LAS VEGAS—The Parnelli Awards Board of Directors announce that Bob Heil, one of pro sound’s most prolific inventors, will be honored with the Parnelli Innovator Award at this year’s Parnelli Awards. The ceremony will be held during the LDI show in Orlando, Fla., at a lavish event staged at the Peabody on November 16.
“I can’t tell you how blown away I am by this,” says Bob Heil, from his Heil Sound headquarters located in Fairview Heights, Ill. “To me this is a bigger deal than getting in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because the Parnelli’s are voted on by my peers. It is truly an honor.”
Heil started out in St. Louis as a professional organist, performing up to six times a week at movie houses and restaurants by the time he was 15. Around that time, he became an avid amateur radio operator and started designing and building transmitters, amplifiers and antenna systems. But it was when he opened a music store in the small town of Marissa in Southern Illinois that he started to make his mark. It was an unlikely place to begin what would become America’s first “pro” shop and became a Mecca for the likes of the Grateful Dead, the Who, Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton, Jeff Beck and scores of others touring in 1960s and 1970s looking for innovations in live sound.
His “little” store quickly became the largest Sunn dealer in the country; the P.A. manufacturer looked to him not only to sell, but to build. Heil was responsible for the breakthrough Sunn Coliseum system. While in Chicago working with the system for a regional band, he got a call asking him to bring the system to Boston the next day. Heil scoffed, saying how could he possibly do that? He was told to simply rent a 707…
The modest small-town kid did just that, and the next thing he knew, he was showing the system to The Who. They took it on the band’s “Who’s Next” tour, and soon all the acts were clamoring for Heil’s system.
Pete Townsend was so impressed with Heil that in 1973 he flew him to his studio in London to discuss an unusual idea he had for a album concept called Quadrophenia. For the tour, Townshend wanted a quad system that would allow Roger Daltrey’s voice to appear in different corners through the concert. Heil obliged with his custom quadraphonic mixer.
At this time, Heil formed a lasting friendship with Joe Walsh, one that continues to this day. Walsh was the first to use his “Heil Talk Box,” which Peter Frampton also used with great success. He perfected the first electronic crossover, which was another revolutionary breakthrough. In 1995, his company Heil Sound was the first ever to receive the Audio Engineering Society (AES) “Pioneer Award.”
A man of many interests, in the 1980s he turned his attention to the amateur radio market and created microphones for the “hams.” The 1990s found him as the guru of the home theatre movement, putting together $100,000 to $200,000 home theater systems that usually included installing a “ticket booth” and other theatrical touches. Heil was also a pioneer in the home satellite system.
Today, his focus is on microphones, and Heil Sound mics are fast becoming the industry standard. With his wife Sarah working by his side, he continues to innovate. They divide their time between their two homes — one in the St. Louis Metro area and one in Southern California.
Heil still manages to perform on the organ, playing standards and jazz tunes on Wurtlizer Organs around the country. Occasionally, Walsh comes out with him and introduces him to an audience who likely doesn’t recognize him.
“Bob Heil wrote the book on pro audio — literally,” says Terry Lowe, publisher of FOH and founder of the Parnelli Awards. “His book Practical Guide for Concert Sound, published in 1976, is still read by thousands coming up through the ranks in pro sound. His innovations in boards, speakers and microphones have and continue to be a major contribution to this industry. We are honored to honor him.”
For more information on the Parnelli Awards, go to www.parnelliawards.com.
