Merry Kingsmas & Happy 2024 New Year!
/Wishing all of our loyal customers, friends and crew a wonderful Christmas time and peaceful New Year. The office closes 22//12/23 and we re open 02/01/2024. Ho Ho Ho! : )
King Sound Reinforcement invest in a Stagemobil again!
/Great news at King Sound headquarters: we’ve again invested in Stagemobil stage, this time a Model S — ideal for smaller bands, solo entertainers or demos.
With a floor space of 17 m2 and flexible usage options, this universal yet lightweight outdoor stage is ready for use in no time. A must for every technician because with two roof heights, the Stagemobil S is also perfect for use as ‘front of house’ structure.
Stagemobil exclusively specialises in mobile event systems and have been leaders in in the field since 1997. Each stage is beautifully hand-built in Germany to exacting standards and designed to last a minimum of 20 years. Frankly, they’re expensive, but you really do get what you pay for. We’re always looking to expand our staging portfolio and having recently purchased a large XXL version and been inundated with bookings we had the confidence to invest in the smaller brother.
WHY IT’S PARTICULARLY SPECIAL?
Conventional truss based stage systems are familiar to most people. Typically, they require a great deal of time and energy to build, not so with Stagemobil — the principal difference is this stage can be towed to site then constructed within 20 minutes, with just a single person involved in the process.
The extremely short set-up time helps to significantly save costs whereas simple handling saves the additional use of on site plant and minimises background noise during assembly and dismantling.
With 4.40 m x 3.75 m of stage area and a clearance of 3 m, the S Stagemobil may be smallest stage in the range, but don’t let its compact size mislead you. It’s mini but powerful — great for camera / production positions, pop up marketing, endless event production possibilities. or as a mobile screen support. An additional use is as a FOH platform for larger events where the height can be reduced to 2M and curtains extended to provide a weather proof operation area.
The weight of the mobile platform (1500 kg) eliminates the need for additional ballasting which is another nice bonus when it comes to impact on-site, cutting transport requirements and boosting sustainability. Due to its size it can be operated quickly and easily – disassembly is as quick as set-up so, once any technical equipment is removed, a clear site can be only minutes away!
This stage is perfect for bands, festivals and events where a quick set-up is needed.
QUICK FACTS:
Dimensions (as the trailer): L 5,30 m x W 2,30 m x H 3 m
Dimensions (as the stage): W 4,40 m x D 3,75 m x H 4,40 m x Clearance: 3 m
Height of stage floor: 0,80 m
Floor capacity: 350 kg/m2
Roof capacity: 350 kg
Optional PA wings also useful for branding.
Build Crew: 1
We’ve placed an order and expect it to arrive middle of July 2023, so we’re taking bookings as we speak!
Come check it out, we’re confident it will be one of our most popular yet. Oh and we are are also able to equip the stage with high end sound and lighting options and provide any crew needed to deliver your next event.
For more details on pricing and hiring process please click on the button below to access our KING HIRE site.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! King Highlights - 2022
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Here at King Sound, we’ve had a fantastic, fruitful and very busy year but we made it through and enjoyed every part of the challenge.
We provided audio, lighting, stage management and crews for the multiple shows with the audio package featuring our brand new L-Acoustics K2 system. We’ve maintained our relationships with many long term clients as they’ve recovered from the lost Covid years. Our Orbit festival stage has been very busy with our Layher upgrades being well received by all.
We’ve also taken on more full time staff, upgraded our vans to EU6 standard and launched our dry hire website, which has brought many new customers. Its been a high tempo period but its been great!
A little 'thank you' gift this Christmas for our clients
As we cruise towards the end of ‘22 and enjoy the festive period, we’d like to pause and say a heartfelt thanks to all our customers and friends for their continued faith in our fiercely independent and proudly Bristolian company as our growth continues.
New StageMobil XXL stage — just in time for Christmas!
/Great news for King Sound just in time for Christmas! We’ve wrapping up 2022 with another big purchase to upgrade our hire equipment stock. Meet our brand new StageMobil XXL mobile stage!
We’ve recently placed an order and expect it to arrive in time spring. We are taking bookings now for Summer ‘23 and beyond!
Stagemobil exclusively specialises in mobile event systems and have been leaders in in the field since 1997. We’re always looking to expand our staging portfolio and, having hired in one of these excellent units for many events in 2022, we have taken the decision to invest in our own.
Why it’s particularly special?
Well, conventional stage systems are familiar to most people. Typically, they require a great deal of time and energy to build, not so with Stagemobil — the principal difference is that this stage can be towed to site then constructed within 30 minutes, with a maximum of 2 people involved in the process.
