How We Got Loud Chris Leonard

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 companies in the world. He was directly responsible for marketing, product development, and connecting companies like Clair Bros, Maryland Sound, ShowCo, Stanal Sound, A1 Audio, Schubert Systems, and many more with JBL in the late '70s and early '80s. This was a time when all sound companies had to make their own property systems. Mark has a very unique perspective on our history because he was at the center of the live sound industry. Sound Companies needed a symbiotic relationship with a speaker manufacture to develop, engineer, and design their systems. Mark Gander was the catalyst of that for JBL.

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I want to thank Earthworks for sending me their new ICON podcasting microphone. It looks awesome and sounds great.


Please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. "We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle."

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.
Bill Thompson was co-owner of Brighton Sound before moving on to start Ashly Audio. Early on they were building custom consoles, of which Silverfish had the most. These consoles were ahead of their time with parametric eq's on the outputs, built-in speaker crossovers, compressors, and more
In 1976, Silverfish landed Jimmy Buffet as a touring client. As they took on more clients and tours grew, it led them to open up an office in Burbank CA in 1978. The company continued to grow as Joel decided to leave the sound company and start the manufacturing side of his career. In 1980 Silverfish moved to San Diego. During this time Dave Shadoan joined the company and became half owner with Ross Ritto. They changed the name to "Southern California Sound Image” in 1984. They are celebrating 50 years in business and Jimmy Buffet is still a client to this day
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Check out www.howwegotloud.com for more details and other episodes

Support the podcast on Patreon

Get your How We Got Loud swag at our online store

I want to thank Earthworks for sending me their new ICON podcasting microphone. It looks awesome and sounds great.


Please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. "We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle."

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 neck-and-neck with Bill Graham.
Cohen went on to start his own sound company called Lumiere Productions. He invented the modern-day intercom system and founded the company Clear-Com with Charlie Butten. Lee Brenkman was there in the shop as Bob and Charlie were drawing the schematics out on butcher paper.
For the last 47 years, Lee has worked at the Great American Music Hall as the house sound tech and later becoming the sound department head. We spent a fair amount of time talking about the progression of gear through the years there, along with some memorable shows like Duke Ellington's last San Fransisco performances, Robin Williams HBO Special, and more.

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Jimmy Hendrix Show for Family Dog in Denver Colorado, Feb 14, 1968
Lee discusses this the show and how he provided support speakers in the episode. you can listen to a recording of the show.

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Check out www.howwegotloud.com for more details and other episodes

Support the podcast on Patreon

Get your How We Got Loud swag at our online store

I want to thank Earthworks for sending me their new ICON podcasting microphone. It looks awesome and sounds great.


Please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. "We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle."

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 the time. Ashly made very few consoles before realizing the economics of it were not great, so they shifted focus to dedicated outboard gear only. Silverfish Audio was one of the few companies to have these consoles. 
Based in Rochester, NY Nider was in the right place at the right time and kind of "fell into the business" at a young age. SivlerFish Audio also located in Rochester started in 1971 and moved to San Diego in 1978, during that time they had 3 touring systems for artists like Jimmy Buffet, Bonnie Raitt, Pablo Cruise, Jackson Brown, and more. 
Jump in now and hear Steve's journey in and out of the touring world along with some fun stories along the way.
Check out www.howwegotloud.com for more details and other episodes

Support the podcast on Patreon

Get your How We Got Loud swag at our online store

I want to thank Earthworks for sending me their new ICON podcasting microphone. It looks awesome and sounds great.


Please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. "We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle."

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, Poison, The Cult, Steve Miller, Pablo Cruise, and many more. While working with these iconic bands, Greg prides himself in taking the music to the next level and delivering unforgettable experiences for the audience.
It's difficult to cover a 45-year career in a single conversation. So I believe this will be the first of many conversations with Greg.  Even though he has done so much already, Greg believes he has more to accomplish, and I cant wait to see what that looks like. Listen in and hear the passion Greg has along with stories from his journey.


Check out www.howwegotloud.com for more details and other episodes

I want to thank Earthworks for sending me their new ICON podcasting microphone. It looks awesome and sounds great.


Please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. "We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle."

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.howwegotloud.com for more details and other episodes


Please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. "We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle."