The Channel: UA Introduces New UK Distribution Partner: HHB
By Sierra Dunton

In this month's edition of "The Channel," we are proud to introduce HHB as the new and exclusive distribution partner of Universal Audio products throughout the UK. Over the past 30 years, HHB's accomplishments as a professional audio company are impressive, and could be considered an appropriate business model for all young companies today. Relied upon by audio professionals all over the globe, their contributions to the industry range from product development to manufacturing and distribution to retail, and all the while they constantly redefine and adapt their role in the ever-evolving world of recording technology. In the following interview, we are pleased to be joined by Howard Jones, HHB's Director of Distributed Brands, who has agreed to share with us a bit more about the company.

Can you please tell us a little about the appointment of HHB as Universal Audio's new UK distributor? When did this happen, and what do you see as goals in this new partnership?
We took over the UK distribution of Universal in September of this year, having originally been introduced to UA through our colleagues at HHB Canada, who themselves have been handling the Universal line very successfully over there in Canada for the last few years. We got on really well with the Universal people and started to discuss the possibilities of working together over here in the UK, and, well, here we are!

UA VP of Marketing Mike Barnes, HHB Director of Distributed Brands Howard Jones, UA Directress of Sales Erica McDaniel, and HHB MD Ian Jones, outside The Ivy Restaurant in London

For us, the key priorities are to significantly raise the profile of the UA brand here in the UK and to simply grow the business as steadily as we can. UA already has a great reputation amongst those who know the brand and use the product, but now we want to amplify that message and spread the word as far and as fast as we can.

"The band folded, but HHB went on to be rather more successful!"

We've already embarked on a full-scale ad campaign across all the major pro audio publications over here, and there'll be plenty more to follow....

When was HHB founded? What does it stand for?
HHB was founded back in 1976 by the company's MD Ian Jones, and takes its name from a rock group called the 'Half Human Band' that Ian had been managing at the time. The band folded, but HHB went on to be rather more successful!

Please tell our readers about the history of HHB, the concept, and the launch of "Source Distribution."
HHB was originally was rooted in the PA business-since having equipped the Half Human Band with a decent PA system, Ian started to rent it out to other acts. This rental business then led HHB into sales of audio equipment, and shortly afterwards the company landed the UK distribution of Crown products. During the 1980s the 'project studio' was born, and HHB's activity shifted from live sound to supplying end users in the broadcast and music recording market. Throughout the 80s HHB was at the cutting edge of both DAT and CD technologies, developing its own range of recording media and popular series of CD recorders. This manufacturing arm of HHB has continued to this day, culminating in the DRM85 FlashMic digital recording microphone.

Alongside the manufacturing and direct sales activities of HHB, the company has gradually acquired a great portfolio of audio products that it distributes to dealers in the UK-in addition to UA we also distribute Rode, PreSonus, Event, Sony Oxford, Lynx, Eventide and Rosendahl products. In September of this year we decided to create an entirely separate division of HHB to concentrate solely on these distributed brands, and so Source Distribution was born. The purpose of Source is to provide more focus and resources to all our distributed brands, and give a clear distinction between this and the other areas of our business. The launch of Source coincided with the start of our relationship with UA, so it's been a very exciting time for us here.

I understand that your building has a bit of a unique history, too?
Yes, the building is located in northwest London and dates back to around 1895. In its lifetime it has served as a factory for Cords Piston Rings and then as a dairy depot! We've retained many of the original features and it's a very unique and pleasant working environment.

I saw some pictures from an event HHB held at The Ivy in London. Can you tell us a little about what was going on there?
The Ivy is probably the best known and most highly regarded restaurant in London currently, and we held a special press event there in September, to announce the launch of Source Distribution and to celebrate the start of our relationship with Universal Audio. It was attended by all the professional audio press from the UK, and our key dealers over here. We were delighted to see Erica McDaniel and Mike Barnes from Universal, who were able to fly over from the U.S. and give everyone a sneak preview of the new DCS Remote Preamp.

We always believe that if you're throwing a party, you should do it in style-and it was certainly a day to remember!

Mike Barnes, Erica McDaniel, and Ian Jones getting to know the new DCS Remote Preamp

Can you share with us a bit regarding HHB's focus on broadcast and the Scrub arm of the company?
Of course-these are two very important areas of HHB's business. The broadcast department is headed up by Martin O'Donnell, and focuses entirely on supplying broadcast customers in the UK, with the BBC being the single largest client. With the broadcast world now turning its attention to HD, our broadcast department is increasingly involved in supplying equipment for the acquisition and processing of multi-channel audio, and has been for a number of years been the exclusive outlet for Dolby pro audio products.

Like Source, Scrub is a separate division of HHB and concentrates solely on servicing the UK post-production industry. Scrub is led by Ben Nemes and is located in the heart of London's Soho district-the center of activity for London's film and TV community. Much of Scrub's business is centered on Digidesign products, and Scrub has played an important role in the supply and installation of numerous Pro Tools/Icon console systems to broadcasters and post houses around the UK.

In the fickle pro audio market, how do you account for HHB's longevity and reputation?
I think a number of elements contribute to this. Firstly, the quality and professionalism of the staff here is exceptional-whether it's sales, tech support or administration-and many HHB personnel have been here for a good many years, which I think is evidence of a happy, well-run outfit. Secondly, I think HHB has always been able to understand and adapt to a constantly changing audio industry-from analog to digital, from hardware to software, HHB has always had an eye on where the industry is heading and been able to re-invent itself along the way. Lastly, HHB has always understood the power of marketing and how important it is to get your message across-there's a lot of gear out there vying for the customer's money, after all!

What would you say differentiates HHB from other companies in the industry?
HHB is pretty unique in the breadth of its activities-I can't think of too many organizations that successfully run direct sales, distribution and manufacturing divisions across the music, broadcast and post-production markets. That's a real diversity of business, and the experience of each division tends to feed and strengthen the others.

How do you envision UA and HHB better serving the UK pro audio world?
The quality of UA's hardware and DSP plug-ins is unrivaled, and it has something to offer every engineer out there. UA gear is so obviously designed by people who make music themselves, and I believe UA's product roll-out will continue to provide musicians and engineers with great sounding tools to make their job easier. Source's job will be to ensure that customers in the UK know about the products, can get their hands on them quickly and for a sensible price, and can rely on top-flight technical support when they need help.