Author: mattwaddell

Los Angeles, CA, June 16, 2025 ​ — Since 2009, LA’s Design Sound has been the A/V architect behind some of the most prestigious private events in southern California. Boasting A-listers such as Kim Kardashian, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jessica Simpson as well as major corporate entities like Apple and Google as clients, the firm has built a reputation on their ability to create bespoke live sound solutions that offer peerless sound quality and stability to suit intimate industry gatherings, lavish star-studded weddings, and major corporate galas. In their ongoing quest to provide innovative methods to deliver the highest quality sound with minimal instrumentation, Design Sound have recently made Sound Devices Astral wireless receivers and transmitters their RF system of choice.

Tour-quality sound, invisible aesthetics
​Although the scale and scope of every Design Sound event is different, the high-level clientele involved ensures that each requires a level of planning and execution that would not be out of the ordinary for a high-level touring show. Pristine audio and flawless system control are often the bare minimum requirements of these events. “We’re working for some of the biggest names in the industry therefore the baseline for quality they expect is extremely high,” explains Design Sound Chief Engineer Davis Jones. “It’s really exciting as an engineer to work on these projects because they are so challenging – but there’s no room for error.”

“Given that, we seek out technology solutions that are extremely high performance and give us as much flexibility as possible. In doing so, we can design systems that are no-compromise in every respect.”

Another important aspect prevailing in Design Sound’s ethic is minimizing their technological footprint at these events. Although system efficiency and shorter setup times are certainly a factor in these decisions, working with the given aesthetic of an event is incredibly important as well and has driven some of their most innovative solutions. “When you’re dealing with weddings, personal parties, or cocktail hours, technology can easily get in the way of the ‘vibe’,” Jones continues. “No one wants to see speaker columns or wires or wedges, so you have to choose core elements that are super small and easily hidden while still providing the level of quality and stability that the event requires.”

“As we’ve begun to design completely wireless live sound solutions that led us to Sound Devices and the Astral-series wireless units.”

Failure is not an option
​Jones was already very familiar with Sound Devices from his background in location sound for film and television. Discovering that Sound Devices’ Astral line worked natively with DiGiCo – the console and controller brand of choice for many Design Sound systems – presented him with a natural opportunity to utilize Astral to power his latest system concepts. “Fully wireless stage setups is something we have been pursuing for a long time – it has a lot of value to our clients even if they don’t know to ask for it yet,” Jones explains. “Having no cables or mic stands onstage, minimal monitors, and an extremely fast setup time holds tremendous value, however up until now the quality of sound from wireless units has not been up to our standards.”

“Sound Devices is known for having incredible sound quality with their mixer/recorders, and they have absolutely upped the ante on that when it comes to wireless,” he continues. “We were completely blown away by the ultra-wide dynamic range and fidelity of these mics, transmitters, and receivers. There’s absolutely no drop in quality when going wireless and our clients have not been able to tell that it isn’t wired – something you can’t do with any other brand!”

Jones is currently utilizing the Astral ARX16 and a pair of Astral ARX2 receivers within a single rack unit, giving him a powerful and portable setup with up to 29 channels of wireless. Astral’s SpectraBand technology and intuitive user interface have enabled him to take total control of his available frequencies in what is almost always a hostile RF environment. ​ “Southern California is not a friendly area when it comes to wireless – there is always competition on the legal frequencies no matter where you’re set up,” he says. “What’s great about SpectraBand is it’s extremely easy to find and auto-assign to clean frequencies and monitor the situation live so that we’re operating at peak efficiency.”

“It’s really incredible how quickly we can get it set up and how amazing it sounds after so few steps,” he continues. “It’s an amazing system to be able to offer our clients and gives us an incredibly flexible platform to create RF solutions for any event.”

“Failure really isn’t an option at the level we’re operating, and with Sound Devices wireless I’m confident it will never happen,” he concludes. “We really couldn’t do this with anything BUT Sound Devices, and we’re thrilled to offer our clients something that can take their events to the next level.”

To learn more about Design Sound, please visit: http://www.designsound.com/

Chessington May 30th, 2025 — Sound Devices announces the acquisition of US-based in-ear monitoring developer and manufacturer, JH Audio. The deal brings together two leading pro audio technology brands under the Audiotonix group portfolio, focused on delivering pristine audio to artists and performers, on stage, on location, and in the studio.

With over 48 years’ experience in live sound combined with more than 30 years of designing and building in-ear monitors (IEMs), industry-renowned engineer and JH Audio founder, Jerry Harvey, is synonymous with custom fit IEM moulds for many of the most demanding ears and artists in live touring.

Matt Anderson, Sound Devices CEO, comments, “We couldn’t be more excited about bringing the JH Audio team into the Sound Devices fold. The timing is perfect as we continue to build on our Astral RF range of solutions that are rightly being recognised as the one true global RF wireless system for live events, touring and location sound. Both teams’ R&D aspirations and the close link between RF and IEMs align perfectly, and with a focus on innovation to deliver future synergies across our Astral family and other products is one that has me and the whole team here salivating, and one that should delight all our customers in the coming months.”

James Gordon, Audiotonix CEO, adds, “For anyone with a passion for technology and pro audio, then this partnership is one to really pay attention to. Jerry Harvey is the true pioneer of IEMs with over 30 years of in-ear innovation, the principles of which are incorporated in most IEM designs today. Being able to put the resource behind the JH Audio team to take IEMs to their next level alongside Sound Devices and some of our other live-focused Audiotonix brands, should deliver something very special for our users and their clients.”

JH Audio founder and CEO Jerry Harvey continues “Over the years I have been fortunate to work closely with James (Gordon) at DiGiCo and then more recently with the Audiotonix group. It’s always been a relationship based on delivering new technologies for the benefit of engineers and artists in our industry, and our most recent collaboration on the Pearl IEM system gave the JHA crew a taste of the potential of working more closely with their team. By joining the Sound Devices family with Matt Anderson at the helm, we now have an incredible opportunity to not just evolve our next gen of IEM technologies but to gain access to like-minded partners and customers globally.”

The latest addition to the Audiotonix family sees JH Audio join the growing roster of innovative pro audio brands that includes Allen & Heath, Calrec, DiGiCo, DiGiGrid, Fourier Audio, Harrison, KLANG:technologies, Slate Digital, Solid State Logic, sonible and Sound Devices.

Learn more about JH Audio.

Press contact:
Sound Devices / Audiotonix: Martin Bennett
Tel: +44 1372 845600
Email: [email protected]