31 January 2012
Married couple, Alvin and Anrika Bruinders who head up Sound Headquarters. Johannesburg based rental hire company, Sound Headquarters Africa, headed by Alvin Bruinders, in 2011 invested in Robe professional lighting gear to compliment their EAW line array sound systems. Sound Headquarters were the main technical suppliers at the Jacaranda 94.2 Symphony Pops held last year at the Kloofendal Theatre, Roodepoort. Over breakfast, it was a pleasure to chat to Anrika Bruinders who filled us in on the company’s early years and mentioned a few of their more recent events.
The rapid success of Sound Headquarters is a love story. Some fifteen years ago, actor Alvin Bruinders starred in the amusing South African television comedy, Vetkoek Paleis. At the time Anrika, a school girl, bought the entire video series…. little did she know that their paths would cross a few years later.
“Due to the popularity of the television series Alvin was booked for live appearances and because he didn’t want to stand around like a rugby player and give autographs, he worked a stand up comedy slot combined with singing,” said Anrika. One thing led to another and the entrepreneur saw a niche in the market to provide PA sound at festivals. One of his first purchases was Cerwin Vegas. He travelled in a tour bus named “Die Stout Gat” as work steadily started coming in.
From childhood Anrika’s singing talent had been encouraged by her teachers. Her father had fallen ill and passed away and her mom took on more than one job to keep her young family going. By singing and performing, Anrika was able to lend a helping hand.
The LA Sport 4×4 Show was held in Pretoria – it was the platform where the couple finally met. Anrika was to be accompanied by dancers on a stage at the show and was thus wary to use the corded microphone provided by the technical supplier. She noticed Alvin (also a guest performer), standing on the side with a Shure Handheld Wireless Microphone and boldly approached him to ask if she could use it. Recalls Anrika, “Alvin is very hygiene conscious and to him a Mic is like a toothbrush… something not to be shared! He told me I could keep it and then after the show he asked for my CD and telephone number.”
A month later when Alvin wanted to play the CD he found Anrika’s telephone number hand-written on the inside cover. He made the call and six months later they were engaged and within a year of their meeting, married. “We married on the 16th December 2006 in Cape Town at the St Georges Cathedral and the reception was in the Bay Hotel on Camps Bay. A dream come true,” she said.
The turning point came for Alvin about a year later. He was still doing festival work across the country when things did not go according to plan. “We actually bit of more than we could chew,” said Anrika, “The sound just wasn’t enough.” That night the couple sat in their hotel room and decided that they should either leave the industry or take their company to new heights and invest in professional equipment.
Alvin asked Anrika the question, “Are you willing to eat pap and sous with me for a while… or we can do brown bread and peanut butter?”
A back-up plan was to continue what Alvin had started doing on the side (and still does today), presenting safety-talks in a drama format to workers at mining companies.
“As we spoke we started getting fired up and considered our options,” remembers Anrika. “ We decided that we would invest and start doing things right. Immediately we went onto the internet to find professional sound equipment and our research led us to EAW.” Soon after, Sound Headquarters bought their huge KF760 EAW Large Format Line Array system and various other systems for different applications from Andrew Rowan at Surgesound.
For numerous years Sound Headquarters hired lighting gear from companies such as Pure Event Gear and MGG Productions. Alvin and Anrika had hired Robe fixtures from Mark Gaylard (MGG) in the past, and had fallen in love with them.
Sound Headquarters crew take ownership of new fixtures “In 2011 we decided to look as good as we ‘sound’ and the obvious choice was to purchase our own lighting, buying 16 x Robin fixtures: 8 x Robin 600 Beams and 8 x Robin 600 LEDWashes from DWR Distribution,” said Anrika. “This is a company who really live up to their motto – ‘It’s all about the people’, we can vouch for that!!”
Sound Headquarters are moving from strength to strength and take their role in the market very seriously. They are not only technical suppliers but become partners at events, paying close attention to the finer details.
Jacaranda Pops
Camera work aside, Sound Headquarters provided the full technical for the Toyota Jacaranda Pops in October 2011. The concert was set in the beautiful Kloofendal Gardens in Roodpoort, Johannesburg. The amphitheatre, which served as a stage, was transformed with soft washes to create mood lighting dancing across the stone walls and floor.
Side wings and bars were hung on either side of the amphitheatre and a floating stage was built for the orchestra and to create different levels.
Equipment List:
8 x Robin 600 LEDWash
8 x Robin 600 Beams
12 x 2k Fresnels
6 x Robe ColorBeam 700
6 x Crowd Blinders
12 x Parcans
1 x Avolites Pearl
Gijima Annual Golf Weekend
Some 1000 clients and business associates were invited to attended the Annual Gijima Annual Golf Weekend held at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit. The family occasion included Gala Evenings, entertainment for the youngsters, high tea and of course rounds of golf. Sound Headquarters utilized their Robe fixtures for this event and called on the services of Pure Event Gear for additional lighting gear as they had to rig 84 Moving heads over the weekend.
BMF
Black Management Forum – Annual conference and Gala
“Held at Gallagher Convention Centre a total of 46 Robe moving heads were used. This was where we saw the power of the Robin MMX fixtures provided by Blond Productions!” said Anrika. “ We were blown away, it’s first on our wish list moving forward.”
ARM – African Rainbow Minerals International Shareholders Conference
Held at Sandton Convention Centre in November 2011. “Once again this was a Robe fanfair, the full monte!!” she said. The rig included Robin Washes, Robin Beams, Robin MMXs, Robe 700 Spots, 2k Fresnels, Cityscapes and Robe ColorBeam 700.
“VIVA Robe!!” ends Anrika. “This is not political, just our choice! ”