This extremely short set-up time helps to significantly save the costs whereas simple handling saves the additional use of on site plant and minimises background noise during assembly and dismantling.
With 10 m x 6 m of stage area and a clearance of 4.60 m, the XXL Mobile Staging creates an impressive space for imposing and sophisticated stage design. Due to the extensibility with side wings for rigging PA or branding, this mobile stage generates a genuine rock ‘n‘ roll feeling at any festival!
The weight of the mobile platform (3500 kg) eliminates the need for additional ballasting which is another nice bonus when it comes to impact on-site, cutting transport requirements and boosting sustainability. Despite its impressive size it can be operated quickly and easily – disassembly is as quick as set-up so, once any technical equipment is removed, a clear site can be only minutes away!
This stage is perfect for bands, festivals and events where a quick set-up is needed. With the sound wings on the XXL stage you can fly 500KG of audio per side.
QUICK FACTS:
Dimensions (as the trailer): L 11,70 m x W 2,54 m x H 3,95 m
Dimensions (as the stage): W 10 m x D 6,10 m x H 6,30 m x Clearance H 4,60 m
Height of stage floor: 1,20 — 1,40 m
Floor capacity: 350 kg/m2
Roof capacity: 1.050 kg
Come check it out, we’re confident it will be one of our most popular stages. Of course we are also able to equip the stage with high end sound and lighting options and provide any crew needed to deliver your next event.
Happy Holidays and see you at hire.kingsr.com soon!
SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS: Bristol Sounds, Pride and Harbourfest - Part I
/Summer ‘22 - so far, so good!
Here at King Sound, we’ve had a fantastic, busy, crazy summer but we made it through and enjoyed every part of the challenge.
We’ve still have August fully booked ahead of us but thought we’d share with you a few summer summer highlights so far.
If you’ve missed ‘‘Summer Highlights - Part II’’, click here to read about our busy summer.
BRISTOL SOUNDS — 22-27 June.
Bringing a diverse bill of live music to the heart of the city, the open-air summer concert series is one of the Bristol’s iconic shows and being our home town gig we were thrilled to be asked back for the seventh year running by promoters Crosstown Concerts.
Following a two-year hiatus, Bristol Sounds marked its return to the city’s much-loved harbourside with an expanded schedule of headliners over the 6 night run of shows: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, The War on Drugs, Elbow, Jungle, First Aid Kit and Paolo Nutini all graced the stage at Amphitheatre to sell out audiences and great acclaim. We provided audio, stage management and crew for the shows with the audio package featuring our new L-Acoustics K2 system (which was greatly appreciated by all the visiting engineers) and Digico SD12 consoles. 6 days of early starts and late nights took its toll on our crew, but they remained rock solid though out.
SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS: Bristol Sounds, Pride and Harbourfest - Part II
/Next stop was BRISTOL PRIDE — 9 July.
Not only one of the UK’s largest Pride events, but one of Bristol’s largest festivals, Pride is something we’ve been closely involved with since the beginning. Returning to the Bristol Downs after a Covid enforced break Bristol Pride was back - bigger, bolder and glitzier than ever before!
If you’ve missed ‘‘Summer Highlights - Part I’’, click here to read about our busy summer.
Perhaps our biggest full production gig of the year, we provided sound, lights, crew and staging over the whole site with kit spread across the five performance stages. The main stage, which was headlined by the fantastic Carly Ray Jepson, featured our 15M Orbit stage and a full-on festival sound and lighting system featuring our new L-Acoustics K2 system, Grand MA3 lighting console and Digico audio desks. All other stages enjoyed technical upgrades which kept the crowds dancing, laughing and having fun all day long. Site wide we proved over 150 boxes of PA, mostly L-Acoustics, over 300 square metres of staging and many dozens of lighting fixtures all from our extensive stocks of equipment. The build, break and 1 day show took up 8 full days and we employed around 40 people to help our full time staff produce the event.
And finally HARBOURFEST — 15 - 17 July (50th anniversary this year!)
The festival attracts over 250,000 visitors to enjoy over 120 hours of entertainment, across seven stages from spoken word to the latest Bristol musical talent, local dance performers, world class circus and on-water activity.
Each area of the one mile long festival was carefully developed by the Bristol Harbour Festival programmers Cirque Bijou, Thekla, Trinity Community Arts, Tony Benjamin, My Future My Choice, Rebecca Tantony, Grain Barge, Brunel's ss Great Britain and Jelli Records. A fleet of feature vessels was staying in the harbour as well as over 300 visiting boats, yachts and ships.
