The readers have spoken — and what a diverse group they have chosen to honor as the best of the best of their region. We have some fresh faces and some “repeat offenders.” All of these are bestowed with a little something to hang on their wall with the Parnelli logo and all the honor, glory and bragging rights that go with it. Take a look at some companies you might not be that familiar with, and reacquaint yourself with others — before heading on over to parnelliawards.com to vote for the best of the best. The winning company will be honored with the Hometown Hero Sound Company of the Year award at the Parnelli Awards Oct. 20, 2012 at the Mirage in Las Vegas.
Southeast
Beachsound, Miami Gardens, FL
We’re here for the second time, and we are beyond thrilled,” states Andre Serafini, founder and president of Beachsound. And it’s been a good year for them. They just finished up supporting the 50th anniversary of the independence of Jamaica that involved emptying their warehouse of a “bunch of gear” and being part of the many festivals on the island nation. “The Village was set for six days of exhibition, activities and performances to exude the essence of Jamaica’s heritage.”
Other highlights for the company over the last year include the Jingle Ball, a Christmas show that featured Kelly Clarkson, LMFAO, and Cody Simpson; Jazz in the Gardens at Miami SunLife Stadium for a crowd of 50,000; and the Nine Mile Music Festival at Virginia Key Beach Park, where they “kept the sound and lights grooving from 2 p.m. to well into the evening.” They also support events at Miami’s Marlins Park.
“We increased our staff this year and are up to 18 people, and purchased some new DiGiCo SD5 consoles that we’re really thrilled about. We added some d&b [audiotechnik products] as well,” including the new V-Series to complement the company’s J Series systems. Beachsound also has plenty of Q Series and T Series speakers available.
Serafini’s 20-plus-year background in pro audio includes Dolby Lake and L-Acoustics certifications and international touring experience. Initially the company started as a recording studio, which Serafini parlayed into live sound. No starting-in-a-garage story here: Beachsound started in a 4-by-8-foot trailer.
“I was doing a lot of the underground alternative punk and metal scene in the beginning, and have experienced steady, moderate growth ever since,” he says. “The years 1998 to 1999 saw a growth spurt where I was getting better accounts and dabbling in more corporate work. I wasn’t just doing events that were music-based, but industrial and theater projects.”
He’s pleased to have his company in the winner’s circle. “The last time we won the Hometown Hero award, it was really a good thing for us,” Serafini says. “The exposure helped our business grow, and that’s why we’re so honored to be here again.”
Northeast
Boulevard Pro, Ridgefield Park, NJ
Boulevard Pro returns to the winner’s circle, having been here in 2009. “It’s exciting!” declares co-owner Anthony Cioffi. “It’s a nice compliment that shows others have noticed our hard work.”
Twin brother James Cioffi co-owns the company. Raised in the Bronx, they have been in the pro audio business for more than a quarter of a century. James (bass) and Anthony (guitar) played with local groups and even toured with Gary U.S. Bonds and Mink DeVille.
One day when they heard the latter’s tour manager expressing a need for a couple of keyboards, the brothers stepped up. Starting with backline, then opening a rehearsal studio in New Milford followed by recording facilities. Then, in 1989, they opened a pro audio installation division catering to schools, houses of worship and corporate environments. Three years later they moved into concert audio, beginning with an investment into an EAW 850 system. In 2004, they became a member of the L-Acoustics family. The company now operates out of a 5,000-square-foot facility in Ridgefield Park, NJ, just eight miles outside NYC.
Cioffi says they are happy in their regional audio sound company niche. “This year we supported the Harlem Summer Stage concert series, setting up a big stage a couple of times a week. We’re also the in-house guys for the Apollo Theater and do a lot of work in Chinatown.” Boulevard Pro is also a preferred vendor at the Tarrytown, NY Music Hall theater.
He says they just received the new Yamaha CL console. “We’re a Yamaha dealer and do a lot of installs with them and NEXO [products]. Our Yamaha 5D and M7s are always going out the door — recently we got a call from the Blue Note nightclub needing an M7, and we were lucky to have one. Yamaha products are very reliable and we have a good relationship with them.” They are also looking at an additional investment in L-Acoustics, particularly the new ARCS speakers.
