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Title: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: AllenDeneau on January 15, 2013, 01:57:37 AM
I'm still pretty new here on the forum and as I peruse through the posts I find myself wondering where this person is from or what do they do besides post on the forum ;). Meaning are you full time employed in the audio/entertainment field or is there another "day" job rounding out your dance card...

If you are full time in this field, what are your specialties? Are you a mixer, system designer, speaker designer, stage tech, product rep, etc...

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

I'll start with less than mindblowing info:

I'm originally from near Chicago but since January 2011, I've been a Tennessean. I live in Cookeville, well Livingston actually but Cookeville line is literally right across the road.

I am/was employed full time within my own company that specialized in corporate events needing sound and lighting but we also have a DJ side of the biz too, although that's pretty much in Chicago as my DJ still lives there. I've been involved in the industry for most of my life, in one way or another... Growing up my Dad was in bands and also had the business I now own. He was also a partner in one of the very first karaoke clubs in Illinois...

I tried my best to avoid this line of work ;) I went to school for business and graduated with a BA in Marketing. I was drawn back in when I had to cover an event for my Dad as he was recovering from his quadruple bypass. He was scheduled to sing and provide the entertainment for a wedding and told me I had to do it. Unfortunately I CANNOT sing, at all, and I agreed if I could just play music (DJ) the event. The clients were ok with this and off I went. I gathered my CD collection and a pair of CD players and talked a family friend into going to the event to MC the event, I was scared to death to talk on the mic.

The night went great and I actually revived my love for the entertainment industry. I started taking over my Dad's biz and grew a pretty profitable DJ business right off the bat. Sadly, even with my marketing degree, I never really promoted the sound side of biz and subsequently, we kept getting more and more DJ events and less and less sound jobs.. That, along with the fact that my DJ doesn't like the live sound side at all, so I went with the flow and focused on the DJ biz. Only after years of a small sound show here and there did I start to turn things back around to sound and lighting. Former and current clients would call to inquire about names to call for their other events and it hit me like a ton of bricks, I had NEVER even discussed my ability to do it with them.... I took advantage of those opportunities as best I could from then on out.

Opportunities that I never noticed, or weren't there, began to arise for me to return back to my true love, live sound. I was just getting traction back home when the opportunity for us to move to Tennessee came about. After a lot of thought and prayer, here we are.

The first year I sat back and surveyed the area as to what opportunities there were and what needs there were and who could fill them here an hour East of Nashville. The second year I started engaging a bit but, I still kept busy with business in Chicago so not a lot materialized here in Tennessee. Now we are starting year 3, literally our anniversary of moving was just 5 days ago, and it's time to kick it into high gear. I'm fighting a small town area in which I'm clearly an outsider or newcomer so it's been a bit challenging but I like a good challenge.

So there it is, I'm from Cookeville, TN and I own a small event production company and I tried to escape this line of work only to realize, it's what I love and always have.. So I'm back and trying to make up for lost time.

Just thought it'd be cool to learn who some of you are, what part of the world you live in and what it is that you do.

Next.....
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Rick Powell on January 15, 2013, 02:17:24 AM
If you are in Cookeville, you are in the same town as Ronnie Reels.  I bought some floor monitors from him that I still use, and he has mixed a few shows that some friends played in TN.

1. Where are you located
80 miles west of Chicago.
2. Is this all you do or do you have other business
In my other life I manage multi-billion dollar projects for a British-owned multinational engineering firm.
3. How'd you get into it
I am a musician and I hated playing on other people's crappy equipment, so I followed the old maxims, "If you want something done right, do it yourself" and "Buy once, cry once".  I am actually on my third or fourth sound system, having once had a 22' truck full of stuff I drove around the USA back in the 80's, but now have a compact system that's nearly as loud but fits in a Ford E250 van.

Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: AllenDeneau on January 15, 2013, 02:27:50 AM
If you are in Cookeville, you are in the same town as Ronnie Reels.  I bought some floor monitors from him that I still use, and he has mixed a few shows that some friends played in TN.

Yep, he is here in town and a pretty nice guy. We've talked a bit and he even loaned me some gear for an event when my system was still sitting in Chicago. We've chatted a bit about working together but nothing yet. He's gots plenty of sound with very little lighting so I'm working on adding to my lighting inventory to make working together a bit easier. I firmly believe it's easier and better to work together than to try to beat each other up.

So 80 miles west, what town? I was about 40 miles SW of Chicago, in Montgomery, just down the road from Dekalb and Upstaging...

Thanks for playing along Rick.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Joe Gislason on January 15, 2013, 02:42:26 AM
1. Where are you located
Selkirk Manitoba Canada

2. Is this all you do or do you have other business
I am a Millwright. Industrial Mechanic is the other accepted name. I work in a factory repairing heavy manufacturing equipment. 
 
3. How'd you get into it
I am in a band, and we play smaller shows with not lots of pay involved. We can't pay someone to do back line for us and still put cash in our pockets, so it was put up or shut up time. I done one show for someone else, and while it was fun, I think I will stick to my band for sound stuff.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Bob Leonard on January 15, 2013, 03:28:38 AM
Try this link for starters. Located at the top of the page in the basement, this link will tell you how to display your location.

I got into this in the early 60's when FOH was where the band would pick you up for the ride to the gig.

Not full time days for many years now, but still most of the time nights, and winding down.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Rick Powell on January 15, 2013, 09:56:12 AM
So 80 miles west, what town? I was about 40 miles SW of Chicago, in Montgomery, just down the road from Dekalb and Upstaging...

Thanks for playing along Rick.

Next to Starved Rock State Park, between Ottawa and Utica, but we will be moving this year closer to the city.  I have been to Montgomery and DeKalb a little bit. Montgomery used to be the little town next to the Caterpillar plant, now it sprawls nearly all the way out to Rt 47.  Me and my youngest son do sound/lights for occasional shows for other bands, and all our "business" such as it is, is word of mouth.  There are a few other guys with systems in our area, including Mario Data who is a PSW member and has been building his business and adding to his system.  We throw work each other's way and I agree, I like an atmosphere of collaboration rather than the cut-throat stuff you read about here occasionally.
Title: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Samuel Rees on January 15, 2013, 10:59:25 AM
I'm in Washington D.C., I'm an engineer at a new club downtown called The Hamilton Live and I run small events with my own PA gear. I'm graduating from American University in the spring and I'll be trying to work in audio full time after that. Very glad to be on the forum. I've learned an incredible amount from some really smart people on here. Hopefully I'll be seeing more of you guys in person in the next year!
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Jared Koopman on January 15, 2013, 12:06:13 PM

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. Loveland, CO (I would love to find someone from this board that is local to me that I could mentor with)

2. My day job I am a sales admin for IBM. I do not work for or own a sound business (though I would like to). My experience in sound is serving at Churches, and therefore limited experience. Everyday I try to learn something new and I love being a part of this forum as well as others.

3. When I was 14 a friend of mine needed help loading his drum kit for gigs. I started helping do that and eventually started mixing for his band. I had no clue what I was doing but I had fun. I moved away to college and became the sound guy for the university singers (drummer, bass, keys, guitar and 22 singers). We did a couple tours around the country over spring breaks which were a lot of fun. Again I really had no clue but it worked. I ended up making  a change after my second year at college and decided to go to another school and got my degree in criminal justice. Worked full time to get through college installing home theater systems and as a hotel desk clerk. I "ran the sound" at my church during that time, but it wasn't anything more than 1 vocal mic and a guitar. I then met my wife and we have since moved to Colorado raising our 2.7 children. I have served as the lead sound technician at my current church for 2 years now. I also volunteer at another local church when I have time.

I know it is not an easy business and frankly wouldn't be very profitable. But I still would like to get my own rig and provide sound for bands and musicians. I am currently working on putting together a business plan (starting small and realistic) and I would love any advice I can get. I want to do this for a couple of reasons...because I love working behind the mixer and I want the experience.

Jared
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: David Parker on January 15, 2013, 12:25:57 PM
I live near Houston, work the Houston area. Retired machinist from a major oil company. Now associate pastor and bassist at my church. Work sound for club bands on weekends. Been in the sound business part time for 25 years. Got started by a buddy asking me to run sound for his band. I actually enjoy loadout at the end of the night. My favorite thing is when they turn on the lights at 2am.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Scott Harris on January 15, 2013, 12:43:04 PM
1. Where are you located
30 miles West of Boston

2. Is this all you do or do you have other business
RunningSound is a night & weekend business for me.  On weekdays I work for a 3D CAD software company where I run the Virtual Reality Center, basically 4 folded screens with 3D projection that you stand in the middle of, and yes, it's very cool and yes, many people call it a holodeck.


3. How'd you get into it
I had been DJing off & on for too many years, got bored of pushing play and started helping friends bands with sound.  Discovered that most local bands were attempting to run sound from the stage and proved that I could improve that quite a bit to a few of them.  I upgraded my gear and now have what I consider to be a respectable bar/club system which fits in my van.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: AllenDeneau on January 15, 2013, 01:20:38 PM
Thanks Bob, I'll check it out. I realized after i posted this I hadn't even filled in my location on my profile, that's fixed now..

