#270 - James Ure

1
00:00:00,960 --> 00:00:02,320
Hey there.
Well, that was fun.

2
00:00:02,320 --> 00:00:07,400
Episode number 270 with James
Ewer from AVL Media Group, who

3
00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:09,600
is also the sponsor for this
episode.

4
00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:14,600
So, you know, 35 years in the
audio business, I learned a ton.

5
00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:16,920
You're probably going to listen
to it and roll your eyes going

6
00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:20,480
cut ourselves an idiot.
But no, it actually was pretty

7
00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:21,840
fun.
We had a great talk.

8
00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:25,880
I learned a lot about about
audio and about just his career

9
00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:28,360
and the path of his career.
So I think you'll enjoy it.

10
00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:34,000
And again, James, you're from
AVL Media Group, who is our

11
00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:41,640
sponsor for episode #270 Enjoy.
Hello and welcome to Giza Gear

12
00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,200
episode number 270.
Today's podcast is brought to

13
00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:49,120
you by AVL, your premier North
American distribution partner

14
00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:52,560
committed to developing a long
term, mutually beneficial

15
00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,120
business relationship with its
dealers through professional

16
00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:00,080
products at competitive prices,
backed by excellent sales

17
00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:05,400
service and Technical Support.
AVL Media Group concentrates on

18
00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:09,280
project based installations
servicing the design and

19
00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,760
contractor markets with their
unique approach and innovative

20
00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:15,680
products.
AVL Media Group is the main go

21
00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:21,280
to company for audio, video and
lighting in Canada and also as

22
00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:24,920
the exclusive US distributors
for Midas Lab, Groupon and now

23
00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:29,400
shipping Lake LMX processors,
Tanoi Clark Technique, Turbo

24
00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:35,240
Sound, Aston Wharfedale Pro and
now adding BZB Gear products to

25
00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:37,360
their lineup.
They're committed to delivering

26
00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:41,040
excellence to their partners at
every level by providing

27
00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,680
outstanding pre and post sales
service.

28
00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:49,040
Visit avlmediagroup.com today
For more information.

29
00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:53,480
And this podcast is also brought
to you by Gearsource.

30
00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:57,560
Founded in 2002 with an
ambitious mission to support

31
00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:00,760
live events businesses to buy
and sell gear globally.

32
00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,360
Since that time, the company has
transacted in more than 100

33
00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:08,759
countries, selling 1/4 billion
dollars in pro audio, lighting,

34
00:02:08,759 --> 00:02:12,720
staging and video gear.
Gear Source continues to evolve

35
00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,400
the platform for massive global
growth, enabling localized

36
00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:19,440
currencies, payments held in
escrow to protect buyers and

37
00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:24,880
sellers, AI powered logistics
behind a new global logistics

38
00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:28,480
brand and so much more.
In fact, the company has just

39
00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,400
released massive new features
including Gear Sync with the

40
00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:35,920
ability to manage up to 400
listings at once, and Need Zone,

41
00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:39,600
which is basically a fully
automated shopping assistant for

42
00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:42,960
hard to find items.
So take full control over your

43
00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:46,640
gear today with a visit to
gearsource.com.

44
00:03:19,130 --> 00:03:22,890
Hello, and thanks for coming
back.

45
00:03:23,090 --> 00:03:27,810
And you're here for episode #270
which, again, I hope it's going

46
00:03:27,810 --> 00:03:32,290
to be a good one.
And so, yeah, I just was messing

47
00:03:32,290 --> 00:03:36,410
around listening to a podcast
talking about some AI, of

48
00:03:36,410 --> 00:03:41,120
course, and it was AI related to
Cancer Research and how much

49
00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:48,920
more accurate and efficient,
especially things like, you

50
00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,640
know, when when they detect
cancer, like breast cancer, for

51
00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,080
example, there's such a high
failure rate.

52
00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:56,720
It's somewhere in the
neighborhood of 30% failure rate

53
00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:00,720
on the data, like on just
basically being wrong, not being

54
00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:05,880
accurate with their data.
And so one of the things that AI

55
00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:09,560
is being incorporated to do now
is to bring that efficiency up

56
00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:13,720
to above 90 percent, 95% or
accuracy, I should say.

57
00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:15,680
So there's some really, really
cool research.

58
00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:17,680
Maybe I'll post some information
about it later.

59
00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:23,640
But for today, so AVL, who
happens to be today's sponsor as

60
00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:27,000
well, the founder, Stephen
Costers is a guy I've known

61
00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:31,880
literally for probably 40 years
and he's always been in the

62
00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:35,920
distribution business, mostly
just in Canada until relatively

63
00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,080
recent.
I, I think in the last 10 years

64
00:04:38,280 --> 00:04:41,320
he has expanded into the United
States with some really great

65
00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:44,480
brands, as you heard in the, in
the promo earlier.