K2 Arrival: King Sound Reinforcement is the largest stockist of L-Acoustics in the South West!
/L-Acoustics Rental Partner, King Sound Reinforcement takes delivery an L-Acoustics world renowned K2 system! Affectionately dubbed as “lightweight heavyweight” in the industry, the K2 system is a high end, rider friendly large format line array system.
Really excited to be featured by L-Acoustics who have published a story about our K2 purchase!
Read a full story here!
It’s been long time coming but we were finally able to take delivery of 24 L-Acoustics K2
Adding to our existing stock of Kara II Kiva II systems, this latest investment cements King Sound as the largest stockist of L-Acoustics in the South West.
We look forward to enjoying the K2 during the crazy busy summer and beyond. Meanwhile we’d better give a good clean as it’s back from the fantastic Queen’s Platinum Jubilee concert last weekend at the palace 👑 🔊🇬🇧
LATEST ARRIVALS: Prolights Smart BatPlus
/Prolights Smart BatPlus is the most advanced member of the successful Smart Bat portable uplighter range. Offering advanced features such as W-DMX, a waterproof housing, increased brightness, high-definition optics and fast-charge magnetic connector, the ‘Plus’ is packed in a super-slim compact housing with a mirror finish that’s useful when hiding the fixture from view.
Tilt regulation up 20 degrees. Battery-powered with endless colour solutions.
Ideal for smaller scale functions such weddings, outdoor events, building lighting and corporate. The Smart BatPlus is practical, relatively lightweight and is easy to charge in its unique drop-in charging case.
Prolights Smart BatPlus. With 4x12W RGBW CREE full colour LEDS and an IP 65 rating these lithium ion powered battery fixtures last up to 12 hours in a single charge. With both wired and wireless DMX control, they’re quick to deploy and perfect for events where a clean look without visible wiring is desired. Further features include mountings for truss clamps and simple control via the IR remote control
We have already used them on some corporate events where the clients were impressed with their rich colour output, tidy look without cabling. Further features include mountings for truss clamps and simple control via the IR remote control. Packaged in charging cases that holds 6 fixtures, these are in stock and ready to hire today!
Brand new addition to King Sound Reinforcement — KING HIRE website!
/Hi everyone!
Big, big news at King Sound headquarters: we are really excited and proud to finally introduce you to KING HIRE and our brand-new equipment hire site: hire.kingsr.com!
Intended as a quick reference guide to the over 12,000 individual items of equipment in our hire stock, the new hire site hire.kingsr.com enables customers to quickly check what we can provide to other hire companies and individuals seeking event and production equipment of all kinds.
Currently King HIRE includes 12 essential sections:
Audio | Lighting | Rigging | AV | Backline | Cables | Staging | Packages | Staging structures | Ex-Hire | Effects | Power.
Each one includes extensive up-to-date catalogue conveniently divided by category. Each category section contains dozens of product pages with pictures, detailed descriptions and technical specifications for your assistance. Each page also includes pricing for the item per day and per week (incl. VAT).
Dynamic, modern and easy to use, the platform showcases our extensive stock and also helps rent any product you might be interested in.
We’ve spent hours and hours, researching the market and working closely with our design and branding team to bring the concept to life and importantly, make it better than anything we’ve previously seen.
Please come, browse and if you are not exactly sure what you need, that’s no problem — contact our friendly team (via the simple form on the site) and they will be more than happy to advise best option for your project or event. Alternatively, the platform might suggest similar items based on your search results (just click on ‘‘looking for something else?’’ option).
We have a huge selections of various products and we are constantly adding new things to our range, just choose the category and start looking. If you are not able to find what you require, please email us at hire@kingsr.com and we’ll do our best to locate the item for you.
We’re still testing the platform so please let us know should you deal with any technical issue, our web support will be straight there to fix that. We’ve put lots of energy and time to make it work, yet we know we can improve it even further and we only can do it with your help.
Look forward to hearing from you and we do hope you love it as much as we do (just bear with us a bit as we are dealing with growing number of inquiries!)
Oh, and celebrate a big launch, we are giving a 10% discount till end of December to our first 15 clients using it so feel free to share or take advantage of this offer yourself.
Happy Holidays and see you at hire.kingsr.com!
Bringing #BRISTOLTOGETHER at Christmas 2021 with 24 beautiful lighting projections!
/Hi everyone! Holiday season is upon us and we wanted to share one of the jobs we’re part of and really enjoying — lighting up some iconic Bristol buildings this Christmas!
Expect glowing building frontages, Christmas movie quotes and famous song lyrics across the city centre -- from Arnolfini and St George’s to Cabot Circus (incl. King St, Corn St, Broadmead and Bristol Shopping Quarter) to Waitrose on Queen’s road.