Rick, cool area to be in for sure, I love Starved Rock. Yeah We first lived in Naperville when we moved to that area but couldn't stant the taxes or traffic so we built in Montgomery right by the Cat plant. We lived there from 2004-2011 when we moved to Tennessee. During our time there Montgomery was, at one point, the fastest growing city in Illinois and Kendall County was the fastest growing county. Lots of people were moving west from Naperville & Aurora to reduce their living expenses and BOOM montgomery and Oswego really exploded. Certainly miss our friends but not the traffic or costs. Have you ever been to upstaging in Sycamore?

Thanks for playing guys, it's always cool to get to know some folks.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Jordan Wolf on January 15, 2013, 01:43:50 PM
Quote
1. Where are you located?
I live in Collingswood, NJ.  After getting married back in August, my wife and I moved from our respective places into the twin house where her grandparents used to live.  She's an elementary teacher, so our hours don't always line up.  :-)

Quote
2. Is this all you do or do you have other business?
I am a full-time A/V Technician.  The company I work for mostly deals with corporate events, but we also do social functions and the like when they come around.

Quote
3. How'd you get into it?
I've always been fascinated by sound.  I practiced and performed piano for 11 years, and the ability to manipulate the sound in a way that was pleasing to my ears (and, hopefully, those of my listeners) was ingrained at an early age (4).  When I was age 7 or so, I remember being in the FOH area of our church at that time.  My dad was helping out in some way (don't remember) and I thought all the controls looked cool.  From that point, I investigated further, asked questions, and began to run the sound at my school for assemblies, concerts, etc.  After that, I began running sound at my church and youth group. 

When I went to college, I worked in the PAC there, doing anything and everything, but still focusing on audio.  I did news broadcasts, radio broadcasts (local and remote), and even audio-for-video/post-production/Foley/ADR.
After college, I worked at Home Depot for about a year and kept my skills sharp mixing shows when I had the time.  I kept browsing for jobs openings all over the place, applied to dozens, and kept getting turned down - heck, I applied for my current job at least 3 times and only after the 3rd time did they contact me for an over-the-phone interview.

In March I will be at the company for 2 years, and I'm enjoying myself very much.  Gigs vary from small boardrooms to large ballrooms and convention halls, from a 12-channel mixer to digital consoles and multiple automixers, etc.  I also do a good bit of video work (switching/playback, camera op) and lighting (stage washes, uplighting).
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Rick Powell on January 15, 2013, 02:59:26 PM
Thanks Bob, I'll check it out. I realized after i posted this I hadn't even filled in my location on my profile, that's fixed now..

Rick, cool area to be in for sure, I love Starved Rock. Yeah We first lived in Naperville when we moved to that area but couldn't stant the taxes or traffic so we built in Montgomery right by the Cat plant. We lived there from 2004-2011 when we moved to Tennessee. During our time there Montgomery was, at one point, the fastest growing city in Illinois and Kendall County was the fastest growing county. Lots of people were moving west from Naperville & Aurora to reduce their living expenses and BOOM montgomery and Oswego really exploded. Certainly miss our friends but not the traffic or costs. Have you ever been to upstaging in Sycamore?

Thanks for playing guys, it's always cool to get to know some folks.

Never been to Upstaging but I am familiar with the company.  I remember when they were doing 30 par can shows and it was a big deal.  They have certainly moved on to bigger and better things, including corporate events as well as set and lighting design and production for major tours.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Mark Olsen on January 16, 2013, 04:41:06 AM
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. I'm located in Canberra, Australia .. so G'Day from Down Under.

2. I'm full time military and do sound and lighting on the weekends, just cause apparently I didn't have enough to do!!

3. I've been doing sound and lighting for churches, events and theatres ever since I was in school. As I've moved around the country with work I've always done sound and lights for the various churches I've attended and developed great relationships with local production companies.

More often than not I've ended up with part time work with local venues or companies in the area. I'm lucky here in Canberra that I've got work with a fairly large company and learning a lot more about how the big boys do it.

Been able to study at college as I've posted around to add to the education from the school of hard knocks. I've been lucky that the military has trained me with truck licenses, forklift license and rigging permits, so with all that it makes me fairly employable around here.

This year I've started a small production company that is primarily focussed on helping church and charity organisations in the local area to spread their message. Not a lot of money involved in this, but its kind of my way to give back to the community that's been so good to me while I've been in the military.

Mark
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Mike Diack on January 16, 2013, 02:46:38 PM
1: Auckland, New Zealand
2: 95% Electronics engineer/general practitioner (though not in the same ballpark as JR) 5% Soundie.
3: Got into it 35 years ago as all my cohort were musicians and I had zilch musical talent, hence soundie was the only slot available (other than squint, and I hate ladders). Never really got out of it and it provides a different view on the world to sitting in front of an oscilloscope all day.
M
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Tommy Peel on January 16, 2013, 03:04:07 PM
1. I live/work in the Tyler, Texas area which is south-east of the Dallas area.

2. My "day" job is IT Support at a real estate office and I'm a Computer Information Systems student at the University of Texas at Tyler. As far as live sound goes I run sound for a worship band which regularly plays for a Tuesday night service aimed at youth and college aged people. The service takes place in a small baptist church which, on Sundays, is attended by mainly older people. We do a contemporary service on Tuesdays with a full band. The band also plays for youth rallys and similar events around the East Texas area when asked.

3. I got started mixing sound at another church, the one that I grew up in. I was been "trained" as a backup on their system since I was maybe 14-15(I'm 23 now). Most recently I helped them instal a new x32 in their sanctuary and (after teaching myself how to use it) taught their sound guy how to use it. I'd say most of my knowledge was learned from reading online(here and other sites), talking to various sound techs, and from a lot of trial and error. At that church "running sound" consists of pushing a few faders and not much else(only piano, pulpit, wireless lapel, CD/Tape, and someone singing a special to a CD) so beyond the basics there wasn't much to be learned there.

I love music but have little in the way of musical talent/ability and many of my friends(the band that I mentioned above) are very talented and good at playing(they can all play several different instruments and I never know who's going to play what; i.e. the drummer might decide to play bass and the bass player switches to electric and the electric player switches to drums...). So I ended up being the "sound guy".


Tommy Peel
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Jared Koopman on January 16, 2013, 03:05:57 PM
1. I live/work in the Tyler, Texas area which is south-east of the Dallas area.
Tommy Peel

I went to school at LeTourneau...just down the road from you. :)
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Tommy Peel on January 16, 2013, 03:48:38 PM
I went to school at LeTourneau...just down the road from you. :)

I've been to several concerts at their Belcher Center. Best concert venue this side of Dallas; last one I saw there was Needtobreathe and they had very good sound(as have most other shows I've seen there although they always bring in a system and don't use the house system).
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Dave Bigelow on January 16, 2013, 04:40:07 PM
1. Originally from Ohio but now in Louisville, KY or in some random tour bus bunk.

2. Welded and did machine work prior to this but now this is all I do.

3. Went to The Recording Workshop in Chillicothe, OH about 12-13 years ago, came home only to find out that no studios were hiring, got a job at a local club and learned everything I could. (had some good teachers of what to do and some of what not to do) After that I did some local stagehand stuff before hooking up with one of the larger production companies in the area. (actually the only one that can do stage, lighting, roof, sound, barricade, etc without calling someone else) Learned more. Then I ended up on tour doing FOH and some TM'ing. Now I try to avoid that tour managing crap unless it pays really good.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Nick Simon on January 16, 2013, 04:44:39 PM
Hey fellas...  I'm just a good -ol- boy from Northeast Mississippi.  I've been hanging around with musicians and bands since I was about 12. Never really was able to pick up on any sexy instruments like the guitar or drums, lol, but played trumpet in jr and high school.. After high school, I went on the road with a local club band for a couple years as a roadie and light guy in the late 70's. Then worked at a club for a couple more years as a dj / bartender / roadie.  Started working for a paper machinery manufacturer going on 34 years ago in several positions. Although I never really did much sound work, I learned some basic concepts through the years and always stood next to the consoles at concerts, etc. and talked to the techs. (as much as they would, lol) In 99, I started going to a church regularly and they were building a new sanctuary and needed a sound guy..Since I had previous "experience", I became the guy.. ;)  I've helped out at a few gigs here and there with local acts, and now I am one of two rotating sound techs at my new church, with a full band that does CCM like Jesus Culture, etc.
We are moving locations and are in the process of installing a new system of powered line array, x-32, IEM's, the works... moving up from a Peavey 24FX and QSC KW series, can you say, from a Taurus to a Vette?  I think I have a pretty good ear / mix, but a lot of this stuff is over my head, like 4th order cuts and crap.... ;D  But I love it...
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Ivan Beaver on January 16, 2013, 08:17:57 PM
1: Atlanta Ga area (north side)

2: I have been full time audio since early 80's.  Regular job and part time audio since late 70's

3: Self taught electronics-before i realized I could not get a job on what I said I knew-and went back to school.
Always enjoyed building speaker cabinets and electronics-so I built all my early systems.

