This year’s lot of regional winners is a good mix of those companies across North America that are serving their communities and beyond. It’s one thing to be a guy with some gear that fits in a pickup and is stored in a garage, and it’s another to be a huge national company with loads of resources at your fingertips — that’s how we imagine it, anyway! But it’s those in the “middle” who can (and have the nerve to) invest in the gear to keep their company relevant and also surround themselves with an exceptionally talented crew.Anybody in this category is a hero in our book. The people and companies that follow got an extra nod of approval from FRONT of HOUSE readers — including many of their peers.
Northeast
SPL Sound Systems
Vineland, NJ
“I am completely honored to receive this award,” says Steve Ponzetto of SPL. “I have been in this business for 32 years, and I know the difficulties regional sound companies face. To be recognized by my peers is one of the greatest compliments I could receive — I thank everyone that has supported me over the years.” .
SPL Sound Systems has been doing business in the area since 1981 when Ponzetto, then a senior in high school, started buying sound gear from money saved from a paper route, using it to support local bands. He was a bass player in a band at the time as well, but as the familiar story goes, he shifted to a pro audio career and incorporated under the SPL name
Ponzetto’s young business got a boost from the openings of two key venues — The Core-States Center (now The Wells Fargo Center) and the Atlantic City Con-vention Center. Along with live events there and in the casinos, the company has supported shows for Billy Joel, Aerosmith, Kid Rock and Pink, among others.
In 1990, Ponzetto designed and built his 7,800 square foot warehouse, which holds JBL VerTec, Yamaha and Midas gear when it’s not out supporting gigs. In terms of gear selection, Ponzetto says he’s always focused on offering quality, well-maintained equipment that’s also priced right. He most recently invested in the new JBL VTX speaker system and the new Midas Pro Series console. “Summer has been busy,” he reports. “But now that some outdoor shows we’ve been doing are coming to an end, we’re back focusing on our weekly customers like Borgata, Harrah’s, Bally’s and the Golden Nugget Casino.”
Southeast
MHA Audio
Hagerstown, MD
In 2008, MHA Audio was honored with a nod from FOH readers as a hometown hero, and owner Mike Scarfe says it’s “fantastic” to be back.
“In the last two years, we have continued our association with IMP and Merriweather Post Pavilion, handling the Capital Jazz Fest,” Scarfe says, adding that they’ve been handling the latter for 20 years. MHA has taken on the Virgin Mobile FreeFest for an eighth year along with the M3 Rock Festival, among others. “Also, with our client, Showcall, we handled the APEC Summit for the U.S. State Department in 2011, and both the NATO Summit in Chicago, the G8 Summit at Camp David in 2012 and the dedication of the George W. Bush Library in Dallas this year.”
MHA invested in Martin’s MLA System this year as well. “And in conjunction with Delicate Productions and OSA, we have used them on the tours of Mumford & Sons and The Killers.” Some d&b M2 wedge monitors were also added into their inventory.
Scarfe started in the business on the other side of the pond, mixing out of England for clubs and concerts in Europe, and he was the FOH engineer for the historic Live Aid show at Wembley Stadium in 1985. By then, he had moved to the U.S. starting MHA Audio in 1983. In the early days, the company provided touring systems for such A-list acts as AC/DC, the B-52s and Ziggy Marley.
MHA is “just” an audio house. But as Scarfe says, “I’d much rather provide an excellent job at the one thing that we know how to do well — sound reinforcement. People know to come to us for quality audio and knowledgeable personnel.”
Midwest
Logic Systems Sound & Lighting
St. Louis, MO
Logic Systems is there for the big area festivals like LouFest (St. Louis), Rockfest (KC), and Rock on the Range (Columbus, OH), but you’ll find the team reaching out to supporting the likes from the Carolina Rebellion in Charlotte, NC to the Google Science Fair in Palo Alto, CA. Other events include John Deere anniversary events in multiple cities, holiday events for Kawasaki and Worldwide Technologies holiday events. Bringing it back home, they also handled seven stages at the St. Louis Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon.
“It’s been a great year, and this honor makes it even better,” says Chip Self of Logic. “In addition to all we’ve done, we recently acquired St. Louis Case and Cabinet, a high-end custom flight case manufacturer. We also added 10,000 square feet to our warehouse.”
Logic System’s growth has brought them to 25 full-time employees, and Self continues to invest in the company. Toys filling up his expanding warehouse include the NEXO GEO-T and GEO-S-12 line array speakers; Electro-Voice X-Array and NEXO PS point source speakers; more Avid and Yamaha digital consoles and a Midas analog board, among other additions.
“We’re constantly buying new equipment,” Self says, noting the Avid S3L, the Yamaha CL-5 and the Clear-Com Helix. “Helix is a pretty revolutionary product for intercom. Intercom is one of those un-glamorous items that makes the whole thing work — which is pretty analogous to what we really do for a living. Maybe that why I appreciate it so much.”