66
00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:52,600
But recently they just added two
new pretty big name hires on the

67
00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:55,840
audio side of their business to
their leadership team.

68
00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,720
So Nick Owen, who among other
things has spent the last, I

69
00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:04,200
think, more than a decade with
Harman, where he was most

70
00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:10,240
recently the global head of
sales and, and head of global

71
00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:15,960
sales for, for touring audio.
And also James Ewer, who we'll

72
00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:19,960
be talking with today.
So really big moves for, you

73
00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:24,120
know, a company out of Canada.
My, my stomping grounds, I guess

74
00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:28,040
my home area, my hometown, my
home country.

75
00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:32,440
And so pretty excited for some
of the stuff they're doing and

76
00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:35,320
looking forward to learning a
bit more about it from James

77
00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:38,560
today.
So James you're is the vice

78
00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:42,400
president of U.S. sales and
marketing at ABL Media Group.

79
00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:47,120
He has been in the audio
industry for over 35 years and

80
00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:51,760
his experience ranges from AD
design, AV design and

81
00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:56,280
installation, live sound rental,
studio broadcast and rehearsal.

82
00:05:56,840 --> 00:06:01,240
James was also with Harmon for
10 years and covered 18

83
00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,880
countries on a regular basis
throughout Europe and the

84
00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:07,880
Pacific Rim and has been all the
way around the world twice.

85
00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:16,800
James is known for the road trip
with Jim You're Demo Trips, also

86
00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:22,560
dubbed the Insanity Tour, where
he made roughly 340 stops in 46

87
00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:25,320
states in 130 days.
That's just insane.

88
00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:28,440
I've travelled, I can't say I've
ever done that.

89
00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:33,480
That's pretty incredible.
So please welcome James to the

90
00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,440
podcast today.
James.

91
00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:41,080
So how are you?
It's another fantastic day.

92
00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:42,280
Really.
Are you?

93
00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:46,080
Is that like one in a row or?
One in a row.

94
00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:50,120
Yeah, it it's a, I think I've
got about 20 years in a row at

95
00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:53,400
least.
Wow, you're sailing super.

96
00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:55,800
Lucky and today's another
fantastic lucky day.

97
00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:58,240
And here we are So.
Do your friends call you James,

98
00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:00,280
Jim, or something completely
different?

99
00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:04,640
Jim or something completely
different, but most, yeah, it's

100
00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:06,680
just I.
Get a lot of those completely

101
00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:09,440
different ones myself, you know.
Hey, you.

102
00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:13,400
We all see people so often in
this business that it's kind of

103
00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:17,840
like, Oh, yeah, I remember your
face, but you were Dave, right?

104
00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:20,960
Yeah.
Such a, you know, more common

105
00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:21,600
name.
So it's just.

106
00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:25,080
Well, Dave?
Number one, Dave in here.

107
00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,680
Number one, I'm, I'm too
obnoxious to forget.

108
00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:32,000
And #2 with a name like Marcel,
it's like Madonna.

109
00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:33,560
You don't need a last name,
right?

110
00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:35,240
Like it's just there's only so
many.

111
00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:39,200
Although in the company you work
for, you know, being from

112
00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:42,280
Montreal, there's a few more of
them up there, I guess.

113
00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:46,560
But yeah, not so many there are.
Probably a few more cells in

114
00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:50,000
Montreal.
Well, I'll tell you a funny

115
00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:52,680
story.
So one time I was at LDI in

116
00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:56,360
Orlando before it went to
straight or maybe it was

117
00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:57,920
Infocom.
No, I think it was LDI.

118
00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:04,200
It was either LDI or Infocom,
and I was at the Starbucks, but

119
00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:07,800
at the other end of
International Drive, like not

120
00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:10,160
the one closest to the
Convention Center.

121
00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:13,160
I don't know why I was at the
one further away, but I was at a

122
00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:15,160
Starbucks.
I think I was picking somebody

123
00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:19,680
up from his hotel or something
and stopped in to get a coffee.

124
00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:23,200
So I ordered like something
really stupid, which I normally

125
00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:25,000
wouldn't order and I never drink
anymore.

126
00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:30,720
Like a caramel macchiato with
soy milk and an extra shot or

127
00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:32,400
something like that, right?
OK.

128
00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:38,400
So what's your name Marcel?
OK so 5 minutes later or

129
00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:43,480
whatever, Caramel macchiato.
Caramel macchiato.

130
00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:44,920
Anybody order a caramel
macchiato?

131
00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:50,120
And me and this other guy both
walk over and she goes oh, it's

132
00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:53,720
soy milk.
And we were both like putting

133
00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:54,600
our hands out.
Yep.