Started renting out gear and grew a couple of companies doing rentals-electronic repair-speaker repair-speaker cabinet building etc.

Got into the install side of things 1999 and been with Danley Sound Labs since it started.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Jeff Carter on January 16, 2013, 09:40:28 PM
1. Located in Kitchener, Ontario.

2. Full-time PhD student in experimental physics (most of the "amplifiers" I build put out power in the milliwatt range). But since I don't have enough temperamental electronics to deal with in the lab, I also do some FOH, volunteer training, and troubleshooting in my church.

3. I'm a bass player who somehow got roped into mixing FOH at church for worship services and concerts. Fifteen years later the mob still hasn't surrounded FOH with torches and pitchforks so I guess I hold my own back there. Some day it would be interesting to help with some festival or club gigs to broaden my horizons a little bit--either that or get back into more bass playing, who knows?
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Scott Bolt on January 16, 2013, 09:58:30 PM
Quote
1. Where are you located
2. Is this all you do or do you have other business
3. How'd you get into it
New Hudson Michigan.

I always tell people that I found as a musician, I made a mighty fine engineer ;)  I am the Chief Engineer for an automotive supplier specializing in automotive test systems for assembly and dealers.

I had my first band when I was in high school.  Played in a band while I was in the Navy (when not at sea), and continue to play to this day (I am now 47, so it has been a while ;) ).

I got into sound reinforcement about 15 years ago when it became obvious to me that in order to have a good band, I was going to have to own a good PA. 

I started with a very old used powered mixer and a pair of Klipsch KP301's (which I still own and use for basement parties).  Graduated to a Mackie 808s which I found was fine for garage band purposes, but eventually had to come to the realization ......... REAL MEN HAVE SUBS ;)

I bought a pair of CV LR36's to go with my Klipsch tops and got a Crown K2, QSC PLX3002 and a DriveRack PA and spent the better part of a year getting to understand how to setup everything to sound good.

I currently do gigs with a pair of Yamaha DSR112's over JBL PRX618S-XLF's .... as my back can't handle that old passive rig anymore ;)

Music is a virus with no apparent cure ;)
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Lance Richens on January 16, 2013, 10:06:18 PM
I live in Eastern (Vernal) Utah.

I am an electrician for the school district by day & still dabble in radio at night & sometimes during the day as a board op.

I started out as a drummer on the local bar band scene back in the mid 80's. Got a Gig with a "semi famous" (Chris LeDoux) country entertainer & got to travel the states for a year, ending up as monitor engineer. The threat to my marriage brought me back home where as the band scene began to dwindle in favor of DJ's, I got into that & expanded into live sound. Not a big market here, I have to try & get every gig I can. Tough & cuthroat. Most of my work, other than dj'ing occasionaly, is in the summer. I do a few indian pow-wow's, county fairs, idol type shows etc. I am also the house sound tech at a local club when the itch hits them to book a band every blue moon. I have just recently been approached to join a bar band again that plays once in a while, may do that. I am also the drummer/sound tech for Ashley Valley Calvary Chapel....
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Brandon Wright on January 16, 2013, 10:28:08 PM
I currently reside in Macomb, IL.

I am in the middle of a specialist degree in school psychology at the moment. As far as audio goes, I work pretty much full-time for the university's production company. I also work for a local regional sound company who provides for everything from A-list tours to small town summer festivals. When I'm not doing one of the things mentioned above I also provide production services for a couple of local bands.

I've been around bands my entire life. My first hands on experience was actually in the theatrical setting and came as the logical progression from set design and construction. Then I spent my entire undergraduate degree doing production for the university which really refined and fostered my interest in audio.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Scott Bolt on January 18, 2013, 09:48:11 AM
Hey Brandon,

I did pre-engineering at Western and transferred to UofI after that.  Great town Macomb.  I am from a small town outside of Macomb (even smaller than Macomb).
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: AllenDeneau on January 18, 2013, 03:59:05 PM
thanks for playing guys, it's cool to learn how some of us intersect even outside of the audio world.

Interesting, there's a number of from the Illini state, even though I'm not there anymore.

Brandon and Scott, I too grew up in a tiny tiny spec of a town an hour south of Chicago. It took 3 town to make our high schoo, enrollment of 400. When I moved to the SW Burbs there were more than that in each high school graduating class, lol.

Seems also that a LOT of us either are involved in Church tech teams or at least cut our teeth on those very same crews. I'm the same and, if I had my choice, I'd be full time doing that than trying to chase down any act I can to get work etc... My passion really is for excellent church audio.

next...
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: g'bye, Dick Rees on January 18, 2013, 04:02:32 PM
St Paul, MN

When not working sound stuff I play the two-row diatonic accordion.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Nick Simon on January 18, 2013, 04:27:58 PM
thanks for playing guys, it's cool to learn how some of us intersect even outside of the audio world.

Interesting, there's a number of from the Illini state, even though I'm not there anymore.

Brandon and Scott, I too grew up in a tiny tiny spec of a town an hour south of Chicago. It took 3 town to make our high schoo, enrollment of 400. When I moved to the SW Burbs there were more than that in each high school graduating class, lol.

Seems also that a LOT of us either are involved in Church tech teams or at least cut our teeth on those very same crews. I'm the same and, if I had my choice, I'd be full time doing that than trying to chase down any act I can to get work etc... My passion really is for excellent church audio.

next...

Me too, but I like the occasional Blues band or 70's + cover band gig with fellas I grew up with ...
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Mike Christy on January 18, 2013, 05:33:42 PM

Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Rick Powell on January 18, 2013, 06:15:24 PM
Brandon and Scott, I too grew up in a tiny tiny spec of a town an hour south of Chicago. It took 3 town to make our high schoo, enrollment of 400. When I moved to the SW Burbs there were more than that in each high school graduating class, lol.

I am guessing Iroquois, Ford or Livingston County.  My daughter lives in Chatsworth, and I think they have a similar high school where 3 small towns attend.  Her husband is a union carpenter in Chicago, and he makes more $ doing that than he could locally, even with a 2 hr. commute each way factored in.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Brian Elstro on January 18, 2013, 07:53:10 PM
From small-town Richmond, Indiana here. Full time musician/SE, but I also system tech at my house gig. Been through Cookeville a couple of times, my mother is a damned yankee, too (in Altamont). DIY speaker designer (use all my own), but am probably going to follow in Ivan's shoes and go back to school for the 'required' piece of paper due to the fact that the money hasnt ever been the best without it. I think I live/eat/breathe sound and music-related issues... I still own most of the HS&R, Recording, Mix, EQ mags I've ever bought (3 decent boxes full), and peruse even the oldest of em to the newest. Anyone remember the project R or the mic-pre projects.... still want to build em (and have the schematics and parts lists). Take care!
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Brandon Wright on January 18, 2013, 08:16:21 PM
Hey Brandon,

I did pre-engineering at Western and transferred to UofI after that.  Great town Macomb.  I am from a small town outside of Macomb (even smaller than Macomb).

Nice. Yea, I like it well enough. I am originally from Rushville. Which small town outside Macomb?
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: AllenDeneau on January 19, 2013, 02:49:01 AM
I am guessing Iroquois, Ford or Livingston County.  My daughter lives in Chatsworth, and I think they have a similar high school where 3 small towns attend.  Her husband is a union carpenter in Chicago, and he makes more $ doing that than he could locally, even with a 2 hr. commute each way factored in.

Impressive Rick, Iroquois it is. My hometown is Clifton and is almost equidistant between Chicago and Champaign on I-57. Bedroom communities for sure in that area, lots of people work downtown and make far more even with the commute. Fortunately I can be in the city within an hour from my parents house so it's not quite the drive that Chatsworth is for sure ;)

Brian, I too am a packrat when it comes to industry magazines, have so many it's a bit scary. It wasn't an issue until we moved to Tennessee. We took a house for rent while we were selling our house in Montgomery, still here until we find what we want, but the issue is we moved from 3000 sq ft to @ 1000 sq ft, so EVERYTHING extra is super noticeable. Man we have too much crap.

Years ago I wanted to move to Nashville to pursue sound but I chickened out, now I'm here and hoping to continue my career here as well. If I  had it to do over again I would've received my bachelors in stage management or audio engineering mainly just to have some "formal" credential. Trying to get hired on with a company here has been a bit difficult as there are thousands of BE etc's... that have experience on exactly what boards these people run. Since I worked for myself I never had the business to support buying a PM1D etc... so therefore I don't have experience on it and it's a desirable skill. One question I was asked on an interview for a part time tech job was "do I know how to tie in", although I know the principles I explained that when I need a tie in I hired an electrician, rather be safe than sorry. So that told me I still have lots to learn and hoping I'll get a chance soon.

Thanks guys, it's cool reading these stories.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Randy Pence on January 19, 2013, 10:46:15 PM
1. Berlin, Gemany

2. I'm a freelance sound guy, maintaining installed dj systems, mixing talking heads, and mixing live bands.  My schedule is not as full as I'd like it to be, but it allows me time to philosophize, raise my daughter, and maintain local friendships.

