New investment for Audient
Published: ASIA
WORLD: Audient has just announced that it has received a significant boost in the form of new ownership under audio veteran Simon Blackwood. Taking the helm at Audient this month, Mr Blackwood is already working closely with the Hampshire-based team.
Mr Blackwood expressed that he is impressed with the current product line and personnel, including recently appointed managing director, Steve Flower, chief technical officer, Tom Waterman and sales and marketing director Luke Baldry. ‘I have keenly followed Audient’s success over the years, so the opportunity to work directly with the team to take the business to the next level was too compelling to turn down,’ he enthused. ‘The brand has become universally recognised for producing award-winning, innovative products for modern music recording and production.’
Mr Blackwood has wide leadership experience within the audio industry, having founded the Soundcraft Spirit business, led the resurgence of Focusrite/Novation and most recently the turnaround at Turbosound and its eventual sale to the Music Group.
Mr Blackwood cites David Dearden as the brand’s ‘lynchpin’, having first met him at the Frankfurt MusikMesse in 1999. ‘In those early days of Audient, the ASP8024 was clearly a superior product in terms of ergonomic design and pristine audio performance,’ he reflected. ‘I figured any brand David was involved with was going places. He’s one of a very small group of world class audio designers who continue to innovate for today’s digital markets. He has migrated from engineering in studios, building bespoke mixers for the home studios for three of the four lads from Liverpool, to designing DDA and Midas mixers and founding DDA and Audient with Gareth Davies. His designs have stood the test of time because, quite simply, they sound great.
‘We are going to invest in products and people more than ever before, and we are going to build a lot of great products and have a lot of fun along the way,’ he furthered. ‘After all, we have a compelling story, one of the world’s best teams of audio designers, a highly creative team and high user expectations to exceed!’