Big Interview: Hitting All The Right Buttons With Editors Keys

Established in 2005, Editors Keys, has gone from strength to strength. Starting out with a handful of editing keyboard stickers for programs such as Pro Tools and Adobe Premiere, the firm has since created dedicated PC and Mac editing keyboards for the major video and audio programs. Think Avid, Pro Tools, Final Cut Pro and Sony Vegas to name a few. Mark Brown, company director, talks to BFV about Editors Keys' journey to date and how they've made their name in the industry...

Editors Keys celebrates its tenth anniversary this year; can you tell me a little about the company's history?
Wow ten years have gone really quickly! Editors Keys started when I was creating a production company with a friend. We'd saved up for the editing PC, the monitors, software and everything else to make our little office into a 'proper' edit suite. The last thing I wanted to really finish it off was an editing keyboard, but at the time the only ones you could get were these very bulky and expensive (£350+) keyboards. I'd just purchased a new PC which came with a nicer looking keyboard, so I thought there must be a way to convert my current keyboard... There wasn't, so that's when Editors Keys started!

We first produced some thin vinyl sticker packs which attached to any computer keyboard and from the success of those we reinvested and were later able to start producing much better looking and more budget friendly editing keyboards. Our first office was based in Norwich right outside Norwich Castle and now we're based in Manchester city centre in the beautiful St Ann's Square area.


What were the first products you invested in, and what challenges did you face when starting out in the industry?
The Editors Keys sticker sets were the very first product before we started to make dedicated keyboards. We had some huge production issues to begin with. Even very durable stickers designed to go onto vans and buildings just couldn't deal with human sweat and grease. We dealt with three big UK printing firms and none of them could find a resolve.

The first batch of 500 units had to be replaced as they all faded within six months, it was a nightmare. We fully replaced every single customer with a brand new pack as customer service is the most important thing to me when it comes to running a successful company. We eventually had to make our own kind of sticker which had eight interweaved layers of protection on top.

With regards to your client and customer base, where are your products used; e.g. an artist in a sound studio, or other situations?
We're proud to say we have a really wide range of customers. We've sold to over 100 countries worldwide and the client base ranges from students starting to edit for the first time, one-man bands, singers and music groups all the way up to leading world class editors and edit suites at places like the BBC and Universal. We've even sold to NASA and to Downing Street.

Since launching our StudioSeries range of USB microphones and vocal booths that client base has grown again and we're excited to be selling to a whole range of new fans across the globe, including ColdPlay's producer Rik Simpson who's a big fan of what we're doing.


On the company's website, one of your goals is listed as making 'the editing and creative process easier and faster than ever before'. How has Editors Keys achieved this, and have their been any key issues or developments along the way to shape this?
We've aimed to make products which make the editing process faster, by reducing the time it takes to complete certain tasks. Take the keyboards for example... Microsoft did a study which showed that people who used shortcut keys could actually speed up their workflow by around 40%.

In terms of our recording gear, we specialise in USB microphones which record at broadcast standards, which means if you're a video guy and you know you need to record at broadcast grade levels, all you need to do is plug the microphone in and you're good to go, all without one call to an 'audio guy'. Easy to use products with amazing results is what we aim to produce.

We've recently been nominated for a few awards including 'Manufacturing business of the year', 'Best international business' and 'e-Commerce business of the year', so we're heading in the right direction we hope.



How challenging is the current market?
It's really challenging at the moment. There are so many companies producing great products, so it really keeps us on our toes. We're constantly putting our heads together to plan ahead for the next five years so we can constantly keep on top of things. New laptops, new ports and tablets have really challenged things for us, however they also create new gaps for us too, so it's really swings and roundabouts.


What are the future plans for the company?
We've just finished a successful Kickstarter campaign for the world's first backlit editing keyboard which went on sale earlier this month so we're hoping for big things for that product range. Many editors would email us with issues of working in dim studios, so we felt like we've made a product which every editor would love to use.

We're also going to expand the StudioSeries line of products aiming at the home recording market, so look out for some exciting new products coming very soon.

Image: Mark Brown, Company Director, Editors Keys.

This article is also available to read at BFV online.

www.editorskeys.com

(JP)