Self, who was moving faders in local clubs before he could legally drink, is now in his 27th year in the live event industry. “Being selected for this award is genuinely special, primarily because we’ve been selected by our peers, and the people we work with every day,” Self says. “It’s an honor to have been nominated, and an incredible honor to be a finalist. I can’t imagine how exciting it would be to actually win.”
Northwest
Delicate Productions
Burlingame, CA
“All I can say is, I feel like the Delicate team in San Francisco is part of a much bigger picture — Delicate, the company based in Southern California,” says George Edwards on winning best in the Northwest region a second time in a row. “Without that support and knowledge base, without that history and legacy, we could not have pulled off what we did in the last four years. Without Jason [Alt] and Smoother [Smyth], we could not pull off the events that have come our way.”
Delicate played a big role in the hugely memorable (if financially troubled) BottleRock Festival in Napa Valley. “We did an amazing event — we had all five stages that held 70 bands and 40 comedians,” he says. Another big event was Auction Napa Valley, which kept them up on-location for nine days. They continue to do the Red Bull King of the Rock on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay as well.
Delicate added a Martin Audio MLA Compact rig to its inventory as well as some custom rigs from VUE. Other signs of growth include adding an operations manager and another sales rep, and in November they take possession of a new 17,000 square-foot warehouse.
Edwards is a self-described “California brat,” who “cut my 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, he founded R & R Sound, and he worked that for six years. In 1995, he began a 14-year career at Sound On Stage.
“I’m thankful to be part of this crazy world, and thankful that our fellow peers and audio vendors have voted Delicate this honor,” he says.
Southwest
Precise Corporate Staging (PCS)
Tempe, AZ
Precise Corporate Staging (PCS) owner David Stern is understandably as pleased as he is humbled to receive yet another Parnelli Hometown Hero honor, which the company has received multiple times over the last few years for both sound and lighting.
PCS continues to grow, and supported Country USA, Rock USA and the Sturgis Buffalo Chip festivals, while continuing to be there for Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock foundation and the various events staged for that nonprofit. The list of artists PSC has supplied sound for this year include Lil’ Wayne, Joe Satriani, Kid Rock, Rob Zombie, Tim McGraw, B-52, Go-Gos, Boz Scaggs, B.B. King and many others.
The calls for PCS’ audio support increasingly come from all over the country — the company did quite a bit of work in the Midwest and East Coast, and even as far north as Quebec. Stern himself has been busy with local and national media: he was featured on the local morning television show talking about the importance of corporate giving (PSC won the Community Excellence Award), and was written up in The Wall Street Journal. The company also won the Blue Ribbon Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Stern wholeheartedly believes that Precise Corporate Staging’s growth has always been paralleled by community outreach and service. Locally, along with Alice Cooper’s foundation, Precise Corporate Staging donates in-kind services and support to the March of Dimes, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Alzheimer’s Foundation of America and various hospice care and children’s health programs.
Stern 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 their warehouse to pick from. PCS is bullish on L-Acoustics line arrays and added more to its inventory last year. Also found going in and out of that busy loading dock are everything from NEXO Geo S Series line arrays and EAW KF Series cabinets to JBL EONs.
Canada
KiAN Concert Sound Services
Richmond, BC
“This is an honor!” exclaims KiAN’s Derek Mahaffey. “There are a lot of great companies in Canada, and to be amongst them is a privilege.”
KiAN is a raising its profile with gear including the new Meyer LEO System, which gives company president Mark Reimann peace of mind. “I’ve been dealing with Meyer since the 1980s, and I trust those guys — I never have a question about their quality.” The company also offers L-Acoustics V-DOSC and dV-DOSC speaker systems and Avid Venue Profile and Yamaha PM5D-RH consoles.
For more than a quarter of a century KiAN has been taking good care of the regional concert, touring artist, music festivals, special events, and corporate conventions that call on them.
Recent gigs include the Times of India Film Awards (TOIFA), Squamish Valley Music Festival, the Rock the Shores Music Festival and Victoria Symphony Splash. The company has also recently supported shows for The Tragically Hip, Armin Van Buuren and Alabama Shakes.
KiAN does quite a few audio installations, too, most recently at Great Canadian Casinos’ River Rock Show Theatre in Richmond, BC and the Red Robinson Theater in nearby Coquitlam.
Today, KiAN handles it all with 10 full-time employees and many freelancers. “Our main events today are in the region, mostly in British Columbia,” explains Mahaffey. “Our business has become a broad spectrum of services over the years, from festivals to large corporate one-offs, and now award shows.”
KiAN continues to grow. “I’ve noticed at one time it was feast or famine — there would be tumble weeds rolling through the shop on some months,” Mahaffey says. “Now there’s more consistency — we’re working steadily through the year.”