While Boulevard is happy to be the size that it is, it isn’t afraid of the big boys. “PRG is a great partner, and when we need something we go to them. Sound Associates are very helpful too. They rent from us and we rent from them. We’re not competitors, we are all partners, and I like that approach.”
Northwest
Delicate Productions SF, Burlingame, CA
“Can you believe what we’ve done in just two and a half years?” George Edwards asks.
The roots of Delicate SF started earlier, with the founder of the company’s Los Angeles-area office, Smoother Smyth. He decided to gamble on opening another office at the height of the recession and connected with Edwards.
“I knew he was Mr. San Francisco, that he knew the market well,” Smyth says. Edwards today is the SF office account executive and oversees day-to-day operations.
Edwards, a self-described “California brat,” cut his teeth “as a band guy with all the local regional bands.” He quickly moved up, touring with such acts as Eddie Money, The Tubes and Great White, among others. With Leo Burke, Edwards founded R & R Sound, and he worked at that company for six years. In 1995, he began a 14-year career at Sound On Stage.
It’s been a good year for Delicate SF. The company landed the Audi China (automobile) account, and they handled the annual appreciation meeting for Apple employees and take care of many of their product launches. Another big feather in the cap is the San Francisco’s Stern Grove Festival, a series of free concerts that got started back in 1938. Edwards has been involved for the past nine years. Delicate SF also does a lot of special event work with the owners of Napa Valley wineries, including Coppola vineyards.
Today, Edwards and his crew operate out of a 22,000 square foot space, and the gear includes consoles by DiGiCo, Avid, Yamaha and Midas. The plethora of mics includes AKG, Audio-Technica, Beyer, Electro-Voice, Neumann, Sennheiser and Shure. Speaker systems are from JBL and EV, among others.
The year has seen some capital investments in consoles, loudspeakers and wireless mics. He says Delicate SF is using the new Martin Audio MLA rig, d&b audiotechnik’s M2 monitors and an additional 40-plus small-format Martin speakers.
When Edwards got the news of the nod as best audio company in the northwest, he called a complete staff meeting. “I wanted to congratulate everyone that they’ve been acknowledged by their peers. I wanted to enforce pride of ownership on this honor and let them know I couldn’t be prouder of them. I can’t wait to be there at the Parnellis sitting with all those other professionals. It’s a great thing.”
Midwest
Intellasound, Verona, WI
“I was always the drummer that owned the P.A., and hated admitting I was a drummer,” jokes Dave Maier.
Tim Woodworth and Dave Maier founded Intellasound in 1997. Woodworth was FOH for the band Under the Gun, a regional country act, with Maier on drums. During a hiatus, the two bought some audio gear and “it just blew up from there,” Maier says.
“We believe in balancing your company’s resources with a clients’ events,” says Woodworth, who spent the 1990s touring and mixing sound for bands including Nine Inch Nails and the Beastie Boys. “There is no gain in our view in taking on too many clients. We have strived over the years to make each event something that we can count on, each and every year.”
Along with their expansion with audio gear, in 2004, they bought a Stageline SL250 mobile stage, then another SL250, then a SL100. “Those stages really helped our business.”
Just recently, they were able to do what Hometown Heroes do best: serve the local community. “We did Garbage, which includes three guys from Madison,” Maier says, of Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig, who are joined by Scottish singer Shirley Manson. “We played with them in 1990s, and it was great for a hometown audio company to provide for a hometown band!” Other acts they’ve provided audio for include Jackson Browne, Korn, Godsmack and the Flaming Lips.
“We’re an E-V company,” Maier declares. “The best move we ever made was in 2005 when we took on their line arrays.” Intellasound has X-Line and XLC boxes, and often beta tests new E-V gear. Consoles include Avid VENUE Profile, Yamaha PM5D-RH V2, Soundcraft k2, Midas PRO2 and “still some old analog dogs like the Yamaha PM5000!”
“We do corporate work and some install work,” says Maier. “We just did some nice work on the Majestic Theater [also in Madison]. Our love is for live sound,” Maier adds. “There’s good money in installs, but it’s more fun to stand out in the rain and mix sound,” he laughs.