3. I started out as a dj in highschool, went to college for EE but dropped out after a few years, and have earned my keep since with audio.  While in college I worked in nightclubs supporting installed dj systems and then worked for an install and mobile company in nyc.  Once I figured I needed to branch out to personally grow, I moved to europe in 2003 where I started working for various clubs and promoters, while attempting to produce electronic music (im not very good).  In the last 6 years or so, I've evolved to corporate stuff and live music. My future goals are to learn keys and drums (play to my daughter), tour (mix the same band more than once, lol), and create entertainment content myself (curating and conducting bands), and some indie film stuff, too.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Jonathan Johnson on January 28, 2013, 03:46:44 PM
I live in Southwest Washington, between the cities of Battle Ground (where no battle took place) and La Center (which, arguably, isn't the center of anything, at least not anymore).

My "day job" is as a computer network technician for a small contract IT firm supporting small businesses. I've been doing that since '99; before that I was an apprentice plumber. What a leap, hey?

My introduction to sound was at the Memorial Day church campout in 1991. Someone had brought a portable Radio Shack amplifier, a 1-watt job that you plug a microphone into the speaker. It was wholly inadequate, and my thought was "I can do better than that." A few months later, I happened to be at Radio Shack and saw a 25-watt PA amplifier on the clearance table. Between that, some home stereo speakers I had kicking around, and borrowing the microphone from the church, I cobbled together a system for the next year's campout that was quite a bit better. Not good, but better. After several years of improving on things here and there, and regretting buying equipment that no professional would touch (and in the process, learning WHY they wouldn't touch it), I finally had built a system that would probably suffice for many professionals' B or C systems. After that, people started asking me to run sound for wedding ceremonies and other events.

Since I consider it a hobby, I don't advertise, only getting jobs by word of mouth. I really enjoy live sound. I've dabbled with recording a little bit and discovered it wasn't to my tastes. I would probably be an awful DJ and have no interest doing that anyway, so I don't do the wedding reception.

While I regret buying cheap junk in the past, the regret is in the money wasted not the experience. By having experienced poor quality tools, it gives me a greater appreciation for high quality gear. And I learned you can't buy high-quality gear at Radio Shack.

P.S. -- The most valuable tool in my audio education was the Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook (http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Reinforcement-Handbook-Gary-Davis/dp/0881889008).
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: gordonmcgregor on February 02, 2013, 04:17:56 PM
I'm from near Glasgow in Scotland

Work as a gas appliance repair engineer, though I have clocked as many hours behind a sound board in a week

Got heavily involved in electonic music late 70's early 80s drifted to the back of the room as I can't play worth a damn though programming and patching these old syths was great fun

In later years toured with a noisy folk/punk band called The Electrics all over the place built up a small PA and some recording stuff

Worked as a casual hand with local radio and also national broadcaster (BBC) radio work mainly at big events like open golf championships etc.

Nowadays still do radio stuff, and work with a male voice choir, some orchestral stuff and have just started with a jazz big band. G
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Chris Clark on February 03, 2013, 10:59:05 PM
I'm bored and perusing the board, so I'll kick in here.

Western New York (basically between Buffalo and Rochester, though I spent a 2 year stint in Syracuse)

Since I don't have my own equipment I think I'm a little out of it here, but I've worked for a production company in Buffalo before they were bought out, and have satiated my appetite for sound at the local amusement park for what will be a 10th year this coming summer.

I got started in 7th grade when I joined a local youth theater learning very very basics, learned more when I started working sound for my high school's drama productions, and its grown ever since, though I still haven't been able to make a full time job out of it or even do/learn nearly as much as I'd like to.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: brian maddox on February 03, 2013, 11:37:53 PM
Okay, I'll play....

I live in Frederick, MD which is an hour north of Washington DC. grew up closer to the city and have lived and worked in the area all my life.

I spent my early 20's with a day job and a fairly serious audio addiction.  By 30 I had conned my way into a full-time Big Boy sound company gig and worked every imaginable gig there for about 8 years and then went freelance where I mostly did high dollar corporate work.  About 10 years ago i got involved playing guitar at a 1500 member church here in Frederick and over the course of 6-7 years I gradually transitioned out of the sound business and into my full time 'house gig' as the 'Creative Arts Director' which means I'm in charge of tech AND lead the band and play on stage.  Now I'm learning video, and squint work, and the challenges of actually BEING the talent.  Good times.  I sometimes miss my old gig, but I very much like being home every night with my family as well as actual Health Insurance that someone else pays for.

I probably lurk here as much for the audio guy fix as anything...  :)
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Jerome Malsack on February 11, 2013, 01:07:43 PM
Hello, 

Retired Navy Computer Operator working on Computers around Washington DC. 

Weekend sound fun and some money.  Mostly older system.  Recording with M-audio Quattro. 

2 EV TL15-1
2 EV S15-3A
2 Carvin Pm-15
Carvin Fet1000 Fet450 Fet450 Fet400.
EV M4 32 channel mixer.

I do sound for bands, church, and various charities from time to time. 
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Sam Feine on February 11, 2013, 08:38:14 PM
Currently I am in the great white north studying electrical engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

I still however call Houston home and it is in Houston that I work over the summers with a moderately large sound company (Southern Sound Systems).

Here in Rochester I mostly work with clubs at the school helping them out with their sound needs, and it is here where all of my personal equipment is kept (bet you've never seen a Midas sitting on a desk in a dorm room...).
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: David Kaiser on April 24, 2013, 06:02:34 PM
I live and work in Addison, Il, 30 miles from Chicago, I work full time as an address corrections clerk and sorter at UPS in Addison.  UPS for 18 years so far. Audio about the same.
I got started in audio when I realized that no one was recording the evening Youth meetings at the multiple annual conferences that I attend each year around the country. I currently have two complete speech oriented sound systems in two states and a third system that I carry for Youth events and recording of health seminars. I have suoplied for 8 weddings in several states and have three regular conferences, two health seminars, a theatrical gig, and a small organic fair in Naperville, IL, I am a weekend sound man and loving it.
 My mother runs theglutensyndrome.net (http://theglutensyndrome.net) which is how I got involved in health seminar recording. I also help my mother with an informational display about the gluten sensitivity/intolerances issues that are gaining more prominence in out society.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Gus Housen on May 01, 2013, 01:13:38 PM
I Own a small rental and production shop about an hour outside of Seattle. I currently have around 100K of inventory. We are a "jack of all trades type service" We have 1 fulltime tech on staff (besides myself) and 3 part time, and a Dj service with 5 dj's and a wedding  salesperson/consultant. We do County fairs, punk rawk shows, corporate events, festivals, stages and pipe and drape.

Oddly enough I got into it because I got arrested when I was 16 and my dad got me a job with a buddy who owned a small PA rental and TV repair business. I had always been fascinated by electronics but didn't have a mentor. Around 91 The previous owner , my mentor decided TV repair wasn't profitable ( he had investment rental properties) and semi retired offering me the opportunity to take over. I lived in the back of the shop ate saltines and sardines for many years, so I could afford to buy gear.



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

Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Michael Ardai, N1IST on May 01, 2013, 03:36:37 PM
1. Just north of Boston.
2. In real life, I'm a hardware and software engineer designing lighting controls.  Currently deep inside a light dimmer, trying to get all the features they want to stop fighting each other for space and interrupt cycles.
3. I started doing lighting for my daughters' dance recitals; since then, I do lighting and sound for two local dance studios and sound for their skating recital.  I also have inherited the 'quality' Rauland-Borg PA at our temple and am slowly converting it over to a system designed for voice and music rather than paging...
/mike
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Jerry Turnbow on May 05, 2013, 10:56:27 AM
1.  From the Gateway City, St. Louis, MO right here in the heartland.

2.  Mostly do live sound, live and studio recording, installations (not enough, though), and some Informations Systems consulting.

3. Quite a convoluted path.

Played music from an early age (2nd grade on) piano, violin, and voice. (Don't think the voice lessons "took")
Played mostly classical music until high school.

Got into rock 'n roll in high school (late '60's).  Joined the A/V club, started a rock and roll band, playing  bass guitar. (Not very well, in retrospect).  Then got into folk music.

Saw a mainframe computer demonstration at University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana campus in my senior year of high school, and decided I wanted to work with computers.  Options at that time to get into computers were a) business major (bor-ing!), b) math major (makes my head hurt), or c) electrical engineering (cool stuff - electronics, circuits, etc.)

Chose "C".  Went to engineering school in St. Louis, and Rolla, MO. Supported myself by playing in a folk-rock band on the weekends.

Ran out of money in my senior year.  Went to work for a shop that specialzed in repairing electronic musical equipment.  Electronic organs, guitar amplifiers, PA gear, Mellotrons, electronic synthesizers (Arp, Moog, etc.)  In fact, I still get mail from one of the synthesizer companies, but they spell it "AARP" now for some reason . . .

Continued playing music - folk rock (guitar, banjo, fiddle)

Found out I enjoyed working and making money and playing music more than I enjoyed going to school.

