behringer

Behringer purchases Midas and Klark Teknik

Regular readers of this blog and viewers of Factory Sound TV will already know that our friend Uli Behringer is never one to sit back and relax for too long. So although this news may come as a surprise, it doesn't really amaze us. Just in case you don't already know, Behringer purchased both Midas and Klark Teknik yesterday. Rather than using his spare cash to buy a garage of slick cars (see what he drives in our video interview) and miniature horses, Uli has reinvested in his biggest passion, professional audio, by injecting some well-needed cash into the UK companies Klark & Midas.

This means that two of our favourite brands can keep building innovative and desirable products for professional touring and installation purposes. Heritage, Verona, Venice, DN360, Helix, the list is an honor roll of great sounding products that perform exactly as they should, and never fail to make their operators happy to turn a knob or push a fader. No doubt Behringer will take the opportunity to learn plenty along the way too!

Company acquisitions are not a new thing to pro audio. Harmon purchased Allen & Heath a while ago...then our favourite Cornish company bought themselves back. Italian speaker powerhouse RCF got a much-needed cash topup when American company Mackie acquired them...until RCF's management and workers pooled together and regained owenership. And what about Austrian microphone legends AKG, purchased by Harmon some time ago, and have since reinvigorated their product range to include great releases like C214, D5 and more. We can only imagine how exciting the future of Klark Teknik and Midas is going to be.

If you want the full version, press release from Behringer is here.

the fesitval of Behringer

It was twenty years ago today... We were invited last Monday night to attend 'an evening with Uli Behringer', which was an intimate affair: a few Behringer dealers from the Southern states of Australia, together with the Behringer Australia team, and on his very first trip to Australia - Uli Behringer. We expected to walk in to a Sgt Peppers theme, with cardboard cutouts of The Beatles playing Behringer guitars through Bugera amplifiers. However it was a rather chilled affair, and we were treated to a few cool ales and settled down to a relaxed session at a function room at Crown Casino (a short walk from our day at Factory Sound). Uli hopped up onto stage, and sat down for a Parkinson-style session with Behringer Australia's GM, Michael Jago. Factory Sound was not only well represented with quite a few of us attending, but also very impressed. Uli is (in no particular order) relaxed, intelligent, passionate, charismatic and inspiring. We also got the feeling he is genuinely talented in many areas of audio, whether it is musically, or pro audio. This was indeed confirmed when he came to Factory Sound the following day. We've no idea how he managed to end up at Factory Sound on the day of his 20th Anniversay (since Behringer began), but Uli spent quite a bit of time chewing the fat with us. It was in our speaker room, that we realised there is a reason why his company is 20yrs old and still rising. The reason is Uli. He has a firm grasp on not only what sounds good, but what is required both now and in the future for all things pro audio. We listened to every speaker in our room, and his face could not lie - Uli has never listened passively to anything in his life. Even when he is Salsa dancing, we're pretty sure he's going to be focussing on more than his feet and his partner. Really hard to put into words how 'switched-on' Uli is. If you've got a spare 10 mins though, check out our video podcast interview (episode 21)that we did with Uli on the same day. We think it's the only time he's done it before, so we're thankful that he took the time during his hectic 20th Anniversary year to come in and share a beer and a few stories for Factory Sound TV.