May 21, 2010 5:32 PM, By Sarah Benzuly

Dave Rat at the company’s new Midas PRO6

Preparing for this year’s summer touring season (including five stages at Coachella and several booked arena tours), Rat Sound (Oxnard, Calif.) added some new equipment to its already stocked arsenal. “We’re seeing demand we haven’t seen in several years,” notes company president Dave Rat. “This will definitely be our strongest year ever.”

One equipment area that needed to be bolstered was in the digital mixing console category. “Knowing our client requirements, we tested several consoles,” Rat says. “There are two different angles I look at in evaluating a board: personally as an engineer and, of course, the company as a sound vendor. I found that the Midas PRO6 has features and usability that I have not been able to find in other digital consoles.

“Like every successful rental company, we are a mixture of demand-based and the pursuit of quality,” Rat continues. “Finding the balance between those two is crucial. We were looking for a premium console that was also in demand, and several of our up-level clients have requested the PRO6. So we knew that Midas digital was in our future; the only question was whether we would sub-hire or purchase the console.”

To answer that question, Rat Sound brought the PRO6 in for a demo. As a longtime user of Midas analog consoles, Rat knew what he was looking for. “This is where it goes back to my personal angle. Does the console fulfill the qualities I’m looking for as an engineer? Yes, the PRO6 has the features and the usability I need. It’s the first digital board I’ve found that meets the requirements for me to actually carry it and be happy.”

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