

With a couple of firewire ports on board, StudioLive was looking comfortable, lounging on the couch in our monitor listening room. Being rackmountable and weighing in at just 10 kg, we figured StudioLive would be well suited to life on the road also.

Yep, we were right.

Then for the bench testing...we did some side-by-side (and back panel to back panel) comparisons against other 16 channel consoles we have in stock. StudioLive16.4.2 has all the ins and outs you'd normally see: 16x XLR inputs, 16x 1/4" Line inputs, 16x channel insert points. You also get direct outputs for channels 1-16 (via 2 x DB25).

Of course, the undeniable benefit of a digital mixer is the processing power on board, and StudioLive16.4.2 has got plenty for every in and out point of your mix, which leads us to...

Fat Channel
The control section of the mixer is very easy to get hands on. There's enough faders to do what you need quickly, and it's also super-simple to select the 'fat channel' control section for any of the inputs, aux sends, sub groups or master outputs. Fat Channel is the bright blue heart of the console., giving you instant access to all the controls you'd need.

Here's what Presonus have to say about their Fat Channel:
"...engaged by pressing any 'select' button, features extensive equalisation and dynamics available to every input channel, every aux output, every subgroup output, and main output. High pass filter, and four-band semi-parametric equalization algorithms are based on PreSonus’ custom-designed digital EyeQ™ equaliser, delivering extremely musical results. Also included in the Fat Channel are compressors, limiters and gates modeled after PreSonus’ award-winning ACP88 for complete dynamics control."

Did we mention 2 x dedicated internal effects...

Our new friend StudioLive16.4.2 even managed to time the visit to coincide with customers who ask all the right questions. Take John Hall for example... he's a regular user of Midas analogue and DiGiCo digital consoles, working as house engineer at Melbourne venues. No doubt he gets plenty of experience with other boards while touring Australia and US. For him, StudioLive was appealing as it offered a quick, portable (and well-priced) way of controlling a bunch of in-ear monitors for tours - especially doing festival shows where want to just patch in and get your ears going in next to no time.

It's settled then. Looks like StudioLive16.4.2 has got it's own spot at Factory Sound.

Stay tuned for further updates. If you simply can't wait, go here to download the brochure, or here to download the manual. Nice one PreSonus.

www.factorysound.com

3-day bargain-fest to finish 2008 in style!

2008-12-22T16:32:00.000-08:00

December 29-31. It's our end of year bonanza!
By the end of today (assuming the planets align for us) you should have received an email with a hint of the stupid pricing we'll be putting on for the last 3 days of 2008. If you're not currently a Factory Sound InfoPool member, you'll just have to come in after Boxing Day and get stuck into the bargains!

As a little tease, here's a couple of prices:
Mann M21 Studio Condenser just $195 (RRP $695) - 45 only in stock, NO rainchecks.
JBL PRX518S Powered Subwoofer $1750 (RRP $3899) - 3 only in stock, NO rainchecks.
TC Electronic M350 Dual Engine Effects $299 (RRP $575) - 3 only in stock, NO rainchecks.

OK, you get the picture.
Get in quick, or the boat will set sail without you.
The usual disclaimers apply (see below).

And if we don't see you before the New Year arrives - warmest wishes for a lovely Christmas and New Year period.

RRP is the Recommended Retail Price, as suggested by the respective importer/wholesaler of each product. RRP does not reflect what price these models have been sold for in the past, or what price they will be sold for in the future at Factory Sound. RRP is listed here as guide. All other prices listed are the 3-day-sale special prices (valid until 31^st December 2008, or until stock items sold out - whichever comes first). No rainchecks available. Please note that whilst every effort has been made to ensure all information is correct, Factory Sound will not be held accountable for any errors within this post. No exceptions.

Event Opal now in stock

2008-12-22T16:25:00.000-08:00

Seems so long ago that we first started writing about Event Opal powered studio monitors...
When we heard the very first pair every built, it was way back at the end of July, when the Aussie dollar was just about buying a whole $USD! We traveled to sunny Las Vegas, and after some serious jetlag, missed planes and a few quiet drinks (along with some rowdy ones), got to hear just how impressive the Opals are.

You can too - just come into Factory Sound and bring your reference CD. And if you haven't already jumped on the number 112 tram or hopped in your car on the way here, take some time to check out the pic from our hotel window back in Vegas... it was taken during Rehab, which happens on Sundays at the Hard Rock Hotel.

the fesitval of Behringer

2008-11-26T16:31:00.000-08:00

It was twenty years ago today...
We were invited last Monday night to attend 'an evening with Uli Behringer', which was an intimate affair: a few Behringer dealers from the Southern states of Australia, together with the Behringer Australia team, and on his very first trip to Australia - Uli Behringer.