134
00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:57,200
And oh with an extra shot.
Yep.

135
00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:02,280
And I'm sorry, who's this for?
Oh, it's for Marcel.

136
00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:04,960
Yep.
And I'm like, get the hell out

137
00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:06,240
of here.
That's fantastic.

138
00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:10,160
And so he was from XL Video.
Marcel.

139
00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:12,760
I forget his last name because I
haven't talked to him in years.

140
00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:17,080
But anyways, the guy from XL
Video, and I had never met him,

141
00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:20,440
but I'd spoken to him before.
And it was just so bizarre that

142
00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:23,560
we were in the same Starbucks,
ordering the exact same fluffy,

143
00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:26,080
weird drink at the same time in
Orlando.

144
00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:31,280
So yeah, a small world.
It's the first time I think that

145
00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:34,480
that's ever happened to me where
somebody called for Marcel and

146
00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:37,480
two of us came forward.
You know, this doesn't happen.

147
00:09:37,560 --> 00:09:39,640
A common occurrence.
No, it really I.

148
00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:43,640
Thought I was only the only
Speaking of uncommon

149
00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:45,280
occurrences.
I thought I was the only you

150
00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:47,960
were in the industry.
There's a whole pile of us in

151
00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:50,240
this industry.
Is there really.

152
00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:51,320
Yeah.
I was shocked.

153
00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:54,280
I was actually shocked.
I moved to Salt Lake City, UT to

154
00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:58,640
work for DBX number of years ago
and I found out there were a

155
00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:03,000
bunch of viewers that were
living there and I I I had

156
00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:05,520
literally never outside of my
family run into somebody with

157
00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:07,640
the same last name.
Oh, that's interesting.

158
00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:10,000
There were.
Two of us in the industry in

159
00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:12,520
Salt Lake who were pretty well
known it was oh.

160
00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:15,560
That's wild.
Yeah, I got a couple funny

161
00:10:15,560 --> 00:10:17,160
stories.
So your is what?

162
00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:19,640
German Scottish.
Scottish.

163
00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:21,560
Oh, my last name is Scottish as
well.

164
00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:23,840
My my dad died when I was really
young.

165
00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:28,600
I had a French Canadian last
name, Seer CYR, and my mom

166
00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:32,160
remarried to someone named
Fairbairn, which is a Scottish

167
00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:37,080
name.
And you know, I, I really never

168
00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:43,200
met other Fairbairns.
And so my my e-mail address is

169
00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:48,680
mfairbairn@suchandsuch.com.
And so I started getting these

170
00:10:48,680 --> 00:10:52,600
weird emails for
mfairbairn@whatever.com and

171
00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:55,240
somehow, I don't even remember
how I figured it out, but it was

172
00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:58,680
a guy who owned like 100
Applebee's restaurants.

173
00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:03,280
Very, very well off guy who ran
a company that owned all these

174
00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:06,960
restaurants and stuff and we
became friends and he ended up

175
00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:10,560
sending me like 4 bottles of
wine 1 Christmas and you know,

176
00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:13,520
they were each like probably
$150.00 bottles of wine.

177
00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:16,960
And he said just for being my
e-mail admin, you know, because

178
00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:19,640
I'm always forwarding well
because I forgot to say the

179
00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:21,280
important part.
His e-mail is

180
00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:28,840
m.fairbairn@thesame.com and and
so, you know, I always get still

181
00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:32,080
to this day, and I mean it's
been 15 years, I still get

182
00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:34,680
emails without the dot in them
for him.

183
00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:37,000
And I always know when they're
for him 'cause it's like a golf

184
00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:41,920
tee time or, or his like a not
his assistant but somebody

185
00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:44,640
putting flights together for him
or something.

186
00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:46,480
She'll be.
Ready on the runway at 4 for

187
00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:47,840
you?
Yeah, that kind of thing.

188
00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:50,600
I'm not saying stuff that stuff
that I probably wouldn't have

189
00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:54,360
booked myself, you know, like my
own private jet to go to Italy

190
00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:58,080
or wherever he was going.
But so, yeah, not a bad idea.

191
00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:02,320
Yeah.
So I love getting audio guys on

192
00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:04,600
because I really don't know very
much about audio.

193
00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:10,120
So I like learning more about it
#1 sounding stupid #2 so I'm

194
00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:13,240
going to do a little bit of both
of those today on this podcast.

195
00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:16,240
I'm going to sound stupid and
I'm going to learn some stuff, I

196
00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:18,360
promise.
Well, if I don't know it, I'll

197
00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:21,280
make it up.
That's what you're supposed to

198
00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:22,720
do.
That's our industry.

