As manufacturing quantities
increased, the RSD operation moved to a village in Bedfordshire
England called Northall. The location was a small dairy farm which,
although run down, offered much needed space to fill the ever
increasing orders for amplifiers. It also offered a home for the
RSD Hire Company
who worked for bands like Ultravox, Judas Priest, Buzzcocks, The
Three Degrees, Jnr.Walker and many others. The hire company ran
in parallel to the manufacturing side providing the ideal partnership
for road testing and developing new ideas.
A
good example of this was the RSD
20-8 Monitor Console. Stage monitoring was still
new to many bands usually due to the fact that only large format,
expensive monitor consoles were available. The 20-8 changed this
over night with its small size and professional features. Not
only did all 20 input channels have the now famous 3 band dual
sweep EQ, but so did the 8 outputs. With the 9 large VU meters,
colour coded controls and individual channel monitoring, the 20-8
was easy to use and always produced good results.
Another move
for the company was on the way, this time to the (then)
famous 'California Ballroom' about 10 miles away. Famous
because just about every pop singer or group played there
throughout the 60s and 70s. Like the RSD Hire Company,
it provided close contact with touring acts and sound
engineers eager to offer suggestions and ideas for improving
their performance.
On
the product front, the next progression in the recording console
side was the Studiomaster 16-8.
A 16 input 8 bus configuration, it was the perfect match for
the new breed of compact 8 track reel to reel machines.
The Third and final move (well, for the next 18 years or so!)
in 1979 was to a commercial office and factory block in Luton,
Bedfordshire. The whole ground floor was re-modelled for efficient
mixer and amplifier production, the other floors for world sales
and administration. Also for the first time, a dedicated Research
and Development (R&D) department was set up. It was the
ideal time to expand the mixer range in yet another area to
keep ahead of the ever growing competition.
It
was 1980 and after the January NAMM exhibition (held in California,
USA) a product meeting was held with the local dealers. Actually,
a breakfast meeting in a 'pancake house' - RSD people have a long
tradition for a love of food! - but we digress, so back to the
story... They had all noticed the growing demand for 8 input,
four output consoles for multi-track recording in live and studio
situations. Multiple keyboard setups and drum machines were becoming
more popular so to make the product easy to move around it had
to be 19inch rack mountable. The Studiomaster 8-4 mixer was the
answer and years ahead of anything else around. Lots of features,
good audio specification and the first departure for the company
from VU meters to a more rugged LED bargraph 'ladders' for the
metering. It could be used as a desk top mixer or rack mounted
and with all the connectors at the rear many sound and Audio Visual
companies made it their standard audio console.
On
the product front, the next progression in the recording console
side was the Studiomaster 16-8.
A 16 input 8 bus configuration, it was the perfect match for
the new breed of compact 8 track reel to reel machines.
It
was 1980 and after the January NAMM exhibition (held in California,
USA) a product meeting was held with the local dealers. Actually,
a breakfast meeting in a 'pancake house' - RSD people have a long
tradition for a love of food! - but we digress, so back to the
story... They had all noticed the growing demand for 8 input,
four output consoles for multi-track recording in live and studio
situations. Multiple keyboard setups and drum machines were becoming
more popular so to make the product easy to move around it had
to be 19inch rack mountable. The Studiomaster 8-4 mixer was the
answer and years ahead of anything else around. Lots of features,
good audio specification and the first departure for the company
from VU meters to a more rugged LED bargraph 'ladders' for the
metering. It could be used as a desk top mixer or rack mounted
and with all the connectors at the rear many sound and Audio Visual
companies made it their standard audio console.