The project is part of the bigger Bristol City Centre BID’s #BRISTOLTOGETHER initiative (we were part of their #LoveBristol campaign earlier this year designing and installing glittering disco balls in Bristol’s streets). This Christmas their festive arts campaign ‘Bristol Adventures’ promotes the recovery of the city, bringing together many wonderful local business to help create a festive trail.
Now in its second year, Included for this year is Redcliffe and Temple BID, which means even more iconic locations and sites added to the project.
The projections started on November 17th near Park Street and Queens Road with Cabot Circus and Redcliffe sites joined on November 24. Further cheery messages appear on buildings every night up to December 1st when Harbourside and Old City lights go live, full festive lighting stays in place till December 24th, giving Bristolians a chance to take in every one of the 24 sites.
Our busy team of ‘Lighting Elves’ has worked tirelessly to bring this year’s light trail to the life and here are some snaps featuring the beautiful, huge projections!
Hope you enjoy and if you can, please do come into the City Centre to explore over a mile of festive lightings and perhaps enjoy the areas that you might not usually visit.
Watchet music festival 2021 production
/Festival Production from King. Great to be back in action this busy weekend after long lockdown. Our 15M Orbit is out at Watchet Music Festival, we are also doing main stage audio on the show. Great to get all the toys out including some L-Acoustics. We have limited availability next year for our full production package including stage, lights and audio. Please get it touch - 2022 will be a busy one! Enjoy our video and photos from last two days…
DAY 1.
DAY 2.
New PA Towers from ALC truss
/Check out our new PA Towers from ALC truss as our founder and MD, Paul King is sharing some cool features of these powerful structures in this new video! They join our existing rigging stock of ALC S60 10m towers. Exquisitely designed product from an excellent Belgian company. Available to hire from today!
Bringing sparkle onto Bristol's streets! #LoveBristol campaign from Bristol City Centre BID.
/Our wonderful team worked hard this week (definitely not easy in the extreme temperatures!), installing bespoke street decorations in Bristol’s City Centre as the city continues on its path to recovery.
We were commissioned to design, produce and install the glittering and fully functional disco balls in Bristol’s streets to mark the last stage of reopening the city’s businesses as part of the #LoveBristol campaign from Bristol City Centre BID.
A giant pink heart was installed on King Street along with huge disco balls on Corn street, St Nicholas street, Harbourside and Frogmore street.
We are very excited here at King Sound to be part of this fantastic project. The last 18 months of restrictions have seen many businesses (including our city’s world renown restaurants, bars, clubs and venues) hit hardest so we share their excitement to be able to re open finally and safely welcome people back. We also fully join in the BID’s campaign message that says lets ’’enjoy the city centre, whilst being respectful of each other and putting safety at the heart of everything we do’’!
DiGiCo & Klang Roadshow comes to town
/A great day hosting the DiGiCo and Klang Roadshow last week.
We were very excited to welcome so many people during our morning and afternoon sessions. The training took place in our own warehouse where we could incorporate our own SD12s consoles as well as with new, impressive DiGiCo Quantum 225 & 338 consoles, along with the new Klang immersive IEM kit.
The atmosphere was amazing, after a long and draining Covid gap it was definitely refreshing to see so many passionate engineers eager to learn new things and get their hands on a DiGiCo again. Friendships were re-kindled and tea was drank — it was excellent.
Special thanks goes to our very knowledgeable and friendly DiGiCo specialist, Tim Shaxson. He demonstrated all the advantages of the Quantum software in the new consoles, only previously available on their flagship models. The sleek, futuristic designs and amazingly bright 17” screens needed no explanation...!
Everyone who tried it was impressed with the Klang system and it was generally agreed that once an artist had a demo there would be no going back to stereo.
All in all, a great day!
New Addition to Our Fleet — Renault Premium, 18T!
/With growing demand for our production services, we are proud to introduce another new vehicle to our ever expanding fleet!
Please meet our latest addition — an 18 Tonne Renault Premium 270 truck, it is our biggest and most powerful yet with an impressive 27.5ft box and a payload of 10000 kg. Yes, he is a Big Boy!
MD Paul King comments:
‘‘Transport logistics is a massive part of what we do, especially in the frantically busy summer months. This new truck will drastically cut our reliance on haulage contractors as a thoughtfully loaded 18 tonner can contain an awful lot of tech kit. As this fits inside our warehouse we can prep and load kit straight on the lorry ready to go out — this alone will save a lot of time compared to lining everything up, waiting for the contractor to turn up only to find they’ve sent a curtainsider!’’
