Design Sound Crafts Bespoke Audio Solutions for High-End Events with Sound Devices Astral Wireless
Chief engineer Davis Jones details the challenges and triumphs of A/V for A-listers
Los Angeles, CA, June 16, 2025 — Since 2009, LA’s Design Sound has been the A/V architect behind some of the most prestigious private events in southern California. Boasting A-listers such as Kim Kardashian, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jessica Simpson as well as major corporate entities like Apple and Google as clients, the firm has built a reputation on their ability to create bespoke live sound solutions that offer peerless sound quality and stability to suit intimate industry gatherings, lavish star-studded weddings, and major corporate galas. In their ongoing quest to provide innovative methods to deliver the highest quality sound with minimal instrumentation, Design Sound have recently made Sound Devices Astral wireless receivers and transmitters their RF system of choice.
Tour-quality sound, invisible aesthetics
Although the scale and scope of every Design Sound event is different, the high-level clientele involved ensures that each requires a level of planning and execution that would not be out of the ordinary for a high-level touring show. Pristine audio and flawless system control are often the bare minimum requirements of these events. “We’re working for some of the biggest names in the industry therefore the baseline for quality they expect is extremely high,” explains Design Sound Chief Engineer Davis Jones. “It’s really exciting as an engineer to work on these projects because they are so challenging – but there’s no room for error.”
“Given that, we seek out technology solutions that are extremely high performance and give us as much flexibility as possible. In doing so, we can design systems that are no-compromise in every respect.”
Another important aspect prevailing in Design Sound’s ethic is minimizing their technological footprint at these events. Although system efficiency and shorter setup times are certainly a factor in these decisions, working with the given aesthetic of an event is incredibly important as well and has driven some of their most innovative solutions. “When you’re dealing with weddings, personal parties, or cocktail hours, technology can easily get in the way of the ‘vibe’,” Jones continues. “No one wants to see speaker columns or wires or wedges, so you have to choose core elements that are super small and easily hidden while still providing the level of quality and stability that the event requires.”
“As we’ve begun to design completely wireless live sound solutions that led us to Sound Devices and the Astral-series wireless units.”
Failure is not an option
Jones was already very familiar with Sound Devices from his background in location sound for film and television. Discovering that Sound Devices’ Astral line worked natively with DiGiCo – the console and controller brand of choice for many Design Sound systems – presented him with a natural opportunity to utilize Astral to power his latest system concepts. “Fully wireless stage setups is something we have been pursuing for a long time – it has a lot of value to our clients even if they don’t know to ask for it yet,” Jones explains. “Having no cables or mic stands onstage, minimal monitors, and an extremely fast setup time holds tremendous value, however up until now the quality of sound from wireless units has not been up to our standards.”
“Sound Devices is known for having incredible sound quality with their mixer/recorders, and they have absolutely upped the ante on that when it comes to wireless,” he continues. “We were completely blown away by the ultra-wide dynamic range and fidelity of these mics, transmitters, and receivers. There’s absolutely no drop in quality when going wireless and our clients have not been able to tell that it isn’t wired – something you can’t do with any other brand!”
Jones is currently utilizing the A20 Nexus and a pair of A20RX receivers within a single rack unit, giving him a powerful and portable setup with up to 29 channels of wireless. Astral’s SpectraBand technology and intuitive user interface have enabled him to take total control of his available frequencies in what is almost always a hostile RF environment. “Southern California is not a friendly area when it comes to wireless – there is always competition on the legal frequencies no matter where you’re set up,” he says. “What’s great about SpectraBand is it’s extremely easy to find and auto-assign to clean frequencies and monitor the situation live so that we’re operating at peak efficiency.”
“It’s really incredible how quickly we can get it set up and how amazing it sounds after so few steps,” he continues. “It’s an amazing system to be able to offer our clients and gives us an incredibly flexible platform to create RF solutions for any event.”
“Failure really isn’t an option at the level we’re operating, and with Sound Devices wireless I’m confident it will never happen,” he concludes. “We really couldn’t do this with anything BUT Sound Devices, and we’re thrilled to offer our clients something that can take their events to the next level.”
To learn more about Design Sound, please visit: http://www.designsound.com/
About Sound Devices
For more than 25 years, Sound Devices has created premier audio equipment that helps sound professionals capture superior audio. The company's products have been used for an array of applications, from award-winning feature films and television shows, to live events, houses of worship, and educational applications. Sound Devices designs, assembles, and supports its products at their Reedsburg, Wisconsin, headquarters and their Madison, Wisconsin, and Rickmansworth, UK, offices.
For more information, visit www.sounddevices.com.
