SKAB Picks Hire Sound and DiGiCo for Anniversary Party

Late May saw Swedish truck body manufacturer SKAB Group treat its employees and their families to a remarkable company party. With DiGiCo SD8 and SD8-24 consoles mixing the performances, the party went with a swing, not to mention some heads-down boogie.

Falkenberg-based Hire Sound Sweden was appointed by event management company 2e Group to provide sound reinforcement for the party, which took place in Falkenberg's Falkenhalle. The event was for 550 SKAB employees and their families, celebrating the fact that the various parts of the group have totaled 100 years in business.

"The plan was to put on a really grand show," says Hire Sound Sweden's Tobias Larsson. "In total over 100 professionals worked to realize SKAB's vision - to create the greatest corporate party ever."

The entertainment was shrouded in secrecy right up until the moment that each act stepped on stage. They included the singer/comedian Knut Agnred, magician Håkan Berg, the Mobile Mama Jazz Band, Swedish singer Amy Diamond, Eurovision song contest winner Alexander Rybak and others, so the audio system needed to be very flexible. Hire Sound Sweden founders Magnus Wiborg and Olle Persson manned a DiGiCo SD8 and SD8-24 for FOH and monitors respectively, chosen because of their suitability for such a wide range of performers.

"The choice was pretty easy to make, because we like so many things about the SD8," says Tobias, "One of the main benefits is that we can use it for so many different types of event. Not long ago we did an open air concert with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, which got great reviews, and the SKAB party was another complete success - both the guests and organizers were absolutely thrilled."

He continues, "Other things about DiGiCo consoles that we really like are the audio quality - a big sound with really good preamps; great sounding effects, perfect dynamic control and easy workflow. They have very flexible routing, setup and are easy to learn, you can learn one DiGiCo console and handle them all.

"They also have the best in class snapshot editing and DiGiCo provides great support, giving you the confidence to handle events even in the most demanding situations. We will continue to buy and make use of DiGiCo consoles in the future. We simply love them."