Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Sound business for Apex Acoustics

Apex Acoustic's director Paul Smith, admin Louise Price, project manager Sean Quinn, sound engineer Chris Combe and technical manager Scott McGurk.
Apex Acoustic's director Paul Smith, admin Louise Price, project manager Sean Quinn, sound engineer Chris Combe and technical manager Scott McGurk.

A man who bought a Dundee sound company when he was aged just 22 has grown it to be a major player in the industry supplying equipment to the likes of Bob Dylan and Liam Gallagher.

Paul Smith took over Apex Acoustics after former owner, Radio Tay presenter Graeme Adamson, decided to sell.

He has since grown its turnover of £68,000 to £600,000, taking it from a one-man band to a company with five staff based at Taygate Trading Estate.

He recalled: “My predecessor was going to study medicine, so it was basically he was either going to sell it to me or to someone else.

“At that time it was as simple as lose your job or buy the company.

“I was still living at home at the time. It was a massive step to take and it was difficult in the first year or so but I’ve never looked back.”

The company recently secured two major contracts worth £350,000.

Mr Smith said the company’s growth had come naturally as equipment being out on tours for months at a time meant that greater stock was required.

“We’re all a bit geeky in the industry and tend to want to buy the latest gear,” he said.

“It’s a case of having the right equipment and you end up getting the phone call. In recent years we’ve spent £100,000 on a mixing desk and £150,000 on a speaker system.

“We drove down some speakers to London on Saturday that are going to be used on Liam Gallagher’s tour.

“An important market for us has been the massive theatre tours, which require a lot of equipment that might be needed for six or seven months.

“It means you end up having to buy more equipment. When you have more stock it seems to naturally get busier.

“However, we still do a lot of local events, like school shows and am-drams.”

Mr Smith says his plan going forward is to keep growing the business organically and he has recently hired a project manager has been hired positioning it to tender for higher profile events and larger tours.

“At the moment the entertainment industry is very buoyant,” he added.

rmclaren@thecourier.co.uk