Got an offer and went to work for a systems integrator that did everything from PBX telephone systems to nurses call and fire alarm systems to professional audio, including systems at the Arena (later the "Checkerdome", and Busch Stadium, along with a ton of churches.  Got my first taste of real professional audio after going from Bogen amps and Atlas horns, to Shure Vocalmaster to Kustom PA's in my bands.

Worked my way up from service manager to director of operations and engineering over the course of 16 years or so.  I also was instrumental in automating the business along with another manager, first with Apple PC's, then IBM PC's, then an NCR Minicomputer.  Acted as IT Manager along with other responsibilities.  (You wear a lot of hats in a smaller company, which keeps it interesting for me)

Still playing music - by now, keyboards, guitar, and fiddle doing contemporary C&W (George Strait, Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson, etc.), along with a small bluegrass/folk/gospel quartet.

Got an offer to join a local manufacturer of several well-known brands of musical gear (Crate, Ampeg) as director of engineering for the product development group.  Sounded like a perfect match for a musician/engineer/manager.  Took the offer.  Also acted as facilities manager for one manufacturing site and the R&D/Service Department buildings for a time.  Helped the IT department install and set up a local area network, migrating from "sneakernet", where you run around with floppy disks to exchange info.  Created a database and work management system for the engineering department, which later grew to encompass the service and manufacturing departments.

in 1999, the information systems manager quit.  I took over the position of Information Systems manager.  (The original goal of studying electrical engineering some 30 years earlier)

Company was bought out by a large manufacturer of audio equipment (both MI and later, professional sound gear).  Manufacturing, service, sales, and product development teams were let go.  My switch to IT kept me employed for about 5 years after the folks I had managed were gone.

Still playing music - now in a "trop rock" band, playing for the "Parrothead" circuit. (Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney, Zac Browne, etc.), as well as doing sound for live events on an occasional basis.

When the remaining segments of the original company were spun off, around 5-6 years ago, I hung out a shingle and started making my living doing a combination of live and installed sound, recording, playing music, and information systems consulting for a handful of small businesses.

Haven't looked back since.

Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Jesse gray on August 16, 2013, 03:59:47 PM
1. Originally from Ohio but now I live in Nashville. Been here about two years, but I am going to be moving back to Ohio at the end if this year ..... (the folks are selling the house.)

2. I am the head sound tech( there are two of us.....) for a non-profit ministry in downtown Nashville. So depending on the day I am either ripping apart a twenty year old system to upgrade the various pieces and parts, or serving the local community.

3. Got started mixing for my church in Ohio when I was 12. (not a typo) came to Nashville for a music intensive/internship, knew a bit about sound so I said I could help. Been running the sound department because I opened my big mouth. Because I was the head tech I thought I knew stuff. Stumbled upon this forum and realized how little I actually knew. Ive been reading articles on here for three weeks now, and I have doubled if not tripled my knowledge of sound engineering. ( I finally know about 1 percent now!)
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Tom Roche on November 13, 2013, 06:39:39 PM
1. Where are you located?  I'm originally from Northern Virginia and currently live behind the Zion Curtain, about an hour north of SLC, Utah.

2. Is this all you do or do you have other business?  My day job has me riding a desk at an F-16 fighter wing.  During my off time I drum in a country/classic rock band and occasionally sub in other bands.

3. How'd you get into it?  I was initially drawn to the performing side of live music, which led to taking up drums.  I already had a love for hi-fi, so I think it was a natural progression to be interested in and have a knack for the pro sound part when I started playing in a band in the late '70s.

Like many of you, I got a lot more involved with sound through church.  It was also a learning experience in the frustration many of us come to know when trying to secure any kind of budget from church leaders.  I learned to be resourceful, find good deals, tactfully lobby for funds, and do some of the install work myself, like the time I wired a 32-channel snake and eight monitor drops into custom stage boxes in a new stage.  Being formally trained in soldering helped.  I found PSW early on when it was fairly new.  Despite my low post count, I used to spend a lot of time on the forums soaking up knowledge & lessons learned from the experienced guys and learning about gear.  I ran sound at a local venue for a while, but it no longer hosts events.  Today, my "sound clerk" duties are limited to my band and my small system at home I used for practice.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Johan Molund on November 13, 2013, 06:48:02 PM
1 I'm located in Stockholm, Sweden

2 I am fortunate to have sound as my full-time job

3 I started out playing drums in a local bands when I was in school, did some recording with a couple bands and realized that that it was more fun to do sound than to play drums.
My older brother (17 years older) works as a sound engineer and had worked as a sound engineer since the early 80s. In the mid 90 he was president and owner of one of Swedens largest rental companies for sound and light. I used to go to shows and hang out at the warehouse and was amazed at how much hard work it took to be a live sound engineer. I also wanted to work as a sound engineer but since I had seen how hard people in the live sound industry had to work just to mix for maby one or two hours during a show I decided to try to become a studio engineer instead. It seemed much nicer to go to a studio and just sit down and work your magic instead of unloading trailers, hang PA systems, eat shitty food, be away from your family, living in a bus and basically work your ass off for that short reward of mixing a live show

I had the fortune to get admitted to a college in sweden that has a two year education in sound. I studied there and had a goal to eventually work in a studio making records. I graduated in -99 when the music business started to have a decline in record sales and realized that no studios were hiring any personnel at all, not even people making coffee.
I eventually got a job at the national Swedish radio as a temp shortly after my education, it lasted for a year and a half.

When my job at the radio ended a friend of mine asked me to fill in for him working in a club in Stockholm while he went on tour. The first night at that club I was so nervous and somehow did mange to do decent sound for the band that were playing and it was the best feeling I have ever had. I started to do live sound, the one thing I thought I didn't want to do and in that club I realized that this was exactly what I wanted to do.
When my friend came back from touring and I didn't have my job at the club anymore I ended up calling my brother asking him for a job. He had an opening at his company and I started to work for him.

I worked at that company for almost 10 years, setting up systems, loading trailers, soldering snakes, building cases, maintaining equipment, touring and mixing shows both monitors and FOH.
6 years ago I quit and started to freelance as a band engineer and nowadays I'm touring  with bands mostly in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland but also throughout Europe.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Jamin Lynch on November 13, 2013, 08:03:00 PM
Corpus Christi, TX. here. About 200 miles south of Houston. 100 miles or so from the southern border. I'm only a stones throw from the Gulf of Mexico.

I'm a retired control systems engr. after 38 years in the petro-chemical business. Had my live sound company on the side since 1985. We provided sound and lights for small touring bands that came to town on one-offs. After being retired for a while, I got tired of playing golf and fishing every day so I started doing installs in churches about 8 years ago and it has exploded. Can hardly keep up. Opened a pro audio retail store about 2 years ago and has been doing well.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Jared Koopman on December 29, 2013, 09:13:49 PM

1. Loveland, CO (I would love to find someone from this board that is local to me that I could mentor with)

2. My day job I am a sales admin for IBM. I do not work for or own a sound business (though I would like to). My experience in sound is serving at Churches, and therefore limited experience. Everyday I try to learn something new and I love being a part of this forum as well as others.

3. When I was 14 a friend of mine needed help loading his drum kit for gigs. I started helping do that and eventually started mixing for his band. I had no clue what I was doing but I had fun. I moved away to college and became the sound guy for the university singers (drummer, bass, keys, guitar and 22 singers). We did a couple tours around the country over spring breaks which were a lot of fun. Again I really had no clue but it worked. I ended up making  a change after my second year at college and decided to go to another school and got my degree in criminal justice. Worked full time to get through college installing home theater systems and as a hotel desk clerk. I "ran the sound" at my church during that time, but it wasn't anything more than 1 vocal mic and a guitar. I then met my wife and we have since moved to Colorado raising our 2.7 children. I have served as the lead sound technician at my current church for 2 years now. I also volunteer at another local church when I have time.

I know it is not an easy business and frankly wouldn't be very profitable. But I still would like to get my own rig and provide sound for bands and musicians. I am currently working on putting together a business plan (starting small and realistic) and I would love any advice I can get. I want to do this for a couple of reasons...because I love working behind the mixer and I want the experience.

Jared

Well I did jump into the business. I started a production company with a friend. We are small but having fun doing it. I would love to make it full time.

www.onefiftyproductions.com
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Steve M Smith on March 07, 2014, 03:13:56 AM
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.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Seth Albaum on July 22, 2014, 11:13:04 AM
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.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Scott Holtzman on July 22, 2014, 03:49:18 PM
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.

Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Rob Spence on July 22, 2014, 04:14:06 PM
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
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Kevin Graf on July 28, 2014, 01:38:22 PM
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.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Scott Holtzman on July 29, 2014, 01:50:21 AM
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)
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Lance Hallmark on February 05, 2015, 01:59:22 PM
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.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Keith Broughton on February 05, 2015, 07:28:09 PM
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!
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: John L Nobile on February 05, 2015, 09:52:57 PM
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.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Garry Wilson on March 04, 2016, 08:27:44 AM


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.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Dave Garoutte on March 14, 2016, 04:31:29 PM
I'm just north of San Francisco.

