
New deal: Audiotonix' CEO James Gordon on utilising the company's brands for smart investment By Heather McLean
Friday, May 10, 2024 - 09:41
Print This Story
Audiotonix company Calrec's Argo Q
Audiotonix, parent company to a bevy of audio companies, recently announced it has signed a deal for a next-stage investment from private equity firm PAI Partners. SVG Europe sat down with CEO James Gordon to find out more.
Regular occurrence
Gordon comments that this round investment is a regular occurrence for Audiotonix. It's fairly normal for us, to be honest. We did our first round of private equity back in 2007 with a relatively small UK fund, which was actually perfect size for us back then, as it was just standalone DiGiCo back then.
On 23 April 2024 Audiotonix announced its new investment deal with PAI Partners. Previous partner, Ardian, has kept a minority stake in Audiotonix via reinvestment as part of this transaction.
Says Gordon: We're at the stage now where we've exchanged contracts. We complete probably in about 12 weeks time. That brings with it the ability to do more acquisition, more investment, in our current brand. We'll have our own organic growth from the brands we already have, and we'll add more brands to the group.
I'm pleased to say, having done all the [investment rounds] we've done now, all of [our companies] are performing better than they were before they joined the group. So for me, that's the accolade I'm most proud of, and I definitely don't want to lose.
He adds that Sound Devices, a TV and film location sound and RF wireless specialist that joined the group in 2021, is one of those, doing some amazing stuff now . He explains: The new RF technology that's going into live sound and broadcast now is going to change them from being a TV and film set brand to being a much, much wider brand, which is exciting for them.
Gordon goes on: We're doing lots more with software, with plugins and subscription and perpetual and all the interesting bits that revolve around that.
Moving to the cloud
At NAB SSL launched the System T Cloud, a virtualised audio-mixing solution for live-to-air broadcast. The complete and comprehensive broadcast-audio solution enables seamless management of live productions from multiple venues via the cloud. Audiotonix has stated that at IBC, Calrec will launch its own version of this product.
Gordon says on the work between SSL and Calrec in this respect that, by the end of this year, we'll have two cloud-based solutions with the workflow that the individual users like .
He continues: If you're a sports TV person you're going to want the Calrec workflow probably. And if you're a light entertainment and music-based person, you're going to love the workflow of the SSL, and we've kept that workflow so the users get the sort of user interface they expect and love.
That's been a real group thing, Gordon says, pointing at the group's overall success over the years. For an individual company to put the investment into doing that would be quite hard. But when you look at it and go, right, Calrec and SSL, two serious players in broadcast, let's get them to work together to create something that works for each of their customers . We're not duplicating the effort.
Martin Bennet, group marketing director at Audiotonix, agrees: I didn't think that would've happened without both brands being within the Audiotonix structure because there'd be a lot of suspicion, there'd be a lot of who's going to get to market first with the shared core technology?
But the fact is you can manage it really well between both brands. We have a divisional director called Nigel Beaumont, who basically works across both brands. Having that synergy means that both brands get the benefits of the technology in the right way.
From an investment point of view, I think those types of opportunities are the things that we'll continue to look at, continues Bennett. There always has to be something that a brand can bring to other brands when we're looking at the investment side.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
22/09/2026
Apogee Plugins Are Moving to Plugin Alliance We're excited to share an important update about the future of Apogee plugins.
Apogee plugins are moving to Pl...
22/09/2026
Parkland, Florida, US, September 22, 2026: SipRadius, widely recognized for making content processing and connectivity secure and seamless, has been honored wit...
22/09/2026
VanityFilter 3.1.5 adds project files and adjustable protection around lips, bro...
22/09/2026
Chile's TV Modernizes Broadcast Operations with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton September 22, 2026
0 Comments
URSA Broadcast G2 brings versatility...
22/09/2026
OWC Shares Sneak Peek at Amazon Prime Big Deal Days Pricing
Brie Clayton September 22, 2026
0 Comments
Image courtesy of Deposit Photos
Business and ...