We expected to walk in to a Sgt Peppers theme, with cardboard cutouts of The Beatles playing Behringer guitars through Bugera amplifiers. However it was a rather chilled affair, and we were treated to a few cool ales and settled down to a relaxed session at a function room at Crown Casino (a short walk from our day at Factory Sound).

Uli hopped up onto stage, and sat down for a Parkinson-style session with Behringer Australia's GM, Michael Jago. Factory Sound was not only well represented with quite a few of us attending, but also very impressed. Uli is (in no particular order) relaxed, intelligent, passionate, charismatic and inspiring. We also got the feeling he is genuinely talented in many areas of audio, whether it is musically, or pro audio. This was indeed confirmed when he came to Factory Sound the following day.

We've no idea how he managed to end up at Factory Sound on the day of his 20th Anniversay (since Behringer began), but Uli spent quite a bit of time chewing the fat with us. It was in our speaker room, that we realised there is a reason why his company is 20yrs old and still rising. The reason is Uli. He has a firm grasp on not only what sounds good, but what is required both now and in the future for all things pro audio. We listened to every speaker in our room, and his face could not lie - Uli has never listened passively to anything in his life. Even when he is Salsa dancing, we're pretty sure he's going to be focussing on more than his feet and his partner.

Really hard to put into words how 'switched-on' Uli is. If you've got a spare 10 mins though, check out our video podcast interview (episode 21)that we did with Uli on the same day. We think it's the only time he's done it before, so we're thankful that he took the time during his hectic 20th Anniversary year to come in and share a beer and a few stories for Factory Sound TV.

JBL EON 500 series - the new generation

2008-11-12T17:25:00.000-08:00

Now we know that the JBL faithful can be an excitable lot, perhaps not quite working up to a state like the mac-nerds when Mr Jobs gets up on stage...but nonetheless James B Lansing has by far the most famous three initials in the world of professional audio.

So with the recent (and highly anticipated....see, it's catching) release of the EON 500 series "the next generation" aka "the most powerful ever" we thought it was time to go All the way with JBL.

The 3 new models are: EON510, EON515 and EON518S. You can see the release we attended by viewing our Factory Sound TV podcast page (episode 20).

Back to the boxes: Both the EON510 (10" 280w) and the EON515 (15" 450w) have a super-sleek design, and not many kilos on board. They look to be set for a long life of typical audiovisual applications (plug a mic straight into the back, and also run the multimedia feed into the 2 x line inputs), plus quite at home doing month after month of gigs in pubs. Here's a closer look at the back panel of the EON515.

Now in stock, so come and check them out! We'll make sure you get looked after.

Great deals, bec$AUS we can!

2008-10-26T22:22:00.000-07:00

If you've been looking for an upgrade to your PA system or a new addition to the studio, there has never been a better time...and it's most definitely a case of first in, best looked after.

Recently the wheels have fallen off our dollar, and most pro audio wholesalers have reacted by putting prices up. As more than casual observers, we are amazed at how quickly we've received TWO price rises (or one enormous one) from some of our suppliers.

In fairness to them, many pro audio importers had significantly lowered the Recommended Retail Price of many lines while the going was good, although the drop in prices seemed to take a lot longer (and less steep) than the recent rises, which have been quick and big.

So rather than reducing our stock levels and running lean...we went out and spent the last of our beer money buying as much stock as possible to ensure we can offer the best deals around. We figure that the summer festival season doesn't care about our $AUD, nor does the upgrade your studio needs. The only thing that gets affected by a big price rise is your bottom line - that is, unless you go for it while you can.

While we've got stock, take advantage because the deals simply cannot last. Once our stock is gone, we'll have to replace it with more expensive stock.

Brands we have really bought up big on include: RCF (the great wall of Art boxes), Allen & Heath (Zed mixers, Wizard Mixers and GL2400 series), DBX (comps, graphics and drive racks), Soundcraft (EPM & EFX series mixers), Avalon (heaps of the black VT-737SE), Shure Wireless (PGX / SLX) and Wired (SM series & Beta Series), Sennheiser (Evolution wirelss + e900 series vocal & instrument mics), Soundcards by Presonus & RME, plus heaps more.