I own and operate a small CNC machine shop.
I do production machining, product development and invent stuff.
I'm in the process of going legit (but small) with my sound business.

I love long walks on the beach.. Oops! wrong forum.

I have always loved music, but didn't get into this until my 40s.
I pretend to play bass for fun.

One day, I asked a friend of mine who was putting on a monthly band open mic (open stage?) if I could help.  He said come by for the next one.  When I showed up, he made me the sound guy on the spot.  I'd barely even looked at a console before, let alone run one.  We did 12 bands that night!  No one complained, so I kept doing it.

I love the immediacy of it.  I love the mix of science and art.  I love giving better service and higher quality than is expected.

I've been collecting nice gear, helping out at a local sound company, and doing occasional sound, lighting and stage rental gigs for a while.  I'm starting to build a back-line rental inventory to support the local events.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Kevin Conlon on September 02, 2016, 12:16:20 AM
I'm still pretty new here on the forum and as I peruse through the posts I find myself wondering where this person is from or what do they do besides post on the forum ;). Meaning are you full time employed in the audio/entertainment field or is there another "day" job rounding out your dance card...

If you are full time in this field, what are your specialties? Are you a mixer, system designer, speaker designer, stage tech, product rep, etc...

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

I'll start with less than mindblowing info:

I'm originally from near Chicago but since January 2011, I've been a Tennessean. I live in Cookeville, well Livingston actually but Cookeville line is literally right across the road.

I am/was employed full time within my own company that specialized in corporate events needing sound and lighting but we also have a DJ side of the biz too, although that's pretty much in Chicago as my DJ still lives there. I've been involved in the industry for most of my life, in one way or another... Growing up my Dad was in bands and also had the business I now own. He was also a partner in one of the very first karaoke clubs in Illinois...

I tried my best to avoid this line of work ;) I went to school for business and graduated with a BA in Marketing. I was drawn back in when I had to cover an event for my Dad as he was recovering from his quadruple bypass. He was scheduled to sing and provide the entertainment for a wedding and told me I had to do it. Unfortunately I CANNOT sing, at all, and I agreed if I could just play music (DJ) the event. The clients were ok with this and off I went. I gathered my CD collection and a pair of CD players and talked a family friend into going to the event to MC the event, I was scared to death to talk on the mic.

The night went great and I actually revived my love for the entertainment industry. I started taking over my Dad's biz and grew a pretty profitable DJ business right off the bat. Sadly, even with my marketing degree, I never really promoted the sound side of biz and subsequently, we kept getting more and more DJ events and less and less sound jobs.. That, along with the fact that my DJ doesn't like the live sound side at all, so I went with the flow and focused on the DJ biz. Only after years of a small sound show here and there did I start to turn things back around to sound and lighting. Former and current clients would call to inquire about names to call for their other events and it hit me like a ton of bricks, I had NEVER even discussed my ability to do it with them.... I took advantage of those opportunities as best I could from then on out.

Opportunities that I never noticed, or weren't there, began to arise for me to return back to my true love, live sound. I was just getting traction back home when the opportunity for us to move to Tennessee came about. After a lot of thought and prayer, here we are.

The first year I sat back and surveyed the area as to what opportunities there were and what needs there were and who could fill them here an hour East of Nashville. The second year I started engaging a bit but, I still kept busy with business in Chicago so not a lot materialized here in Tennessee. Now we are starting year 3, literally our anniversary of moving was just 5 days ago, and it's time to kick it into high gear. I'm fighting a small town area in which I'm clearly an outsider or newcomer so it's been a bit challenging but I like a good challenge.

So there it is, I'm from Cookeville, TN and I own a small event production company and I tried to escape this line of work only to realize, it's what I love and always have.. So I'm back and trying to make up for lost time.

Just thought it'd be cool to learn who some of you are, what part of the world you live in and what it is that you do.

Next.....
no one has posted for a while so i am. I am 80 miles south of Nashville. Moved here from Jersey in 86. Always loved the mixing thing, learned from hanging around a local ( Jersey )
 provider. I have been and still am a motorcycle mechanic, since 1981. Just about hate it anymore, but it pays the bills. Have done some gigs around Cookeville, and buy inventory for another venture there from time to time. Would like to be full time audio, but ain't going to happen in this small town. I do go back to Jersey/NY for some good events a time or two a year, great fun and get to see old friends and family. PM me if you need a good hand for a gig.   Kevin.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Michael Thompson on September 02, 2016, 01:19:21 AM
1. Where are you located
2. Is this all you do or do you have other business
3. How'd you get into it

I'll start with less than mindblowing info:

I'm originally from near Chicago but since January 2011, I've been a Tennessean. I live in Cookeville, well Livingston actually but Cookeville line is literally right across the road.

I am/was employed full time within my own company that specialized in corporate events needing sound and lighting but we also have a DJ side of the biz too, although that's pretty much in Chicago as my DJ still lives there. I've been involved in the industry for most of my life, in one way or another... Growing up my Dad was in bands and also had the business I now own. He was also a partner in one of the very first karaoke clubs in Illinois...

I tried my best to avoid this line of work ;) I went to school for business and graduated with a BA in Marketing. I was drawn back in when I had to cover an event for my Dad as he was recovering from his quadruple bypass. He was scheduled to sing and provide the entertainment for a wedding and told me I had to do it. Unfortunately I CANNOT sing, at all, and I agreed if I could just play music (DJ) the event. The clients were ok with this and off I went. I gathered my CD collection and a pair of CD players and talked a family friend into going to the event to MC the event, I was scared to death to talk on the mic.

The night went great and I actually revived my love for the entertainment industry. I started taking over my Dad's biz and grew a pretty profitable DJ business right off the bat. Sadly, even with my marketing degree, I never really promoted the sound side of biz and subsequently, we kept getting more and more DJ events and less and less sound jobs.. That, along with the fact that my DJ doesn't like the live sound side at all, so I went with the flow and focused on the DJ biz. Only after years of a small sound show here and there did I start to turn things back around to sound and lighting. Former and current clients would call to inquire about names to call for their other events and it hit me like a ton of bricks, I had NEVER even discussed my ability to do it with them.... I took advantage of those opportunities as best I could from then on out.

Opportunities that I never noticed, or weren't there, began to arise for me to return back to my true love, live sound. I was just getting traction back home when the opportunity for us to move to Tennessee came about. After a lot of thought and prayer, here we are.

The first year I sat back and surveyed the area as to what opportunities there were and what needs there were and who could fill them here an hour East of Nashville. The second year I started engaging a bit but, I still kept busy with business in Chicago so not a lot materialized here in Tennessee. Now we are starting year 3, literally our anniversary of moving was just 5 days ago, and it's time to kick it into high gear. I'm fighting a small town area in which I'm clearly an outsider or newcomer so it's been a bit challenging but I like a good challenge.

So there it is, I'm from Cookeville, TN and I own a small event production company and I tried to escape this line of work only to realize, it's what I love and always have.. So I'm back and trying to make up for lost time.

Just thought it'd be cool to learn who some of you are, what part of the world you live in and what it is that you do.

Next.....
[/quote]

1. Redwood City (30 minutes south of San Francisco)
2. Sound is my primary business, but I also manage a 600 seat performing arts center
3. I was always around music and electronics growing up.  My father played drums and worked in TV transmitter maintenance.  I had learned drums pretty well very early, but then in my early teens I picked up a guitar and it was all over.  Not only did I start learning guitar, but I got into amplifiers, first just out of necessity, making repairs and recapping old cheap amps that I would blow up, but it never stopped evolving.  By 16 I was working in a music shop, doing odd repairs, changing guitar pickups etc...Then the opportunity came knocking to travel doing corporate AV installs.  I did that for about 8 years and worked my way up, all the while doing freelance FOH and building PA systems for fun.  When the install gig ended, I decided to do what had grown from a pass time into an addiction, sound and all things related to it.  These days, I spend as much time designing loudspeakers and other audio gear as I do anything else.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Speed Daemon on September 15, 2016, 01:26:54 PM
1. I just moved to Albuquerque NM after living in or near Chicago mostly.

2. I'm semi-retired, which means I'm too young to stop working, but am not going back to the corporate grind if I can help it. I'm doing some per diem work in TV to keep busy, and keeping my eye open for an established small business to buy.

3. I learned to build, maintain and operate sound reinforcement systems in a church youth program. I taught myself theatrical lighting when I found myself in a drama class my senior year. After graduation I took every opportunity I could find to practice the craft, designing PA systems, doing FOH mixing and sometimes lighting, and making power distribution systems to keep the lighting noise out of the sound systems. I never made much of a living at it, so I eventually went to college and got a "real" job, but remained an audiophile. I often used parts of my home stereo system as a makeshift PA for parties.

