Last fall, FRONT of HOUSE readers voted on 36 regional sound companies nominated for our annual Hometown Hero awards competition. After that round of voting, six regional winners (five in the U.S., and one representing all of Canada) were named. Along with bragging rights (and a snazzy frame-ready certificate), each of these six winning companies is listed on the official Parnelli Awards ballot (see page 28), which is also posted online at parnelliawards.com/vote. The company garnering the most votes from FOH and PLSN subscribers will receive the coveted Parnelli Award for Hometown Hero Sound Company of the Year. This honor will be bestowed at the annual gala set for April 14 at the Anaheim Convention Center during NAMM. Here’s a closer look at each of the six Parnelli Award finalists.
NORTHEAST
Audio Images Sound & Lighting, Batavia, NY
For this provider of concert production equipment and services to the Western New York area, news of this win was bittersweet. FRONT of HOUSE’s last newsletter of 2022 included news of the company’s victory in the Northeast. But when we called in early January, we learned of the unexpected passing of founder Sebastian Marino on New Year’s Day (See “In Memoriam“).
Marino was a lead guitarist/songwriter for heavy metal band Anvil (1989-1995) and Overkill (1995-2001). But inspired to serve his community and bring in extra income, in 1996 he started Audio Images Sound & Lighting. By his side was Don Weeks, a fellow band mate. “He just kept growing the company a little bit every year,” Weeks recently told RochesterFirst.com. “He would get a little bit bigger, buy some more equipment and just kept going.”
With a crew of professional sound engineers, an extensive inventory of backline, staging, lighting, and audio gear, Audio Images has grown considerably over the years. After first moving years ago from Rochester to a bigger shop in Batavia, NY, the company expanded with an office in Inverness, FL and, most recently, a small warehouse in Key West, FL. ”We’re excited about our continued growth in Florida and look forward to carrying on Sebastian’s legacy of excellence within the industry,” said Josh Rose, General Manager. Today there are 20 full time employees, and in addition to serving national touring acts, they also serve corporate clients.
Business-wise, 2022 was a good year for the company, with a list of steady and new clients. For veteran prog rock band Yes, they provided the audio rigs and consoles for the entire North American tour. For the Rochester International Jazz Festival, they supplied their Stageline mobile stages, audio rigs, consoles, and engineers, plus backline for 14 stages over nine days. The Key West Songwriters Festival was another big event, as was the Taste of Country festival in Buffalo, NY and the inaugural Annapolis Songwriters Festival. To keep up with it all, they have added some new DiGiCo SD10 audio consoles.
SOUTHEAST
Music Matters Productions, Atlanta, GA
Music Matters has one of the more unusual stories on their road to being a true Hometown Hero — as their name might suggest, they started out as a music instrument store. In addition to providing music education and support for school music programs in the Atlanta area, they started buying pro gear for their School of Rock program. From there, they have grown into a full-blown live event production house.
They stepped up to Asbury Park, NJ to support the 3-stage Sea. Hear. Now. Music Festival, which was headlined by Green Day and Stevie Nicks. Other highlights: the multi-day Suwannee Hulaween festival (Live Oak, FL) and the Made in America festival (Philadelphia). They have also sailed the ocean blue aboard a cruise ship supporting Sixthman Festivals at Sea, supplying audio to the main stages on the pool deck plus for all the ship’s theaters and lounge spaces. Closer to home, they were called on for a new system design and installation for the Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Atlanta’s Chastain Park.
Music Matters Productions has forged partnerships Avid and d&b audiotechnik, offering their S6L consoles and GSL/KSL Series speaker systems. “d&b audiotechnik continues to be the leader for rider-driven events,” says Tom Smith, the company’s audio department manager. Their continued support for their entire product line and speed of service/replacement parts is unlike any other company,” he adds.
To accommodate continued growth, Music Matters moved from Marietta, GA to Atlanta, and their full time crew is now 40. “Being nominated for this award represents everyone’s hard work and dedication to make every event the best it can be,” Smith says. “We strive to package every show like a tour when it leaves, so as much prep work can be done at the shop as possible to make an efficient load-in and show experience for our technicians and artists’ engineers on show site.”
MIDWEST
Intellasound Productions, Verona WI
“This is Intellasound’s third time being nominated and winning the Midwest division [2012, 2016, 2022], and we are just as thankful and excited to winning as we were in the other years,” says Intellasound Productions VP Tim Woodworth. “It’s great to know that your clients and industry contacts throughout the year felt that you deserved this and voted for you. During a period of labor shortages and high demand for events, it’s a nice reward after a year of a lot of hard work.”
And what a year it was — “our best in 25 years of business,” Woodworth says. “Since we provide all aspects of an event from audio, lighting, video, staging, mobile staging, backline and crowd control, we stay very busy.” Intellasound wanted to invest in even more inventory, but he says they found it challenging to get product from the manufacturers due to supply line shortages. “We hope that 2023 will help clear out some of the backlog our industry is experiencing, and everyone can continue investing in our industry’s future.”
But that didn’t hold them back. They took on another large format concert put on by the University of Wisconsin Band. “For this event we relied on our L-Acoustics K2 and Kara II inventory.” This included 24 K2 plus 24 Kara II for the main P.A., with additional Kara II taking care of monitoring for the entire 300+ member band. “It is a challenge to get a P.A. over the top of the band volume and yet keep everything sounding good and not overbearing. The L-Acoustics product easily accomplished this,” Woodworth says.
Last year also saw a return of the American Family Insurance Golf Tournament that concluded with a concert. “This year, the talent list was Lady A and Boyz II Men and the very talented Edwin McCain. For this event we again rely on the L-Acoustics K2 and Kara II with KS28 subs all powered by LA12X amps. Talent of this caliber expects and deserves industry leading technology, and we are happy to be able to provide it for them.”
