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Autograph Sales
The contract to supply and engineer the sound system for Cats was awarded to Autograph Sound Recording, a company set up a decade earlier by British sound designer Andrew Bruce to make good quality technology available for theatrical sound designers. Bruce had already worked with Jacob on A Chorus Line and Evita, but had never come into contact with either Meyer Sound or the UPA loudspeaker system specified for Cats. "No one in the UK or Europe had really heard of these speakers, but if Abe Jacob wanted them, we respected his opinion," Bruce recalls. Bruce saw the opportunity the product presented, and set up Autograph Sales to make Meyer Sound available in the UK and Europe. The UPA was revolutionary in terms of control and performance. Two early Meyer Sound patents, one of which was for the trapezoidal cabinet, were based on the design and technology that was incorporated in the UPA. Over the next decade, Autograph Sales built up a Meyer Sound dealer network across Europe, signing up high-end distribution companies that demonstrated an understanding and appreciation of the product and had the ability to develop a market for Meyer Sound in their individual territories. Many of these companies remain loyal dealers and distributors to this day. Autograph Sales has undoubtedly played a large role in establishing the Meyer Sound brand worldwide, with sister company Autograph Sound Recording setting a new standard in theatrical sound design with the Meyer Sound loudspeaker range. Productions that have employed Meyer Sound products in Autograph Sound Recording designs, both in the UK and worldwide, include Miss Saigon and Les Miserables among many others. Autograph Sales has also firmly established Meyer Sound in the British concert world. The company has enjoyed considerable success with the M Series, especially the M3D Line Array loudspeaker launched in 2001. Key clients in both touring sound and theatrical rental include Capital Sound Hire, Canegreen, Sound Hire and Orbital Sound. The M Series has been used on the European Kylie Minogue "Fever" tour, Andrew Lloyd Webber's groundbreaking West End musical Bombay Dreams and most recently the Scandinavian concert tour of Les Miserables. Autograph Sales is one of the longest-standing Meyer Sound distributors. The company is headed by Graham Paddon who joined in 1988 as UK sales manager and has since progressed to become a director of the company. "It has been a great experience working with Meyer Sound products," says Paddon. "The Meyer product has always been a real benchmark, and is up there as the one to beat. Throughout the industry there is great respect for both the products that emerge from the Berkeley factory, and the amazing R&D engineering behind those products in the person of John Meyer." "Three years ago we realized the need to have a dedicated Meyer specialist, and we were delighted that Roger Harpum was able to join our team." Speaking about his role as Autograph Sales' Meyer Sound product specialist, Harpum says, "The major difference between Meyer and its competition is that the company is so much more than a loudspeaker manufacturer. Meyer's ability to both design products and provide precise tools that aid in their integration and use makes them unique. Measurement and prediction tools such as SIM System II and MAPP Online give sound system designers a competitive edge. There are many other factors that set Meyer Sound apart - their driver manufacturing facility, the quality of the products, the self-powered advantage and the reliability - it all adds up to Meyer being a leader in the field of loudspeaker system design." Harpum has been working to gain an even greater exposure for both Autograph Sales and Meyer Sound within their existing and potential markets. One of his milestone sales has been a system of 24 M3Ds with six M3D-Sub Directional subwoofers, 12 M2D Compact Curvilinear Array loudspeakers, four M2D-Sub Compact subwoofers and four UPA-1P Compact Wide Coverage loudspeakers to London-based rental company Capital Sound. "Autograph had not sold a large system to a major rental company for nearly 10 years," says Harpum. "As expected, a number of the regular Meyer users bought M3D systems, but it's a great feeling to beat the competition when dealing with a new customer." Harpum is also making headway into the install market, recently supplying Newcastle-based SoundPower - a major installer in the leisure industry - with 14 MM-4 Ultra-Compact Wide-Range loudspeakers and four UMS-1P Ultra-Compact subwoofers for a venue in the city. The team has been reinforced further by the appointment in January 2003 of Mike Mann to the newly created role of technical manager, providing pre- and post-sales support to customers as well as technical training to Autograph Sales staff. Mann, who ran Meyer Sound's European office for several years, will have particular responsibility for supporting Meyer Sound's MAPP Online multipurpose acoustical prediction program and SIM System II . "My aim is to make Meyer products more available than ever before," says Paddon. "With the addition of Mann to our team, we will be able to produce speaker prediction plots for almost any application with the use of MAPP Online. We want to remove the 'black art' mystery that has surrounded speakers for so long, and show everyone that we have a product that behaves in a totally predictable way. "I intend to continue our aim to become a recognized source of accurate, quality information, whether to the local school or to the largest touring company. We also intend to develop our website so that clients can obtain the information they require on our products, whenever the need arrises." Since 1985 Autograph Sales and Sound Recording have operated from a renovated Victorian warehouse in North London. Autograph Sales represents many other key audio brands that complement Meyer Sound products. Autograph Sales July, 2004 |
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