Novatech Creative Event Technology, headquartered in Adelaide, have become a major force in corporate AV, taking their services nationwide and even overseas. With a customer base of top-shelf companies, Novatech pride themselves on providing high quality service backed up with the best products. For over ten years, they’ve relied on lighting consoles from High End Systems, and recently added the smallest member of the Hog family of desks, the HedgeHog 4, to their inventory.
Jayden Sutherland, Senior Project Manager at Novatech, singled out two main reasons for the purchase. “It was a combination of size and the capabilities of the console,” he explained. “For the majority of our corporate work, we’re looking for a small footprint desk that can handle the large amount of DMX outputs we’re using.”
At just 52 cm wide and 55 cms deep, and weighing just 7.7 kg, the HedgeHog 4 is tiny but mighty. It packs two fixed universes of DMX 512 and up to four universes of DMX 512 over ArtNet or sACN into its small frame, and still gives the operator the same programming layout of its larger brother, the Road Hog 4. Fitting in perfectly with the rest of the Hogs in Novatech’s inventory, the HedgeHog 4 can load showfiles from any of the range, and vice-versa. It’s also simple to use, which is a boon for the multi-tasking AV technician.
“Most of our shows have a single ops point for audio, video and lighting,” continued Jayden, “and on the smaller corporate events we don’t have an operator for each department individually. If the sound isn’t too demanding for that show, the audio operator will run the lighting, or if the video is simple, the video operator will. A lot of our staff already know the Hogs inside-out, but they’re really easy to learn to operate as well. For an audio or video technician without much lighting experience, it just takes a half-hour run down with one of the lighting operators to get them through the basics and on to operating shows.”
Jayden and the team also benefit from the ongoing support of local High End Systems distributor Lexair, and its director Alex Mair. “Alex is great, “praised Jayden. “He’s always answering the phone late at night if we need to ask him technical questions. He’s really helpful and he’s often made the long drive to Adelaide to come and see us. We’ve really appreciated that.”