NORTHWEST
Morgan Sound, Lynnwood WA
“2022 was a banner year for Morgan Sound for both our live sound division and our AV design and integration division,” reports Morgan Sound’s Steve Boyce, sound reinforcement director. They handled at least 170 events, many of them multi-day ones. “In addition, we provide audio techs and support for Tulalip Resort Casino’s premier nightclub, and late in the year, we began to provide audio techs for Teatro ZinZanni, which is an amazing circus, dance, comedy, and dinner theater. That added another 250 or so dates to the 2022 calendar.” On top of that, they completed nearly 80 installation projects, including a Meyer Sound Constellation system consisting of 103 speakers for the Cornish College of the Arts. “Another install involved outfitting 60+ conference rooms for Convoy, a downtown financial center,” Boyce says.
Morgan Sound had also made purchases galore, including an expansion of their JBL VTX A12 rig, right before Covid hit. Even so, the company weathered that storm. “Thanks to help from our Install division, through the pandemic, we able to continue our lease payments even though every show we had booked for the year cancelled,” Boyce says. “Since we’ve been back, we’ve strengthened our infrastructure but have held off on other major purchases to help us catch up a bit. But they are coming!” The company has also added to their production team, bringing on Andrew Saylor as Production manager, Scott Schroeder as assistant production manager and Teddy Hale as warehouse manager. Today they have more than 20 full-timers and at least that number in contract workers.
The company’s roster of annual events include the Oregon Jamboree (with past headliners including Miranda Lambert, Trace Adkins, and Old Dominion); the Amazon Seafair Summer Fourth (Seattle’s major 4th of July fireworks show); and University of Washington’s largest commencement ceremony in Husky Stadium, which “is typically a four-day event for us, though this year it was five days because of a second day of ceremony to make up for the two years that the event was live-streamed with no students or audience.” Founded in 1970, this is the fourth time Morgan has won for the Northwest region.
SOUTHWEST
Spider Ranch Productions, Rancho Cordova, CA
Spider Ranch, no stranger to this winner’s circle, has expanded to the other side of the country from their Sacramento-area base and opened an office and warehouse in Ocala, FL, about an hour north of Orlando. But wait, there’s more: Spider is now also in Detroit, too. The central Florida and Michigan operation is a major expansion for a company that has long had a strong presence in northern California. “All during Covid, we were commuting to Florida twice a month because that was the only place doing shows,” says owner Alex Moran. “We are just doing more tour work and festivals across the country.”
Spider Ranch has also been supporting tours and shows for Maxwell, Lil Baby, and Future. Closer to home, they were called on for the Sol Blume Music Festival in Sacramento. They completed a major installation at the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic church in Visalia, CA. Spider Ranch also supported the 2023 CFP (College Football Playoff) championship game on Jan. 9 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA. To keep up with the demand, they have been adding more wireless and a DiGiCo SD7 console. “We were able to keep our staff during Covid,” Moran says. Today they have eight core personnel working plus “some industry-known freelancers who now work with us on a regular basis.”
Moran has been at the live event biz since he was a 14-year-old kid, working for the legendary man himself, Bill Graham. “I’m one of the guys who has been around long enough to remember that when you wanted a sound system, you built it,” Moran laughs. The seeds for his Spider Ranch Productions were planted in 2004, but it was a few more years until it really became a full-fledged company. In 2007, Moran became a licensed contractor and built the company on smaller corporate gigs, nightclub work, video conferences and, of course, those bar mitzvahs, which he proudly says is still a specialty.
“I am thankful to be so fortunate and blessed to have people in my life that make me and our company complete.”
CANADA
KiAN Concert Sound Services, Richmond, BC
KiAN Concert Sound Services, based in the Vancouver, BC area, has represented Canada on the Hometown Hero list multiple times in the last decade, and in 2013, they took home the Parnelli Award for Hometown Hero Sound Company of the Year. The company was founded in 1974 and, after nearly a half-century of support for live event production, KiAN is already making plans for next year’s 50-year milestone celebrations. And 2022 turned out to be their busiest year yet. Owner Mark Reimann and general manager Derek Mahaffey say, post-pandemic, they’re acutely aware of the key to their success: a small but experienced team that prioritizes client satisfaction above all else.
Also ensuring client satisfaction are recent additions to KiAN’s arsenal: an L-Acoustics K Series system and DiGiCo Quantum platform consoles. This is in addition to their Meyer Sound and Avid Venue offerings. Their list of clients consists primarily of national touring acts, arenas, large-scale festivals, corporate conventions and televised events. In 2022, they supported the season opening game for Vancouver’s BC Lions Canadian Football League franchise, which kicked off with a performance by OneRepublic. Another 2022 highlight: the Pacific National Exhibition’s Summer & Winter Concert series featuring Shaggy, Dionne Warwick, Barenaked Ladies and The B52’s. Also notable: the Malkin Bowl Concerts featuring OMD, Rez, Bob Moses and Midnight Oil. KiAN also provided delay towers for the Vancouver stop on Mötley Crüe & Def Leppard’s world Stadium Tour. They also are known for their installation work and their sales/rentals.
“It’s always an honor just to be nominated for the Hometown Heroes award,” says Reimann. “We want to thank everyone at the Parnelli Awards and FRONT of HOUSE Magazine, but more importantly, we want to express our gratitude to our outstanding staff and clients both across Canada and globally who continue to work with us, year after year, some for nearly 50 years.”
For more information on the Parnelli Awards (and to reserve your seat or table), go to www.parnelliawards.com.