The Renault is modern and well equipped with lots of additional features such as cruise control, air conditioner, night heater etc. It is also is a sleeper which is ideal for our crew travelling on long trips.
For this one, we’ve changed our traditional livery design a bit, walking from our central, big logo style to more discreet and contemporary look. Graphic elements thus (while essentially the same) were redefined a bit.
Christina Meyer-King, Brand manager for King Sound said:
‘’We wanted our fleet reflect our raising profile as the company. Having achieved a good level of brand awareness in our industry, our livery aesthetics aims to deliver a confident image of well established business with no-nonsense brand identity. Less clutter, less fussiness, more focus on product and customer is definitely the leading trend in brand design and logo families now and we totally follow it’’.
If you see our team, driving it in its distinctive brown livery on the road, give us a wave! : )
King Sound celebrates 25 years of service with the crew new uniform!
/Much awaited upgrade for the King Crew uniform!
If you’ve followed us for a while, you’ll know that our team has been wearing branded, brown ‘King Crew’ t-shirts for more than ten years now and 'King Brown’ (as it is affectionately known here) was formally adopted as our company colour back in 2008! With that in mind, (and after a LOT of feedback from the team) we thought it was time to evolve our employee dress code a bit!
We are pleased to share that all our crew members now have a set of winter uniform they can wear in colder times of the year. It symbolically marks an amazing 25 years anniversary for the Company. Yes, King Sound Reinforcement has been in business for more than two decades!
The new uniform includes a brown branded sweatshirt paired with the stylish beanie hat in brown too with a smaller (crown) version of our logo.
Christina Meyer-King, the head of Branding and Marketing, was responsible for the project.
She said: ‘’Our brand and heritage is something we are immensely proud of and keen to preserve. Our goal was to keep our branding concept alive yet give our staff something they can feel comfortable, warm and smart in. We've tried different styles and colour combinations but based on our team's feedback, sweatshirts proved to be most practical and professional looking attire. Admittedly, it took us a while to find the right supplier to ensure the right materials and embroidery techniques are used. However, the result was well worth the wait! Our crew loves its new workwear and some even admit wearing it outside working hours (which honestly is the best compliment any company can get!) The hats in particular were so coveted by some of our clients and partners we’ve started handing them out as swag!’’
Welcome to the Team!
/King Sound Reinforcement would like to welcome Phil Round as the newest member of the Team. Phil, having just returned from a 2 year stint working for a large AV company in New Zealand, contacted us shortly after moving to Bristol looking to get involved.
His CV looked good and we liked his ‘can do’ attitude. He initially worked for us a crew member on technical and non-technical assignments and the more we saw of him, the more impressed we were. Mindful that good people get snapped up quickly in this industry we invited him to apply for a full time job Live Event Production Manager with a focus on audio.
Phil’s calm attitude, friendly manner and solid technical ability are a great fit and he’s quickly settled in to the King team. Expect to see him operating shows, designing systems and advancing jobs with clients.
Managing Director Paul King says: ‘I am well known for being extremely picky about who we employ, especially in our sound department. The fact I hunted Phil down and offered him a job tells you all you need to know about my regard for Mr Round’s abilities!’
Phil, immediately took the sound department under his wing and got stuck in prepping shows and building racks.
Merry Christmas from King Sound!
/The full King Sound family having a blast at Casa Mexicana last night. We all had a great time as we celebrated another year of achievements, challenges and amazing projects! We've had an excellent year thanks to our fantastic Team and particularly, our clients - we're beyond grateful you keep choosing us and promise to never let you down!
Merry Christmas to you and yours and here's to very happy and prosperous 2020! x
Kickstart for Sales Department
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We are pleased to announce that Richard Watts has joined the company as head of sales and installations. A experienced, respected and popular figure in the industry, Rich worked for SSE Audio as sales manager for 10 years and was instrumental in the growth of their pro sales operation.
Managing Director, Paul King comments: ‘We are excited to welcome Rich to the team and feel lucky to have such a great guy on board, we have long sensed a real gap in the south west and have been focused on finding the right person to head up our equipment sales operation. In Rich we have one of the most well-known people around who’s links with both manufacturers and clients are unsurpassed. Exciting times ahead!’
Rich Watts adds: ‘It’s great to be part of something at ground level again and have an opportunity to put my own mark on the industry. Moving to Bristol has been a high priority for me for and I am really happy that Paul has allowed me to join the team at King, I couldn’t ask for a better start in a new city.’
Getting ready for busy summer!
/Busy summer is ahead of us, the King team is working hard to get everything ready and lined up for the upcoming shows!