“It’s an honor to get your name listed on the ballot with all the other great regional companies,” adds Woodworth, of the Hometown Hero honor. “Then, when you find out that you have won in your region, a sense of pride and accomplishment sets in. Knowing that this award is given by counting votes of people that you have a direct working history with, really makes it that much more special.”
Southwest
Precise Corporate Staging, Tempe, AZ
“We are very humbled,” said PCS owner David Stern of the Hometown nod — a twofold honor, as his company was also included among the lighting company finalists, a Parnelli Hometown Hero first.
It has been a stellar year for PCS. Country USA, Rock USA, Sturgis Buffalo Chip festivals and a huge Glenn Beck event in Dallas Cowboys Stadium are some of the notable big events they’ve provided sound for this year. This list of artists is even more impressive: Kid Rock, Mötley Crüe, Kelly Clarkson, The Fray, Kiss, Yes and Taylor Swift, to name a few.
“We started out as a lighting company, then moved to audio, then to video,” says Stern, who prides himself on how the company is able to “package” systems for ease of use — and PCS has quite an array of audio gear in its warehouse to pick from. The company added more L-Acoustic line arrays to its inventory this year. Also found going in and out of the PCS loading doc are NEXO Geo S Series line arrays, EAW KF Series cabinets and JBL Eons on smaller jobs. Yamaha DM 2000 digital boards are used, as are Midas Venice and Verona consoles.
The company has stepped up its marketing message, with a revamped website, a newsletter and a media person to handle public relations and social media.
Stern grew up in Dumont, NJ, near Hackensack. During his high school days, the New Jersey club circuit was on fire, and he kept busy working for club bands at night handling sound and/or lighting duties. He would work with Meat Loaf before eventually becoming keyboard tech for Bon Jovi in 1984. He was there for that band’s first world tour opening for the Scorpions in the U.S. and Kiss in Europe.
Meanwhile, he met Marla, his future wife, at a bar on July 4, 1980. They married shortly after. Twenty years later to the day, the two formed Precise Corporate Staging. “Our philosophy is we partner with our clients,” Stern says. “We help them invest in their business. When their business grows, our business grows.” They work show-to-show but also year-to-year. “We want to create events and relationships where we both win.”
Canada
Sound Art, Calgary, AB
Sound Art is based in Calgary, with offices in Winnipeg and Toronto, and, like many Hometown Heroes, the company began humbly. “I started out while I was in high school by recording demos for bands in their rehearsal halls,” says owner Dave Cousins. “I went from there to mixing rock bands in bars. And from there, out onto the road.”
The company started in Winnipeg and was born of frustration — Cousins increasingly wanted better gear than he could rent locally. “So I had to buy it. I started building the rental inventory through Long & McQuade’s Music Store finance plan. I never thought it would go as far as it did… it was really just about putting together a big PA. I didn’t have stadium-sized [gear] in mind back then!”
In 2001, Cousins opened the Toronto and Calgary offices, making the latter his HQ, and that’s when Sound Art formally started a touring division, going out with Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Dido and Avril Lavigne among others. He knew he had “arrived” in 2010, when he did Sunfest — his first big event — an outdoor rock festival in Gimli, Manitoba that Sound Art continues to support. “The first big band at it was The Tragically Hip and, later on, the festival featured Pearl Jam.”
Today, Sound Art has warehouses in Calgary, Winnipeg and Toronto totaling 28,000 feet. “We started out as a Midas and E-V house. We now supply all the major console lines: Avid, Yamaha, DiGiCo, Midas and Soundcraft,” says Cousins. “We are still 100 percent E-V for speakers.” As for new equipment, it’s a never-ending process, “I tried to buy less this year, and we have still ended up spending over a half a million dollars, and the year isn’t over.” Sound Art has 35 full-timers and 25 part time employees.
“This year has been great, we are increasing our warehouse space to allow us to prep more shows simultaneously. The next two festivals are X-Fest in Calgary and Sonic Boom in Edmonton. Both are large outdoor rock festivals that run on the same weekend.”
Cousins says he is honored to get the Parnelli nod. “I am extremely proud of our staff which would be the reason we were considered for this award. We have a great bunch of guys and girls that our clients love to have on their gigs.”
