Norwest Productions: Ray Moss

Ray Moss of Norwest Productions discussing all things Norwest and Acoustic Technologies.

Norwest's Graeme Whitehouse (L) with Ray Moss (R) and Acoustic Technologies TLA312 BLACKBIRD Elements & loudspeakers.

Norwest Productions Pty Ltd is Australia’s largest audio service provider. Offices are located in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Beijing. Recently Norwest Productions purchased Oceania Audio, New Zealand's largest provider of audio and lighting, as well as McLean Audio in Melbourne. This has enabled Norwest to expand operations to now include offices in Auckland, Wellington and a larger operation in Melbourne - as well as expand the company's inventory to include more choices for their clients.

Norwest has a significant amount of Acoustic Technologies product in its inventory including BLACKBIRD Line Array systems, SS24, SFM09 and SB03 systems.

Ray Moss has recently been appointed General Manager in Norwest's Brisbane office, having now spent over 6 years with the company, starting as a Senior Sound Engineer then Operations Manager.

Ray Moss:

"We love AT here at Norwest, its certainly been an interesting process for Gra (Graeme Whitehouse - National Operations Manager) to have been involved in the development of some of the AT products including the SS24 and SFM09 systems."
"One of our main markets here at Norwest is Television Broadcast - and I would estimate that around 80 - 90% of these productions involve Acoustic Technologies equipment in some way."

Norwest has certainly solidified their national reputation in the broadcast industry with a large portion of live and studio based shows and events on Australian TV serviced by the company including The Footy Show, Hey Hey Its Saturday, The Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Funniest Home Videos, Australia's Next Top Model, NRA Fashion Awards and CMA Awards and countless televised sporting events suchas the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Ray indicates that the SFM09 in particular has become the "go to" stage monitor in live broadcast applications.

"We get a lot of really positive feedback from the networks about the SFM09's performance and low profile characteristics. We'll often get the head of the audio department at one of the national television networks calling up to specifically ask for the SFM09 - we have a bit of a chuckle when we get the request for "a couple of those cute little wedges and a PA please!"
They love them because the units are visually discreet, high powered and compact. They can be tucked away and easily placed out of camera shot. If they do fall into camera shot - they're so compact and discreet that they just melt into the background."

As well as broadcast work, Norwest is heavily involved in the touring and live production market with productions including Parklife, Brisbane Festival, Brookes and Dunn Tour, The Wiggles, Keith Urban; Taylor Swift and Iron Maiden tours. Ray mentioned that although many of these productions have reasonably specific equipment riders, they love to use Acoustic Technologies equipment when they can.

"Whenever we do a show that isn't necessarily brand or spec driven and we have the opportunity to chose a system that perfectly suits the job - the BLACKBIRD line array systems are always on top of the pile. It's then really great to hear that the artist or client is pleasantly suprised by the system - particularly if they've never heard of or used AT. The feedback is always positive - no one ever gives negative feedback, but they mention how solid and versatile the system is."

"One of the things I like about the BLACKBIRD is the flying hardware - especially when comparing it to that of other manufacturers' technology. The BLACKBIRD has no loose parts, they're a self-contained flying solution and because we road case them as a four stacked cabinets - the setup and tear-down is so quick, which is incredibly important when you're working on shows at the level that Norwest operates..."