Backing Every Beat for NatWest’s Rainbow Network Celebration

At STORM EVENTS, we pride ourselves on our technical capabilities and the skills of our crew. Our video, livestream, sound and lighting technicians are highly experienced and are ready to deal with any event requirements onsite, whatever they may be.

As well as world-class services for live, hybrid and remote conferences, our sound technicians also take live bands in their stride. Rarely, however, do we meet a band formed from a client’s employees!

Such was the case when we supported NatWest for the 10th anniversary celebration of its Rainbow Network, which supports LGBT+ colleagues and customers.

Our brief was to provide a sound and lighting solution for both the awards presentation and band.

As people so involved in the world of finance, “The Fine Ants” performed a terrific set of cover songs to colleagues, following the recognition of champions within the network. Even as a non professional band, every member is a talented NatWest rock star, and we were thrilled to provide the first-class technical service that they deserve.

We needed a premium, music quality PA system, and as a renowned and respected brand for conferences and music we chose D&B. The combination of our Y Series and B6 speakers, D40 amplifiers and the in-house Y Series system at the venue made a perfect match, creating a perfect PA system for the awards ceremony and band.

Our state-of-the-art Shure Axient digital radio mic system was the obvious choice for all aspects of the event, in a combination of handheld and headset mics. With Shure’s strong reputation as a premier, industry-standard brand for music and speech we knew that sound clarity and quality would be exceptional. The digital framework also provides signal encoding, not so important for a setlist of cover songs but crucial when sensitive internal information is on the agenda.

Of course, musicians have specific requirements for performing, over and above the use of simple PA systems. As this was a business event with employees playing, on-stage sound levels needed to be at a minimum. That’s no problem for us at STORM, we used a combination of Sennheiser in-ear monitors and just two D&B Max 12 stage monitors so that the band could hear themselves perfectly without raising decibel levels on stage.

We needed a high-quality mixing desk to complete our audio specification, and we chose our Yamaha QL5 to help manage the complex array of inputs and outputs.

A live band also needs vibrant lighting to add dynamic effects during its performance. Our Chauvet Freedom H1 uplighters added amazing colour around the hall, with Chauvet Rogue R1 wash lights for excitement and movement – all controlled by a Chamsys MQ70 lighting desk.

It was a real privilege to support such a fantastic event, and our STORM technical team loved their time with The Fine Ants. Both the band’s and our crew’s talents and flexibility definitely came to the fore for the Rainbow Network!