Until the new prices have settled (around first week of November...though there's probably more grief to come), we've disabled many 'go' prices on our website. We will be looking after existing customers first. This means that if your name is not already on our database, you'll need to subscribe to get the best possible pricing.

Think of it as an early Christmas pressie ; )

a ZED for your studio

2008-09-25T23:08:00.000-07:00

Delivered fresh in the last few days, the new A&H ZED R16 recording mixer has taken prime position on our mixer table right up the front of the showroom.

What is so interesting about Zed's new mixer? Only everything!

First of all, we'll call this model a '16 channel firewire recording mixer' which is a pretty good summary. Of course, having the firewire ports (and ADAT) on board, it means the R16 is most certainly capable of taking a bunch of microphones (16 channels worth), and including your gain & eq settings, resulting in 16 channels worth of 1's & 0's.

Or let's say you'd like to go the other way...using the console for a mixdown. Take your 16 channels worth of ADAT or Firewire, and bring them up on the board's analogue control channels. You'll have enough juice left for a L&R record path back to your computer. And you can also make full use of the handy transport buttons.

For more info, check out A&H's page on the R16, or come in and a have a look/feel for yourself. We're suitably impressed, and won't be surprised if you are too!

And just in case you've got ~~nothing to do~~ something specific to look for, here's a link to the great Zed range from A&H.

Grab your sausage!

2008-09-22T18:33:00.000-07:00

Because it's Grand Final week (any excuse would have done), we're grabbing a bunch of snags...and dishing them out this week to anyone who comes in between Midday and 2pm. As an added bonus, we're cooking them this year.

Need we even mention that once you've grabbed your sausage, talk to us about any gear you need. We're in deal mode this Grand Final week.

We're showing vintage foot(y)age on our Pioneer Plasma all week long.

Being school holidays in Melbourne, we're offering deals & sausages to your apprentices that you bring in too...

So... instead of going to the Royal Melbourne Show "can I have a showbag or 20 dad?"....come to Factory Sound this week. We'll make sure you get looked after!

Audio milestones - just a few

2008-09-18T00:46:00.000-07:00

We don't stop and sit down for too long at Factory Sound, and we've just realised that our original favourite Behringer product has turned 15. For anyone who doesn't remember, the old MDX8000 (multi-band compression) was a terrific studio tool that is almost un-findable thesedays. It was deleted by Behringer sometime in the 1990's...and there are never too many around for sale, but nontheless we remember you. Happy birthday Combinator!

If you stop and look back at the last 15 years of professional audio innovations and milestones, plenty has happened:
The home studio explosion - amazing how many musicians (and stand-alone engineers) have incredible studios in their own homes. The quality of gear versus cost is simply astounding. Besides, there's currently not enough enough spare water in Australia to justify digging up your backyard for a swimming pool...so spend your hard-earned on a studio!
The powered speaker revolution - we're now well-and-truly into the 2nd wave of powered speakers having paid for themselves several times over. Notables along the way included JBL Eons seemingly everywhere at the start, and then RCF Art300A going louder and harder to become a real alternative for many small bands. EV, FBT, JBL and RCF are all now so far ahead of where they started with powered boxes. Just look at JBL PRX series, or RCF TT series to see how much sound you can easily get from one little box!
Changing of the guard (effects) - About 10 years ago, just about any 'soundguy' could turn up to a gig in and around Melbourne (and probably anywhere else in the world), and know that they could pull up their favourite preset on the house SPX900 or SPX990 Yamaha. But then TC Electronic came out with the twin powers of M-One and D-Two, and it was all over. Within six months of their release in Australia, M-One had all but replaced SPX990 as the effect of choice for mid-level PA systems, and D-Two was a perfect companion. Of course now both TC Electronic and Lexicon are very popular for both live and studio applications.
Moving operations to China - We're sure that the Behringer motto was never 'Keeping the bastards honest' but that is what happened when the German company founded by Uli Behringer moved to China for its manufacturing.

We spoke with Behringer Australia's GM (Michael Jago) who has been with Behringer since it was first imported into Australia (originally through a company called Musiclink). He agreed that Behringer had driven the price quite seriously downwards, making it much easier to either make a start, or to simply get heaps more gear with your budget. "I have found our old (Music Link) 1999 catalogue....This product could be your story. The MX802A (pictured above) was $499 in the 1999 catalogue. Then when Behringer Australia started in 2002 it come down to $299.99. It's closest current day replacement would be the 1202. It has the 4 mic pre's and has a 2008 RRP of $159.99 Quite a price drop from $499 to $159 in 9 years. Young blokes today don't know how good they've got it"

That's quite true...and Behringer has had a far-reaching (positive) effect on our industry. It is without question that Behringer products offer maximum bang for buck. Manufacturers such as DBX have been kept honest by Behringer's pricing policy, and have since lowered prices to a level we would never have imagined 10 years ago. There are many manufacturers based in China, but only the ones who have invested time, energy (and lots of $$$) are consistently producing products for our market that just seem to work.

