Escondido, CA-based Sound Image has expanded operations, opening a Bay Area office in February, with Sound Image president and CEO Dave Shadoan appointing George Edwards as general manager of the new facility.
“This is a very discerning and diverse market,” Edwards explains. “But most of the local houses are highly specialized, and offer a very ‘us too’ audio selection. Our objective is to be different, with a fully modern audio toolbox, and a broad selection of production service for anything from a corporate event to a full-scale concert system. Plus, with the Sound Image name, customers know that we have the experience and resources to really deliver regardless of complexity.”
Edwards has equipped his team with an inventory of gear from VUE Audiotechnik, including VUE al-Class line arrays, a selection of h-Class high definition systems, both a-Class and i-Class families, as well as several VUEDrive systems engines.
“Prior to launching this office, I’d been working with VUE for nearly two years,” Edwards notes. “In terms of output and sound quality they’re really amazing, and the fact that you can easily combine different models to tackle unique coverage challenges, while maintaining a very consistent voice, means we can easily cover a lot of ground with one line. The whole line is just really versatile.”
The Sound Image Bay Area team is wasting no time putting the new inventory to work. Just four months into full operation, and they’re consistently logging multiple shows per week. Their growing list of satisfied customers that include some the biggest names in the industry, top Fortune 100 companies, and San Francisco Bay Area influencers in business, science, and technology.
“Versatility is a real selling point for us,” adds Morgan Pitman, director of production and business development. “That and the expectation of quality and support that comes with the Sound Image name. We’re deploying systems for everything from intimate corporate events, all the way up to full-scale concert scenarios. The VUE systems are at the center of all of it.”
The Sound Image Bay Area team cites VUE’s beryllium HF as a customer favorite, and VUE’s Continuous Source Topology (CST) and VUEDrive systems engines as practical, real-world product design that is helping to advance their business model. CST allows different al-Class array elements to be combined for optimal coverage and reduced weight, and the VUEDrive engines utilize DSP and onboard presets to simplify setup and tuning.
“We get a ton of mileage out of the al-Class line arrays,” states audio department dead Kyle Anderson. “The fact that we can deploy the al-4 in a small indoor space on one day, and the following day combine the same elements with the al-8 into a bigger overall system while maintaining a consistent voice is amazingly useful. I don’t know any other company that allows you to mix and match line array elements like that. With one inventory, we’re able to tackle a multitude of applications while easily optimizing everything from coverage, to sight lines and weight.”
