As 2023 winds down and tour sound and audio rental companies prepare for a busy 2024 season, many tour sound executives are taking note of rental equipment inventories and assessing what new gear to invest in for the 2024 season and beyond.
For many of these executives, stocking up on Radial gear has always been a priority based on Radial’s reputation for reliability and ruggedness on the road, two key requirements for rental equipment in the tour sound business.
“Radial products are 99% rider proof,” says Ben Krumholz, Sound Engineer and System Tech at Maryland Sound. “When bands ask for a generic DI for a show or on a rider, most engineers or techs will not think twice when handing them a Radial box. That’s because every time you plug in a Radial box, you know the output is going to sound true to the instrument,” says Krumholz.
Along with reliability and ruggedness, dependability and durability are also paramount in the equipment rental business because of the abuse sound equipment takes on tour. This is often the case with a unit such as the ubiquitous direct box.
“Direct boxes are probably one of the most abused pieces in the industry,” says Jason Wells, COO of Mid-America Sound. “In addition to their primary purpose, DIs get used as wheel chocks or to prop up monitor wedges. They get dropped off keyboard stands, they get tossed into the bottom of a mic bin. Radial DIs can take this type of abuse and just keep working.”
Rob Mailman, Senior Vice President at Sound Image, echoes Wells’ perspective on the ruggedness of Radial DIs. “A DI is not a large piece of gear that’s well protected in a road case like other gear. It gets thrown around on stages. And the housing on Radial gear is so robust. In my experience, Radial Dis are very well built and assembled and require very little if any service throughout their hard life on the road.”
In the end, for professional tour sound companies in 2024, it’s all about counting on reliable equipment that gets the job done consistently and without breakdowns.
“It comes down to quality and value,” says Krumholz. “Radial products are the best sounding products for the job.”