After I buried my mother and headed south I got asked to do some FOH mixing, and the bug bit me again. Now that I have money in the bank and lots of business experience under my belt, I'm currently replacing my collection of odds and ends collected over the years with all new gear, talking with bands and even signing up to volunteer at the local megachurch, which has more DiGiCo consoles than David Gilmour had when I saw him this spring. Hey, church work worked pretty well before!
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: David Smeaton on February 16, 2017, 08:56:50 AM
1. Where are you located - I am located in Gloucester, UK

2. Is this all you do or do you have other business - I work in IT in an application support type role.  Music is a hobby

3. How'd you get into it - I kind of fell into it. 

I joined a band who had just lost their singer, who owned the PA.  We auditioned and took on a female singer who happened to have her own PA (powered mixer and Martin Audio speakers).  It was all too heavy for her to move around (her ex-husband had always done that for her) so someone had to volunteer to help her with the gear.  Anyway, the first time we came to use the stuff she admitted that she had no idea what any of it really did, so one of us had to learn pretty quickly.  No one else was interested so it fell to me.  Anyway she left and we got a new singer and bought a PA (Mackie SRM450s and CFX12 mkII) and I was left to learn how to use it, playing guitar, singing and mixing from stage as required. 

I bumbled along like this for many years until last year I decided to learn properly and invested in a hands on course and then a QU-16 and now I am looking at subs and so on.  I still see myself as a guitar player who sings and also does the sound.  The band seem happy with what I am doing so I must be doing something right. 
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: ross mitchell on May 05, 2017, 07:06:24 PM
Sounds like a few of us North Coast ( Cleveland, Ohio area) guys here

In in that area too...actually in Eaton Twnsp., Lorain County which is a bit West of Cleveland. Kind of out in the country which is how I like it.

Aside from playing drums in a small Country Band I also run sound for a southern rock band and for a local rock band. Between the 3 I'm usually busy 6 times or so per month.

During the day I am a sales engineer for a mechanical contracting company specializing in  AC/Heating, piping and duct for institutional and industrial applications.
Sounds super boring, but it's actually super fun.

Got into the sound aspect in my teens working for a sound company as a helper and then monitor engineer and eventually FOH.  Working in bands as a drummer all my life I amassed most the band gear and as I tapered off the playing I found I could make more money and carry less by just doing sound. As I got older I paired down to small gear and digital mixers.  These days I can do an entire show with just my van to transport.  The 2 bands I run mix for only require me to print my iPad, so I haul no gear !

Lots of fun and keeps me in the social network scene   

And I'm not a newbie...had to change my username
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: John Rutirasiri on May 05, 2017, 07:35:01 PM
Folks, not trying to be a prick here but some employment agreements/contracts strictly forbid moonlighting. 

I would be a little discrete if you have a day job --  no need to spell out what company you work for.

John R.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Ianevans on May 18, 2017, 12:14:31 AM
Hei man, I am from Georgia and there are not too many great things happening lately.

I started to work as mechanical engineering two years ago, but got fired two weeks ago without any further detail from my boss. Don't really know what is happening and he did not want to tell about it, but i guess the reason why i got fired because there is new guy coming in.

Now, i am working as a technician on small shop near my house. Not too great, but lucky enough because the owner is so good to me.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Tim McCulloch on May 26, 2017, 12:20:27 PM
Folks, not trying to be a prick here but some employment agreements/contracts strictly forbid moonlighting. 

I would be a little discrete if you have a day job --  no need to spell out what company you work for.

John R.

It turns out that many of those agreement terms are unenforceable, like most of the non-compete clauses that are so vague that you could be prevented for doing almost any job distantly related to ones current employment.  Courts have held that such agreements cannot be unreasonable (like preventing you from working in your field, with excessive geographic restraint or whose duration is too long).

Still could be an ugly, expensive fight with an employer but as a general rule your employer cannot prevent you from enjoying your hobby (if you're not making a profit from running audio or playing in a band, it's a hobby).
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Jonathan Johnson on May 26, 2017, 04:09:32 PM
Folks, not trying to be a prick here but some employment agreements/contracts strictly forbid moonlighting. 

I work for an IT consulting firm that supports small businesses. We don't have any kind of contract or non-compete that forbids moonlighting. Some of my coworkers moonlight, and the company is fine with that.

Here are the reasons I don't moonlight in IT:

That said, I do "moonlight" some audio work. It's not competing with my employer's business, and it's something I enjoy doing. I can limit how much of it I do; I can say "no" without feeling an economic consequence. And, yes, I do audio work for friends and relatives, and it does feel like the relationship changes a bit when I charge them for my services, but they understand that the equipment costs something to maintain. Besides, my circle of friends is populated with a TON of self-employed people, so they understand the cost of running a business or a hobby-as-a-service and don't try to score a deal just because they are friends.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Kevin Unger on July 15, 2017, 03:29:30 AM
I'm just north of San Francisco.

I own and operate a small CNC machine shop.
I do production machining, product development and invent stuff.
I'm in the process of going legit (but small) with my sound business.

I have always loved music, but didn't get into this until my 40s.
I pretend to play bass for fun.

We're almost the same!


Detroit here.


Day job is shift supervisor at a machine shop, doing production in custom plastic mold bases. 15 years between manual machining and CNC. Love making chips.

....and playing some bass, and Dj'ing.


Weekend warrior with my own rather small sound company, DJ on occasion. Just formed an LLC in the past month or so. It's been a blast!
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Nitin Thakur on July 15, 2017, 07:59:46 AM
1. India from a city Chandigarh

2. Oh yeah full time. I wish to learn more of this industry and also spread the knowledge around.

3. This is a family business and I am the second generation so started early as a DJ while graduating. Did my post grad in audio school. Entered business and fell in love with it. Currently working on ideas like audio workshops in India for live applications by different manufacturers so more brand awareness is created. Incite the ideology of audio ethics in the industry with a motto that If I am giving my life to this industry I need to do right by it. Not to follow the popular choices blindly but first try to understand the vision and engineering behind the products.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Steve Mason on March 18, 2018, 12:42:24 AM
1. Newport Oregon.

2. I am a total cliche'. Bartender 4 nights a week and part time cover band rock star part time. "sound guy" when there'should not a gig to play

3. Severe G.A.S. with my band. Before ya knew it I had enough gear to do a small "festival". Then my friend who runs the County Fair asked me if I wanted the sound gignore when his provider "outgrew" our small county fair. Invested the first years money into some more gear and now I am mostly a weekend warrior on the sound stuff.  Built my fair rig so I could break it down onto smaller sized rigs for corporate or small band stuff as well. Pretty bare bones and ground based, but people seem to like what I get out of what I have to work with. Debating whether to take it next level. Glad I found this site. Have learned a ton. Best PSW moment .... my first Dave Rat video link.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Marc Sibilia on March 18, 2018, 08:44:43 PM
Old thread, but some new faces and voices:

1) I live and work in Princeton, NJ.

2) I have been a mechanical engineer for 30 years and still love it.  Currently, I work on developing nuclear fusion as a future energy source working for the Department of Energy and Princeton University.  Over the years, I have worked on all kinds of things.  I worked on developing natural gas engines for transportation use.  I designed the propulsion system for an unmanned atmospheric research drone to fly to 90,000 feet over Antarctica to sample the ozone layer.  I helped develop an alternative air conditioning system that cools the air by over-drying it.  I have done CNC machining, welding, performance plastics processing, microcontroller programming, CAD and finite element modeling and worked in nuclear power plants.

3) But audio is my passion.  I built my first speaker and amplifier in seventh grade.  I DJed dances at my church during high school.  When I was at college, I built a 4 way, analog active crossover and speakers.  I was the technical director of our mime company and built speakers that we dragged around when we went on tour.  I built more speakers for the music at my wedding.  I took a bit of a hiatus while we raised our children, but they are out of the house now.

I began the slippery slope of "hobby out-of-control" PA gear accumulation when my buddy volunteered to play some music at our rowing club holiday party.  He didn't have enough "rig for the gig", so I added to his home speakers.  I used a found Bose 801 and a double 12" sub loaded with old Speakerlab woofers and a bit of DSP magic the first year.  The next year I added one 18" and a couple of CBT like arc segment speakers.  The following year, I had 4 18" DIY subs and had reconfigured the 8 x 5" tops to two way and added a Driverack PA.

I decided that having all that gear sitting in my basement 363 days a year was a bit of a waste, so I contacted a youth circus run by a friend of mine.  They use a big old factory in Trenton to run a program for the kids in the city and really needed a better PA.  I loaned it to them except for the two days a year I need it and they love having it.  I have since donated it, since they need it and I don't anymore.

That's when I found ProSoundWeb and began lurking and learning.  I started thinking about extending my DJing to include mixing for bands, but I really needed a bit more capable system if I wanted to do that properly.  I designed and built eight 15" subs (very similar to Chris Grimshaw's) that are easier to carry up and down stairs and louder and lower than my four budget 18's in big boxes, and some lightweight horn loaded B&C 12" + Eminence and RCF 1.4" tops (loosely inspired by Peter Morris' DIY 90) that should do fine for any bar around and for smaller festival type events.  I haven't done my first live sound event yet.  I need to build some stage monitors and buy some mic stands.  I can stuff the whole rig including a Honda generator in my SUV.

