Customer Spotlight: AND Audio
As you may have seen, we recently launched Rupert Neve Rentals – a resource to help connect you with local hire companies who rent out Rupert Neve Designs products. AND Audio is a great example of why this resource exists. Enjoy!
Can you please tell us a bit about who you are and what you do?
AND Audio is a boutique audio rental house that specializes in live events and multitrack live recording. We build complete audio control packages with analog and digital outboard equipment for Front Of House, Monitors, Broadcast, and Record Systems.
How did your company come about?
The company was started by Andy Hernandez, who has been an industry professional for over 13 years. Initially AND Audio was started as an integration/sales company, but after seeing the demand for DiGiCo in Southern California we decided to pivot our model towards rentals.
In addition to running AND Audio, Andy is the current monitor engineer for the Jonas Brothers and is actively touring.
Much of the production rental world that we see is handled by a few really large companies – what are some of the pros and cons of smaller, more local rental businesses?
PROS: Being a smaller company, we pride ourselves on our attention to detail. This allows us to prep, test, and line check every system before it goes out. When arrives onsite our goal is to make it plug and play so the engineers can focus on mixing and not have to troubleshoot issues.
Because AND was started by a touring mixing engineer, we have a wide knowledge base and design our systems with the engineer in mind. We actually use the gear we rent.
We also can prep last minute requests quickly. Sometimes productions need to come together fast and because we are a smaller company we can pivot quickly.
CONS: Because we are one shop, we cannot support US and International tours in the same way some of the bigger companies can. However, because our gear is not out on the road we can keep our gear in great shape as it’s not being shipped around the US or bouncing around in a truck on the road.
Why do you stock so much Rupert Neve Designs equipment?
With the digital age of consoles we love to pair the transparent sound of DiGiCo with the analog coloration of the RND gear. When creating live mixes or recording live events RND creates an amazing sound at the source, which creates an elevated final product and mix. We LOVE RND!
Do you have a particular favorite piece of RND gear?
While there are so many pieces we love, two of my favorites are the RMP-D8 Microphone Preamps and Portico II Master Buss Processor. The RMP-D8 is a great sounding preamp and the MBP is a great finishing piece to add width and vibe to a mix.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
The Rupert Neve sound has been a staple in audio since the 60’s. There's a reason why everyone uses it in the studio and live…it's great! We choose tools that help us get the job done quickly with excellence. RND checks all the boxes for us.
Thanks to Stevo Jacobs (and AND Audio) for the beautiful photos on this page.