Have you seen this clip produced by Audio Technology magazine?

Watch part 2 here...

There have been so many other audio milestones: like Neutrik winning the connector armwrestle, Shure & Sennheiser going head-to-head and leaving the other live mics in their wake while doing it, the rise and rise of Rode microphones...

We'll come back to this one.

CX300B headphones put through the wringer

2008-09-11T22:12:00.000-07:00

Well, kind of. We caught up with one of our tippers from Factory Sound Footy Tipping $2008 last weekend - Ivabiggin was his tipping alias. Anyway, he was a bit spewin because he'd left his favourite pair of iPod headphones - Sennehiser CX300B - in his pants (we're amazed there was any room left, with a name like that), and put them through not one, but two wash cycles. They also went through a tumble dryer, until the pants were ready for Iva to pull on in public again.

So...Iva packs the CX300B headphones, and brings them in, ready to say "can you order me another set of these". He told us the story, and being the inquisitive types we asked him what they sounded like now.
"I don't know, I haven't plugged them in" he said. So he whipped his shuffle out of the other pocket, and plugged them in. Shortly after, he broke into laughter.

They still work perfectly. Nice one Sennheiser.

New blingCON from Neutrik

2008-09-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

We've always trusted Neutrik for two things...connectors that 'sound' good (don't adversely affect the audio path), and connectors that are built like a brick dunny.
But now, seemingly after getting stars in their eyes courtesy a few too many nights watching Liechtenstein Idol, perhaps coupled with a nice bottle of Apfel Schnapps, Neutrik has come up with a way of helping stage performers not only sound great, but look the part too.

Introducing the crystalCON range of connectors (we thought they were going to call it blingCON).

The 3 members of the range are: NC3FXX-B-CRYSTAL for that special singer in your life, who would simply love to dazzle under the bright lights even more than usual, NC3MXX-B-CRYSTAL for the metro-audiovisuals among us who firmly (but not too firmly) believe that males should be allowed to dress as nicely as females, and lastly (yet, probably most importantly) the NP2X-B-CRYSTAL, just perfect for a lead guitar solo played with one foot on the wedge, with the beautiful crystals picking up and tossing in all directions the light coming from the guitarist follow-spot operator.
We're told that we're not allowed to supply NP2X-B-CRYSTAL to bass guitarists. Unless they can prove that they will be wearing a purple lycra jumpsuit with silver cape when they will be using the connector.

Seriously, if you need a new lead for your microphone or guitar...ask about having one of these sexy new connectors put on the relevant end. It may just be the extra conversation starter you need for those all important moments straight after the show....

Our night at the AVPA 2008 awards

2008-09-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

Factory Sound at the 2008 Australian Video Producers Association Awards...

Tone & Artie stepped out for a ripper night of awards, celebrating another year of the AVPA looking out for its members by, like any mate should, coming together and lending a hand for whatever is needed. The night was made even more special this year, as AVPA was celebrating 20 years since its inception.

We had a few beers while watching a vast array of category winners' clips. Of course, we were secretly hoping we'd get a surprise award for the latest episode of Factory Sound TV.
Some of the categories included: TV Commercial Over $10,000, CORPORATE Over $40,000, DOCUMENTARY, SHORT FILM, MUSIC VIDEO (sponsored by Factory Sound), and Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was a highlight, because it was awarded to Ric Stone, voiceover extraordinaire. For anyone who grew up with a tv commercial that began with "this man is a dentist...so we can't show you his face", that was Ric (the voice, not the dentist).
The coveted MUSIC VIDEO award this year went to Guy Barwood of Glass Eye View, for his production 'You never know' - The Fry Brothers. Guy was a finalist in the same category last year.

Artie & Tone ~~throwing their arms around~~ flanking Tim Fry (inside L) and Guy Barwood (inside R) of Glass Eye View.

We talked with many people throughout the night, and it was good to get so much positive feedback. Seems that many video producers come to Factory Sound because they know (i) there's usually the items they need in stock all the time, and (ii) the right advice is backed up with a great price.

We're not sure who was the first video producer to come in all those years ago, but the word has certainly spread since then, so thank you!