We’ve all cheered at the Sunburn festivals, been wowed at the National Games and Commonwealth Games and revelled in the music of Sting, Santana, Yanni and Coke Studio. The people who ensure that these events sound awesome belong to a boutique audio rental company called Sound.com. Based in Mumbai, the company provides sound reinforcement solutions for events and concerts across India and abroad.
Started in 1998, Sound.com also provides a platform to support independent music artistes, Gearhouse. “We never thought of being just an equipment provider,” says Warren D’Souza the founder and managing director of Sound.com over the phone. “The service provision became important to us. It is the experience that counts and that is unique for us. Over the last 17 years, we have worked our way up from the grass-root level. From 2005, business started doing well. Winning the contract for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games in 2010 proved the game changer and there has been no looking back since then.”
The company’s online presence, online-sound.com, is still picking up, says the second generation entrepreneur. “India’s music and event scene is still finding renting online new. From a business aspect, people do consult us a lot and we have a head start in this field. This also helps dealers and event managers with an approximate idea of costs.”
Talking about Gearhouse, Warren says, “A lot of artistes have people to manage them but nobody to produce them. We don’t handle their stay or their commute. But once they get on stage, they become our property. Gearhouse provides infrastructure to musicians to utilise the space at our warehouse and also access to a plethora of equipment, to rehearse and record. We handle the lighting, their sound and how they look. We have released video series on YouTube called Gearhouse Sessions, where we produce the artistes who come here and record. Singer-songwriters come under the banner of Gearhouse Solo and we do outdoor performances under the banner Gearhouse Live. In a nutshell, this is a personalised technical service provided to the artiste.”
On how he has seen the Indian event and music scenes evolve, Warren says experiential events have become far more important than just an album or CD launch because everything has gone digital. “Nobody goes to a store and buys a CD. Artistes aren’t making any money there. They make their money from live performances and festivals. Sometimes they even plan their economics on which concerts or festivals they play. Even playback singers are willing to sing some songs free of charge because once the song becomes a hit, they get to go out with a band and earn money. The experiential aspect of our business has grown in such a way that people have realised the power of their music through live events. That is where our market is.”
What’s to look forward to in the future for rental companies like his? Warren agrees that he sees a very big growth in the festival business and clubs having live acts. “I’m pretty happy with the ways things are going. There’s no rule as to what kind of event comes across now.”
