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[Steve M Smith]

I am from the Isle of Wight, England (pop festivals end of 1960's, start of 1970s).

My boring full time job is a cross between an electronic design engineer, mechanical test jig engineer and CNC machinist.

I play guitar in a rockabilly band most weekends and also do live sound occasionally.

I started in sound in 1986 when I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I was in our local music shop when the owner said he didn't have anyone to go out with a system and I heard myself say "I will do it".  He handed me his van keys and off I went.

In the early days it was all horn loaded cabs such as JBL4560, Martin folded horns (B115) and various other cabs.

For smaller systems we used a lot of Peavey.  The little Isle of Wight store sold more Peavey stuff than any other store in the south of England.  This allowed some privilleges such as being able to drive up to Peavey's UK factory and borrow equipment.  It also got the owner invited out to Meridian by Hartley Peavey.

As it was a music shop, everything which went out on hire had a price ticket on it.

After a few years, the shop owner wound down the hire side to concentrate on installations.  Two young guys bought his hire equipment and set up on their own, later buying a nice EAW rig which they still use today.  I often work for this company when they have a people shortage.

Apart from that, I also build valve (tube) audio recording equoipment such as mic preamps and compressors and I once built a nine channel all valve desk for a friend.

I am alsio into photography (film only) and have more than seventy film cameras including some I have made myself.


Steve.

[Seth Albaum]

I am from Lynn, Massachusetts.

I teach High School video production. (I used to do sound for a mobile tv production studio and eng stuff.)

My company is UPSIDEMEDIA, LLC and through it I run LynnHappens.com, DJ only certain genres for certain scenes at bars and cafes and the one or two weddings a year for folks with different taste, and provide sound reinforcement and simple live sound setups for local events. I also work with larger live sound crews as whatever-they-need-me-for/stage monkey.

[Scott Holtzman]

I live in Avon Lake, OH with my wife and dog.

My day job is CTO of an IT/Telecom carrier that serves this area.  I find the are of mixing an excellent second vocation.  I also am an active Private Pilot for over 20 years, serial entrepanuer general geek.  I also like to cook, landscape and work on the house.  I live in a suburban/rural town of 20k on the shore of lake Erie 20 miles west of Cleveland.

Many years ago I did sound for several bands then went exclusively HOW.  I moved to Cleveland area 15 years ago and did not get back into sound until 5 years ago when I hooked up with the great guys at Passion Fuel.   

I can't believe a waited so long to stop lurking and join PSW, I learn something every day.

[Rob Spence]

Hmm, I thought I had posted...

I am in a little town about 20mi west of Boston.

I have had a passion for live sound since the mid 60s. I played (not very well) in bands in the late 60s and decided I was better at getting the music heard. Did fairgrounds with big ol horns on trees and telephone poles and had a set of Cerwin Vega V20 & V30 speakers for bands.
College ended and off I went to a day job helping design playback systems for the phone company (there was really only one then). Night times were spent selling hifi gear and working in a little recording studio.

I got sucked into computers in the early 70s and then networks by the end of the decade. By 1979 I had fought major network break ins and would spend the next 20 something years keeping the bad guys out of all sorts of places. Internet security takes a toll on ones health and by 2006 it was either find something less stressful to do, like work with high ego musicians or die. Since I had been doing some sound work all along, I just stepped it up a bit.

When not doing sound or working on the house, I like to plan trips and take long motorcycle rides. 3000-4000 miles is a nice ride.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Kevin Graf]

I live in Avon Lake, OH with my wife and dog.
..................................................................

Hi Scott,
I live in Lakewood (for others, it's between Avon Lake and Cleveland).
I'm retired now, but in the past I did Radio & TV broadcasting and some recording.  And helped others with their projects.
Avon Lake is a great place to live.

[Scott Holtzman]

Hi Scott,
I live in Lakewood (for others, it's between Avon Lake and Cleveland).
I'm retired now, but in the past I did Radio & TV broadcasting and some recording.  And helped others with their projects.
Avon Lake is a great place to live.