Other thing I need to get before I do this for real is some liability insurance (I have definitely learned some things on PSW).

I have some friends in bands that might help me get my feet wet.  More than likely, I will be doing benefit type events for organizations I support in the beginning.

I am also hoping to find someone not too far away with a passing interest in DIY that might spend an afternoon listening to and comparing my system to a commercial equivalent.

Marc
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Scott Holtzman on March 18, 2018, 09:18:06 PM
Old thread, but some new faces and voices:

1) I live and work in Princeton, NJ.

2) I have been a mechanical engineer for 30 years and still love it.  Currently, I work on developing nuclear fusion as a future energy source working for the Department of Energy and Princeton University.  Over the years, I have worked on all kinds of things.  I worked on developing natural gas engines for transportation use.  I designed the propulsion system for an unmanned atmospheric research drone to fly to 90,000 feet over Antarctica to sample the ozone layer.  I helped develop an alternative air conditioning system that cools the air by over-drying it.  I have done CNC machining, welding, performance plastics processing, microcontroller programming, CAD and finite element modeling and worked in nuclear power plants.

3) But audio is my passion.  I built my first speaker and amplifier in seventh grade.  I DJed dances at my church during high school.  When I was at college, I built a 4 way, analog active crossover and speakers.  I was the technical director of our mime company and built speakers that we dragged around when we went on tour.  I built more speakers for the music at my wedding.  I took a bit of a hiatus while we raised our children, but they are out of the house now.

I began the slippery slope of "hobby out-of-control" PA gear accumulation when my buddy volunteered to play some music at our rowing club holiday party.  He didn't have enough "rig for the gig", so I added to his home speakers.  I used a found Bose 801 and a double 12" sub loaded with old Speakerlab woofers and a bit of DSP magic the first year.  The next year I added one 18" and a couple of CBT like arc segment speakers.  The following year, I had 4 18" DIY subs and had reconfigured the 8 x 5" tops to two way and added a Driverack PA.

I decided that having all that gear sitting in my basement 363 days a year was a bit of a waste, so I contacted a youth circus run by a friend of mine.  They use a big old factory in Trenton to run a program for the kids in the city and really needed a better PA.  I loaned it to them except for the two days a year I need it and they love having it.  I have since donated it, since they need it and I don't anymore.

That's when I found ProSoundWeb and began lurking and learning.  I started thinking about extending my DJing to include mixing for bands, but I really needed a bit more capable system if I wanted to do that properly.  I designed and built eight 15" subs (very similar to Chris Grimshaw's) that are easier to carry up and down stairs and louder and lower than my four budget 18's in big boxes, and some lightweight horn loaded B&C 12" + Eminence and RCF 1.4" tops (loosely inspired by Peter Morris' DIY 90) that should do fine for any bar around and for smaller festival type events.  I haven't done my first live sound event yet.  I need to build some stage monitors and buy some mic stands.  I can stuff the whole rig including a Honda generator in my SUV.

Other thing I need to get before I do this for real is some liability insurance (I have definitely learned some things on PSW).

I have some friends in bands that might help me get my feet wet.  More than likely, I will be doing benefit type events for organizations I support in the beginning.

I am also hoping to find someone not too far away with a passing interest in DIY that might spend an afternoon listening to and comparing my system to a commercial equivalent.

Marc
I will be back in Parsippany in 2 weeks glad to get together.

I am also an engineer/entrepreneur spent my mife in Telecom/cellular and always had some hand in production. 

My first gig was running the bogen 5 input amp our church used at 13 yrs old. 

I am headed into semi-retirement and my little production company stays pretty busy with 5-6 gigs a week and a dry rental business that is growing like crazy.

Let me know, may not get a rental but can Uber.  Will be at the Marriott in Morris Plains I think is the name of the town.



Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Ed Taylor on March 01, 2021, 02:16:39 PM
I'm still pretty new here on the forum and as I peruse through the posts I find myself wondering where this person is from or what do they do besides post on the forum ;). Meaning are you full time employed in the audio/entertainment field or is there another "day" job rounding out your dance card...

If you are full time in this field, what are your specialties? Are you a mixer, system designer, speaker designer, stage tech, product rep, etc...

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

I'll start with less than mindblowing info:

I'm originally from near Chicago but since January 2011, I've been a Tennessean. I live in Cookeville, well Livingston actually but Cookeville line is literally right across the road.

I am/was employed full time within my own company that specialized in corporate events needing sound and lighting but we also have a DJ side of the biz too, although that's pretty much in Chicago as my DJ still lives there. I've been involved in the industry for most of my life, in one way or another... Growing up my Dad was in bands and also had the business I now own. He was also a partner in one of the very first karaoke clubs in Illinois...

I tried my best to avoid this line of work ;) I went to school for business and graduated with a BA in Marketing. I was drawn back in when I had to cover an event for my Dad as he was recovering from his quadruple bypass. He was scheduled to sing and provide the entertainment for a wedding and told me I had to do it. Unfortunately I CANNOT sing, at all, and I agreed if I could just play music (DJ) the event. The clients were ok with this and off I went. I gathered my CD collection and a pair of CD players and talked a family friend into going to the event to MC the event, I was scared to death to talk on the mic.

The night went great and I actually revived my love for the entertainment industry. I started taking over my Dad's biz and grew a pretty profitable DJ business right off the bat. Sadly, even with my marketing degree, I never really promoted the sound side of biz and subsequently, we kept getting more and more DJ events and less and less sound jobs.. That, along with the fact that my DJ doesn't like the live sound side at all, so I went with the flow and focused on the DJ biz. Only after years of a small sound show here and there did I start to turn things back around to sound and lighting. Former and current clients would call to inquire about names to call for their other events and it hit me like a ton of bricks, I had NEVER even discussed my ability to do it with them.... I took advantage of those opportunities as best I could from then on out.

Opportunities that I never noticed, or weren't there, began to arise for me to return back to my true love, live sound. I was just getting traction back home when the opportunity for us to move to Tennessee came about. After a lot of thought and prayer, here we are.

The first year I sat back and surveyed the area as to what opportunities there were and what needs there were and who could fill them here an hour East of Nashville. The second year I started engaging a bit but, I still kept busy with business in Chicago so not a lot materialized here in Tennessee. Now we are starting year 3, literally our anniversary of moving was just 5 days ago, and it's time to kick it into high gear. I'm fighting a small town area in which I'm clearly an outsider or newcomer so it's been a bit challenging but I like a good challenge.

So there it is, I'm from Cookeville, TN and I own a small event production company and I tried to escape this line of work only to realize, it's what I love and always have.. So I'm back and trying to make up for lost time.

Just thought it'd be cool to learn who some of you are, what part of the world you live in and what it is that you do.

Next.....
Carolinas...have always had a "day job"  in Information Technology..so the bills are covered. Owned a pro backline biz for a little over 15 years...simple choice was that I'm a gear head and felt my stock market investment could do a lot better in an industry that I knew and had some control over..and it did...made a lot of good $ through the years and "talk about time"..sold it to a larger concern about 3 years back...but did keep my longer running private party biz going...that's been running since 1989..mostly weddings, corporate parties...so a reasonably capable semi-pro level audio/lighting/common backline supply...intended to provide some side income for home improvements, vacations, etc over the years and give me something to do when I retire from the day job. so while I've missed the work during covid, it's not crushed me financially...it's just hybernated for now.
Title: Re: OT: Where are ya from and what else do ya do?
Post by: Guillermo Sanchez on May 01, 2022, 11:07:14 AM
I'm probably going to be one of the outliers here.

I'm from Venezuela. I had been in the audio business all my life. I started with a mobile DJ when I was 11. While having my own, people started to hire me to install and tune their DJ sound systems (and I mean big systems, not speakers on a stick stuff but dozens of 18" sub boxes, JBL 4560's or Altec VOT boxes, 2441 loaded horns and 2402 Tweeters, all active 3 or 4 way depending on the particular system). That work lead to do live audio pretty quickly and I was mixing my first show at 14.

I kept on working on install/tune system while I morphed my business to audio system rentals. Long story short, I built what was a sizable SR company in my country, doing mostly international acts and big venues, plus a lot of corporate jobs. At some point, when my beloved country politics turned for the worse (Leaning to "socialism" which in reality was an excuse to steal and squander our immense resources), I decided it was not in my best interest to have so much hardware, so I sold the system and started working as an independent designer/tuner again. While going to that transition, I met Crown's president at the time and was hired as Business developer/application support for the LATAM region. I worked at different positions within Harman Pro for 7 years, mostly doing systems setup, training and tuning for our SR partners in the region until it didn't align with my goals, so I quit, moved back to my country and started working independently again. I worked for a brand representative which had Martin Audio at the time, then worked for a consumer/pro audio representative that had some interesting brands with it, while also doing independent system tuning. Currently I do system design and tuning for some big local Production companies and do system tuning and sound design for a lot of cruise ship lines through a company sell and install such systems. That is what keep me busy now, after 45 years in the business.

Sorry for the long winded post. is not easy to sum up 45 years of audio in a paragraph