Regional Slants

The votes have been tallied – the regional winners of the FOH Hometown Hero Awards are…

In the world of pro audio, regional soundcos are among the hardest working people in the biz. Often involved in a multitude of markets (concerts, corporates, HOW) and offering a variety of services, they work hard to stay competitive in a hyper-competitive market. Often overshadowed by their national touring big brothers, these unsung heroes of the audio world deserve recognition for their hard work and contribution to the industry. The 2008 FOH Hometown Hero Awards are picked from a selection of several regions around the United States and Canada. The regional soundcos are both nominated and voted on by their peers. Winners from each region become the nominees for the annual Hometown Hero/Regional Sound Company of the year at the 2008 Parnelli Awards ceremony in Las Vegas. FOH profiled each region’s winning soundco to uncover their secrets to success.  

Sound meets service in the Great White North.

Real estate moguls are not the only ones who succeed by reciting the redundant maxim of location, location, location. Just ask Peter Hendrickson, who opened a production company on the far eastern shore of Canada in 1984. How far on the eastern shore? Well, far enough that there was a time when his company, Tour Tech East, was tapped to help with an Iron Maiden show because the band’s boat, which had set sail from Germany, couldn’t dock due to extreme Atlantic Ocean weather.

This small town A/V company started with local church gigs and eventually landed one of the largest college concerts in the country.

The e-mail was unusual in that it came from an unexpected source. I get notes all the time looking for coverage of some show or another, but 80% come from the PR department of some audio manufacturer, while the rest come from someone at one of the big touring companies. Occasionally, I’ll get a call from a church or performing arts center looking for coverage of an install.

“I am very proud to announce that the small AV company I work for will be putting on this year's largest college concert in the country,” wrote Production Manager Rob Abercrombie. Had to be an overstatement, but he got my attention through a combination of humility (“how can we get a snippet in FOH?” he asked) and gonads (“or a cover story?”). I e-mailed back and told Rob how to send us info for a Showtime listing or perhaps a small news story. Then, as more of an afterthought than anything, he added that I could cover it myself if someone else were to foot the travel expenses. Small company, small town — I figured it would never happen and that I was safe.

Making the move from bars to corporates

Bill Robison started the Great Lakes Sound and Lighting empire in the early ‘80s out of a garage, renting PA gear to bar bands. It was a different time, he recalls. “In those days, bar bands wanted sound men and 24-light light shows. What they wanted was relatively elaborate. I started with one band, then [worked with] more bands, and I reached a point where I wanted to get some legitimacy going.”

Ed Spoto made the big leap from touring life launching a live sound biz with a booming concert segment.

Ed Spoto laughs at the question of whether or not he misses the touring life. “Not one bit,” he says with a hint of laughter. “I am one of the few people who does not miss the road. I spent 10 years of hard touring and it was time to come home, have children and all that.”

While Spoto got off the road, he did not get out of the audio business. In fact, along with two partners — Stewart Bennett and Robin Magruder — Spoto has been running Dallas-based Crossroads Audio since 2001. The trio purchased the company, which had been open since 1972, after leaving Showco where they had earned their stripes. Bennett is the only one still out on the road, touring with Tom Petty whenever he goes out.
Spoto admits that they’ve retooled the company over the years and Crossroads Audio now includes a retail outlet, concert services department and rental division. Why all three? “It helps smooth out all the lumps,” Spoto answers. “When the concert department is a little slow then we have the retail department to make up for that.”

Bruce Sandler went to Hawaii on vacation. He’s still there 15 years later…

Saying that Bruce Sandler’s life changed when he landed in Hawaii for a vacation 15 years ago is a bit of an understatement. After about a week on the islands, Sandler decided to head back to his Indianapolis home, pack his bags and road cases and head back to the 50th state.

Owner John “Klondike” Koehler’s passion for pro audio comes from a deeper level — the magic behind the music.

The question of what attracts people to a profession in pro audio elicits a wide variety of responses. John “Klondike” Koehler, owner/operator of Klondike Sound Co. in Greenfield, Massachusetts takes the answer to a whole other level.

“I’ve always been interested in energy transfer, whether it was turning the key on the dashboard and hearing an engine roar to life or putting your foot down to the floor and feeling energy applied to the rear wheels,” he says. “There was just something fascinating about the way that energy, and in this case specifically, electrical energy could move columns of air and bring people to share an emotional experience. It was really something close to Wizard of Oz magic.”

When the father-son team of Jaygarick and Joe Stewart decided to go into business together, there was no doubt who was going to get the title of president, Jay jokes. At the same time, the duo wasn’t hung up on titles back then, and they are not now. After all, Dad is Dad.

North Carolina’s SE Systems Has Grown from a Local Staple to National Tours for Select Clients

When Cliff Miller was a touring musician, he had many things going through his mind. Sure there was the tuning of his guitar and the song the band was playing, but Miller’s mind would occasionally drift to how the band was sounding out in the house. It was the early ‘70s, and Miller, who was playing guitar with Doc and Merle Watson, had already started to think about starting a regional sound company.

In the nearly 35 years since then, Miller and a team of employees and associates have built SE Systems into one of the best regional sound compa-nies in North Carolina. Headquartered in Greensboro, SE Systems is a full-service production company that provides audio, lighting and staging and boasts retail outlets in Greensboro and Charlotte.

This Soundco’s Secret Weapon? Touring-grade Service from a Regional Company     

Steve Poulton, president of Audio Excellence in Albuquerque, N.M., recalls his first gig under the new company moniker. “It was out at the Journal Pavilion, which is a 15,000-seat venue just out of town, for radio personality Jim Rome,” he says. “We didn’t have enough equipment to do the show, but I convinced the promoter that we could definitely handle the show and take care of it.”

Poulton traveled from Albuquerque to Colorado Springs, Colo., to rent a JBL line array from Audio Analysts, got out to the venue and then set up the system. “I was flying by the seat of my pants, [but] I was convinced that we would do whatever we needed to do and had the know-how and wisdom to figure out how to do [it],” he reports. “I definitely jumped in at the deep end on a lot of big shows in the early days. My philosophy was always to act as if we were providing touring-level service in a regional area. We always acted as if we were big, and I think it facilitated us getting there rather quickly.”

 

From Bass Player to Soundco Owner — Growing Up Without Growing Old

Hundreds of bar bands around the States are looking for a few things — a singer that can captivate an audience, a guitar player who can play quieter than 110 dB and a rhythm section that can hold the whole thing together. Jon McDowell, known to his friends around Rockford, Ill., as Jonny B, could help with the rhythm section bit, since he’s been playing bass in local bands for over a decade. The fact that he also owned a set of mains and a lighting rig when he joined his first band was a bonus.

 Endeavor Audio & Lighting Systems gets to market by treating others right. 

There comes a point, it seems, when the thought of another club date in a town just south of nowhere is less than attractive. When Jason Oakey and Chris Menichetti hit that point, they decided to get off the road and start their own audio and lighting company.