22/09/2026
Berklee's First Homecoming Block Party Brings Alumni Home for Global Music F...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/09/2026
Whether it be from the sun or from our phones and other devices, we are all exposed to electromagnetic radiation in some shape or form. With the dramatic growth...
22/09/2026
Comscore's latest AI Intelligence Report Shows Competition Intensifying as C...
22/09/2026
The Factory-X Project Sets Standards for Data Sovereignty in Industry
Arvato Systems Brings Digital Sovereignty to Industrial Practice
Factory-X Successfully...
22/09/2026
LONDON Apple today announced the opening of Apple Music Hall, a brand-new state-...
22/09/2026
RT , Creative Ireland and Shared Island Initiative ask young artists
to respon...
22/09/2026
To build and deploy sophisticated robotics applications that can perceive, reason and act in dynamic environments, developers need new physical AI models and to...
21/09/2026
Manifold Technologies, developer of software-defined, FPGA-accelerated infrastructure for live production, has named Ryhaan Williams as Chief Commercial Officer...
21/09/2026
Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has won Best Journal Article at the 2026 IAMT Impact Awards for What Video Editors Need When Everything Is Changing Around Them,...
21/09/2026
Major League Wrestling (MLW) has announced a streaming distribution agreement with Tubi for its weekly series MLW FUSION. Beginning September 17, new episodes w...
21/09/2026
Disney Entertainment has announced that Adam Smith has been named Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer, with responsibility for Disney and Hulu including product, engi...
21/09/2026
United Airlines and DISH have announced an agreement to bring live professional ...
21/09/2026
SES and JioStar have announced a multi-year agreement under which SES will provide satellite distribution services for JioStar's television channel portfoli...
21/09/2026
The Detroit Red Wings have announced details for their inaugural season on Detro...
21/09/2026
Manifold Technologies has appointed Ryhaan Williams as Chief Commercial Officer for North America, effective October 1, 2026. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Wi...
21/09/2026
Angels Broadcast Television (ABTV), the local television home of the Los Angeles...
21/09/2026
The 2026 US Open Tennis Championships marked a year of change with respect to TV...
21/09/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
21/09/2026
Drum-tuning app now available on Android
RT60 describe their iDrumTune app as the world's most advanced, accurate and intelligent system for assisting ...
21/09/2026
Innovative multiband auto-panner introduced
SoundGhost's latest plug-in takes an innovative approach to auto-panning, and divides incoming signals into ...
21/09/2026
We check out the M5 Max-equipped model The same, but different. The new Mac Studio models feature M5 Max and M5 Ultra silicon, dramatically improving the perf...
21/09/2026
From Graphic Novel to 30-Minute Animated Film: What I Learned Building an AI-Ass...
21/09/2026
Liam Hopkins Builds Recording Studio with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton September 20, 2026
0 Comments
Video complements audio production with music v...
21/09/2026
Indigenous screen organisations from Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia ...
21/09/2026
Ireland's most successful and longest-running afternoon show, the TODAY Show...
21/09/2026
Physical AI is moving rapidly from research to large-scale deployment. By 2035, ABI Research projects an installed base of 49 million level 3-5 autonomous vehic...
21/09/2026
Today, Egypt's AI builders gathered in the Grand Egyptian Museum for a reception that highlighted the nation's rapidly growing AI ecosystem - spanning A...
21/09/2026
Every AI factory needs power and cooling that fit its computing architecture. As AI infrastructure expands, power, cooling, water, site and grid constraints are...
21/09/2026
RT celebrates Irish Sign Language Awareness Week 2026
Special programmes across RT television, radio and online, plus special initiatives
#ISL #IDSL #IWDP26...
21/09/2026
AI security is an engineering problem. That means defined security requirements,...
21/09/2026
Clean energy isn't hard to come by, but the pace of large-scale adoption has historically been slow due to bottlenecks - including out-of-date infrastructur...
20/09/2026
Piano-playing singer-songwriter competition returns for fourth year
Casio have officially revealed the list of 16 finalists who have earned their place in t...