SR/Live Sat, October 11, 2008

Regardless of how it’s said, and by whom, an essential truth remains that there’s often a great deal to be gained by the collaboration of like-minded people. The same holds true for companies, with an excellent example being the ongoing business association cultivated by Spider Ranch Productions and West Coast Sound & Light (WCSL). Both companies supply live sound reinforcement, as well as a variety of systems services, in the thriving Northern California and San Francisco Bay Area markets, but rather than banging heads in competing over many of the same jobs and contracts, they’ve instead chosen to work in lockstep to create a successful relationship. And at three years and counting, their smart business approach continues to grow and flourish, to the point where it has positioned them as a highly viable player in the national concert touring marketplace.

WCSL (http://www.wcsl.org), founded by Paul Doty and based in Modesto, CA, enjoys a two-decades-plus history of providing live production – sound as well as full-scale lighting systems and video – and is now also enjoying growth in the contracting market, specifically both with larger church and home theater projects. Matt Cross, who joined the company about six years ago, quickly ascended to the position of general manager, where he leads day-to-day operations.

Meanwhile, Spider Ranch (www. spiderp.com) is based about 100 miles west of WCSL in Pescadero, CA and is headed by Alex Moran, a long-time systems veteran with a highly diverse (and successful) professional audio resume. The company serves a diverse range of live productions as well, with the corporate market emerging as a particular focus of late.

BUILDING A TEAM
The initial introduction between Moran and Cross came about a few years ago via one of the common topics of discussion in pro audio, now and forevermore: gear. Specifically, McCauley Sound MONARC line array loudspeakers, which WCSL already had in inventory and which Moran was considering adding to his own. “I’ve been using McCauley products for a long time, really like their sound and quality, and I wanted to add a McCauley line array rig,” Moran notes. “I discovered that West Coast Sound already had a McCauley inventory, so I called Matt and we quickly came to an understanding as to our willingness to cross-rent McCauley line arrays to each other when needed, and the business relationship built from there.”

What has resulted is a “production network team” where one company steps up to provide support to the other in terms of gear, staff and services in a partnership manner, albeit one where both companies remain independent and free to pursue their own projects. “We pretty much treat it as actual partners,” Cross says. “If we bring in a customer jointly, that’s great, or if one or the other lands the gig, that’s fine too. No matter what, we treat it as 50 percent of any given job we share belongs to one company and 50 percent belongs to the other.”

Over time, the two companies have worked to create interchangeable full-scale live sound reinforcement rigs, and just as importantly, staff teams that are just as interchangeable. In addition, WCSL brings their investment in high-end lighting gear and expertise to the table. The result of joining forces in such a seamless manner has led to an entity with more than enough quality equipment, expertise and support to meet the demands of even the most large-scale touring artists. Up to 56 McCauley MONARC MLA3 line array modules are available along with additional MLA6 modules, with the rigging hardware the same, while Spider Ranch is running all Lab.gruppen power amplification and WCSL is making that transition, recently passing the 50 percent point.

Processing is all dbx DriveRack 4800, with identical settings worked out with an assist from McCauley. While the companies have different drive snake connectors, it’s immaterial because the racks are wired identically and can be swapped interchangeably via their splits. Even further, together they can provide more than a dozen premium analog and digital mixing consoles, and again, this is joined by a commensurate selection of lighting equipment, trusses and affiliated gear. And in a bit of serendipity, or perhaps a portent of things to come, early in their association both companies realized they even own identical trucks – the same make, model, color and year.

“But the biggest reason this all works is that we both share a strong philosophy of customer service,” Moran adds. “There are a lot of companies that can provide good quality sound production, but whether they can translate that into customer service is another story. To us, it’s all about making it a win-win for the customer, the audience and ourselves. We bend over backwards and in some cases we go beyond what we are contracted to do if we think it makes for a more beneficial situation. Sometimes that might not make for the best return on investment on a business level, but in the long term the customers return – which is what we want.