I do gig at Around the Corner and Vosh in Lakewood.  We should grab a cup of coffee some time.  You looking for work (might want to move this to a PM)

[Lance Hallmark]

Palm Harbor, FL (Tampa Bay area)
Started DJing in 1985 doing 50's-60's music at a Studebakers. Spent the next 15 years DJing & sound/light installs, along with consulting and club management. With kids came a real job, current title is Senior Network Engineer at the firm I've been with for 18 years. I've done some FOH for small bands at some of the clubs I've worked but wouldn't consider myself a sound engineer. Still do clubs & Mobile DJ/VJ gigs while trying to find the time to learn music production. I pride myself on having good sound and am always looking to improve the quality of sound I put out. Don't think I will ever have the time/money/opportunity to do large scale, high end sound but enjoy learning what I can here.

[Keith Broughton]

Born in Stratford Onatrio and been living in Toronto for quite some time now.
Started playing around the sound and electronics when I was in grade 7.
Picked up a job mixing a bar band in the late 70s and made a 35 year career out of the sound biz.
The thing is with mixing sound, there is no "product" to look at when you are done!
It's all...gone.
So I took up working on motorcycles. At the end of a project, you can start it up and ride it home.
My wife and I have toured quite extensively on our bikes. Yep, she rides her own... I got a winner there
Also do a bit of amateur photography.
Now, with the advent of audio networking, I have to become an IT guy....friggin computers!

[John L Nobile]

Now, with the advent of audio networking, I have to become an IT guy....friggin computers!

I was born in Italy and raised in Toronto. I started playing gigs at 16 in Italian and Yugoslavian bands playing accordion and moving up to organ and multi keywords as I made money. Started doing sound on stage while playing and got into computer programming in the early 80s. I was playing in a duo running computer backing tracks when you had to enter numbers for notes on an apple II triggering modular synths and minimoogs when I got offered a job at Deerhurst Resort a few hours north of Toronto. I played in the band for 3 years. Started there Christmas of 85 and I'm still here. At the start of 89 I was given the chance to program all my parts and run sound as they weren't happy with the operator. We change up the show every year but we keep getting smaller. At our peak we had a 7 peice band,  5 leads,  13 dancers and 17 crew and dressers. Today we're at 2 peice band, 4 lead singers, 2 dancers and me. I run sound and lights and computer tracks. No drummer either.
The sequences are done by a pro and I fine tune them. I studied music in college for 2.5 years majoring in arranging. No jobs in that field but I do get to apply what I've learned on the computer.
We just moved into a new larger room last spring. I got a ton of money and got new staging, Danley PA and monitors, lots of moving lights and more. I love it all and I can do whatever I want with it. No one seems to know what I do so they just leave me alone.
We've always done shows 6 nights a week but 5 years ago we were cut back to 1 or 2 a week and I had to look for something else. I was lucky to get a job in IT at Deerhurst. It turned full-time (my first regular job)  and I really like it. However the show is getting back to 4 or 5 nights a week and I don't have any time to myself.
So here I am 29 years later doing the same gig and still looking forward to pushing the start button and hearing the band count in. I have a rare night off tonight and I'm bored.
I took up golf 3 years ago and I can't wait for the snow to melt.

[Garry Wilson]

1. Where are you located
2. Is this all you do or do you have other business
3. How'd you get into it


1. Laurel, MD......halfway between Wash, DC and Baltimore.

2. Full time Video Systems Engineer for the federal gov't. Went into US Air Force after high school, trained as a Television Equipment Repairman, additional training for Broadcast Television Technician. Got out after 11 years, final assignment had civilian positions, got out AF and came back the next week as a gov't employee.

3. Started as muso in bands as a teenager. Started buying pieces of sound gear after getting into the Air Force, because the bands I was in usually had to piece meal a "PA" system for rehearsals and gigs. We didn't know anything about hiring a sound company and probably couldn't have afforded it anyway. By the time I got out of the AF I had close to a full blown sound system, strictly "bar band grade" at that point. Also at that point, in my band I'm getting an equal cut like everyone else on our gigs, even though I play in the band and provided the sound system. Started doing sound for other bands, eventually stopped playing in bands around age 33. Got tired of everything a couple of years later, sold most of my sound gear. Then started helping out some friends on their gigs with the little bit of gear I did have, wasn't satisfied with that and slowly started building again. I was right back to where I was, now I'm approaching 40yrs old. A few years later, it's 2002 and I make up my mind to stop dabbling and go hard or least harder with gear and gigs.

Still got my full time job, looking at retirement in a few years. Hope to get my weekend warrior status seriously upgraded, while trying to get my two sons' mindset from employee to employer for the company.

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