Jared Geyser has been behind many successful businesses in Namibia, including festivals and bars, for a number of years. But it was when his son, Guy left university in Cape Town, and wanted to get involved in a New Year’s Eve festival a couple of years back that they first forged a relationship with Martin Audio loudspeakers. Shortly after, their company Plug & Play Event Solutions was set up in the capital of Windhoek to further develop their interest in PA and backline.
A friend in South Africa had tested Martin Audio products and recommended them. “So we bought Blackline XP12 and XP118 active subs, and eventually ended up owning 20,” said Jared. “While they are great speakers, they obviously couldn’t do the bigger work … so we then bought a TORUS system.” But the latest prize is the acquisition of a flagship WPC line array—24 boxes with 12 SXH218 subs—all systems supplied by Audiosure, Martin Audio’s South African distributor.
While Namibia also has a vibrant dance music component it’s the festival, carnival and band work that has proven to be the more sustainable part of Plug & Play’s activities. “Hence the reason we have now invested in WPC and a lot of additional backline.”
Guy Geyser meanwhile traced the journey leading up to this point, recalling fondly their first experience with Martin Audio, when their original XP rig provided coverage “for around 1000 people without even pushing that system to the max,” he explains. “We were really impressed and decided to invest in more, building up to 20 XP12 and 16 XP118 subs.
“We noticed that the active subs were really good for our small events, and could be split into multiple systems—but for bigger events we needed to increase the PA. So we bought 12 TORUS boxes—eight T1215 and four T1230 with two iKON iK42 amps.” These were used at Camp Rock at the beginning of the year, deploying all 12 TORUS boxes along with four SX218 subs. I was really impressed with how just 12 of those boxes operated and so were the two engineers who came in to mix the bands,” said Guy. The Martin Audio brand suddenly started to get noticed.
As an ex-German colony Namibia stages a number of German festival carnivals during the year, most notably Windhoek Karneval (WIKA) where TORUS again impressed everyone.
However, Plug & Play’s engagement with WPC was almost stillborn, since they lost the event they had originally been quoting it on. “But we felt committed to Martin Audio, and although we naturally had reservations about moving ahead, we were persuaded to go for it … and we’re so happy we listened to that advice,” exclaims Jared. “It really moved us up a gear.”
The system debuted at The Deep Dive Seafood & Wine Festival in Windhoek. “We had a lot of bands from South African and the guys who mixed them said the sound was phenomenal and fantastic … among the top three in the world.”
With the WPC came three iKON touring racks, each plugged with three iK42 process controlled amps. The full array—12-a-side—will be on regular duty during December, when they have several major seasonal events ranging from EDM to festivals, with up to 8,000 attending. The first, Sunset Groove on Long Beach, takes place on December 21st (with the Dunmore Brothers), followed by Sound of Summer, beach music festival a week later. This culminates in the grand Campout Dune New Year’s Eve Festival in Namibia’s National Park, featuring Kitty Amor among the headliners.
Plug & Play are certainly doing everything they can to promote the Martin Audio brand, even selling their speakers in their Groove Boutique retail store. Meanwhile, out on the road their workload frequently takes them beyond the borders of Namibia, and into surrounding Zambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.
