How We Got Loud

JBL was one of the earliest and largest manufacturers of speaker components and cabinets. Mark Gander spent 41 years at JBL starting in 1978, with various roles through the years such as Applications Engineer, VP of Marketing, VP of Engineering, and most recently Director of JBL Technology. He is also known as JBL's historian and often just called JBL GURU. In my opinion, he was one of the most influential and centrally connected people when it comes to speakers, with the largest sound c...

Joel Silverman has spent the last 41 years on the manufacturing side of the business with companies like MXR, DBX, Lexicon, and Millennia. Before this long successful career, Joel who was based in Rochester, NY started Silverfish Audio in 1971. In the summer of 74, Joel had been working with Bonnie Raitt while at Brighton Sound. Ross Ritto joined up with Joel to start building a speaker system for a Bonnie Raitt tour, which is really where it all started to come together for Silverfish Audio....

The San Fransisco Bay area was very influential on the music scene in the late '60s and early '70s. In this episode, I am talking with Lee Brenkman, who has spent over 50 years working in many of the iconic venues there like the Avalon Ballroom, Family Dog on the Great Highway, and the Great American Music Hall. A very influential person in live sound history is Bob Cohen. He was the co-owner, co-manager, and sound engineer for the Family Dog, the San Francisco concert promoter that ran ...

In this episode, I am joined by Steve Nider formerly of Silverfish Audio, which went on to become Sound Image, one of the largest sound companies in the world. After my last episode with Greg Price, I shared a photo he sent me, of a Pablo Cruiz show in 1978 with Silverfish Audio. The console at the time was a custom-built Ashly, with features like 4 band parametric EQ on every output, LED metering, and adjustable crossovers built into the desk. These features on a console were unheard of at t...

Often when starting off in the studio, making the shift to live sound can be a difficult transition. If you make the transition well, it's often more difficult to go back to the studio. When you find someone who can excel at both studio and live at an elite level, It's rare and special. That's Greg Price. For the last 25 years, Greg has mixed Front of House for Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. His career spans over the last 45 years with artists like Van Halen, Rage Against The Machine, ...

David Morgan spent 5 years behind the "wrong desk". David's short time as General Manager for Innovative Audio (formally Tycobrahe) was a great experience that allowed him to learn more about the music business and to have more respect and understanding for the freelance FOH Engineer and sound company relationship. But in his heart, he knew he belonged behind the mixing desk.Being a guitar player at heart, Morgan also talks about the time he got to play for James Taylor. Check out www.howwego...

Greg Carttar started out making amplifiers and home stereo equipment but quickly found himself providing sound for concerts. Carttar started 3rd St. R&D Production Services in 1974 and they went on to work with acts like Johnny Cash, Steve Martin, The Statler Brothers, and more. He was able to get most of his early training and support from Stanal Sound.Click here to see all of Greg Carttar's photos.Please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. "We exist t...

Today I am talking with David Dansky, whos been in this business since 1970. Coming from an electrical engineer background he was well suited to jump into an industry that needed a lot of innovation early on. It's hard to summarize all that David has ventured into over the last 50 years however, David has spent a lot of his career working with adult contemporary showroom acts like Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Engelbert Humperdinck, Bette Midler, and many more. It is very apparent David lo...

Jim Yakabuski (AKA Jim Yak) quickly made his way from mixing bar bands in Vancouver to Front of House for Van Halen. Since that time Jim ,who is in the 39th year of his career, has diligently perfected his craft and worked with artists like Peter Frampton, Journey, Avril Lavigne, Matchbox Twenty, Rob Thomas, and Gwen Stefani just to name a few. He also has over 20 years of doing freelance corporate work for major clients like Nike, Microsoft, Walmart, the NBA and the Super Bowl, with pro...

Today I’m talking with David Morgan, currently the FOH Engineer for James Taylor, Stevie Nicks & Fleetwood Mac. David is one of the humblest people I have met with a resume that’s multiple pages deep with artist like Paul Simon, Whitney Houston, Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers and so many more. He has also been nominated multiple times and won a Parnelli award and the TEC Foundation Award.David loves looking at the faces of people as they walk out of a show, and getting instant feedback o...