199
00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:25,760
That's what we all do.
Yeah, I think I've done some of

200
00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:30,240
that this morning.
So, you know, if you've ever

201
00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:32,400
heard my podcast, I like this
kind of start from the

202
00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:35,520
beginning.
So I from what you've supplied

203
00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:39,600
to us, it looks like that you
started in Richmond, VA.

204
00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:45,000
Actually, well, so I guess the
official start to my career was

205
00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:48,440
in Richmond, VA, yeah, about 35
years ago.

206
00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:52,120
Jesus, you're old before.
That I was in upstate New York

207
00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:57,600
and there was a company up in
upstate New York that at the at

208
00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:01,720
that time was called Specialized
Audio Video and a nine year old

209
00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:05,400
kid who had parked his bike next
to the pony pasture.

210
00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:08,200
And there was a building that
said ring bell walk in.

211
00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:10,800
So I rang the bell.
I walked in and find myself with

212
00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:13,280
a receptionist going, hi, can we
help you?

213
00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:15,720
And I'm in the middle of a
recording studio and a live

214
00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:19,200
sound company.
And why were you in there?

215
00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:20,240
Why?
Did you go in?

216
00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:23,160
It said ring bell walk in.
I was 9.

217
00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:26,080
Seemed appropriate.
That's hilarious.

218
00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:27,720
It was.
Almost like saying I dare you,

219
00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:29,600
so I that's.
Funny.

220
00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:34,400
And, and they actually started
teaching me little bits here and

221
00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:39,000
there and I was standing in
front of what used to be on the

222
00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:43,760
cover of Mix magazine, which was
the MCII think 600 series

223
00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:48,320
console, ground console faders
and knobs to, you know, for

224
00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:52,520
miles.
And this 9 year old kid, I'm, I

225
00:13:52,680 --> 00:13:56,240
just rocked up on the, the
bridge of the Starship

226
00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:58,600
Enterprises.
So I was concerned.

227
00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:01,640
So I never left.
They they were quite annoyed

228
00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:05,040
with me by the time I finally
did wander off at later ages.

229
00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:08,200
It's amazing that they allowed
you to do that though, but they

230
00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:10,680
allowed you to just walk in and
discover.

231
00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:14,600
One guy, Tim, he actually took
me back and he he showed me.

232
00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:18,320
He was reconing a 15 inch
speaker at the time and he

233
00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:22,920
showed me how the Recon process
worked and I ended up using it

234
00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:26,760
later in life for the 15 minutes
that I worked with another

235
00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:31,640
company and was doing recons.
And so it was just, you know,

236
00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:34,680
the whole full circle thing in
this industry is a lot of fun.

237
00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:38,200
On that topic, do companies you
can take a drink of your coffee

238
00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:40,120
guy.
I I drink too much.

239
00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:43,080
Keep going I'm.
On that topic, do companies

240
00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:45,640
still Recon speakers Like I
don't even know the answer.

241
00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:49,760
Yeah, they, they do, but a lot
of them are just like, now let's

242
00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:52,680
not Recon it because a lot of
the speakers are just so high

243
00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:53,960
power.
Yeah.

244
00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:56,720
Really want to make sure that it
was done by the factory and it

245
00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:58,200
was done right.
Yeah.

246
00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:03,760
And a lot of the the really,
really nice, like the audiophile

247
00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:05,920
speakers.
Yeah, you'll have those reconed

248
00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:09,400
because that, that basket and
that piece it, it might mean a

249
00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:12,520
lot to you.
It might go back in history so

250
00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:15,040
far that all that's available
are Recon kits.

251
00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:17,000
Yeah.
So of course you have it done

252
00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:19,280
because, I mean, it's, it's
special, Yeah.

253
00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:24,040
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it.
I I, I was just curious.

254
00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:28,520
I thought, excuse me, I thought
actually from a different angle

255
00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:33,520
that maybe speakers had just
become more disposable and we're

256
00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:36,920
just kind of being tossed when
when they blew up, you just put

257
00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:40,560
a new one in.
If it's something high power,

258
00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:47,320
something, if I can get a new
one, I know and I'll just speak

259
00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:47,920
for me.
I don't.

260
00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:50,200
There's plenty of people who
have their own opinions on this

261
00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,240
and I'll let them speak for
themselves if I have the option.

262
00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:57,600
I'm going to take a factory
original out-of-the-box.

263
00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:03,120
Now, that might mean that you
have to do a whole bunch of

264
00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:06,120
speakers, because if you've got
one that's really, really good

265
00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:09,000
and maybe something slightly
changed over the years.

266
00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,160
Yeah, and now you're kind of
putting a slightly different

267
00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:14,920
speaker in a cabinet with a
whole bunch of other speakers

268
00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:18,160
that aren't really similar or
identical anymore.

269
00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:19,520
Then you might have to make a
change.

270
00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:22,840
You might have to do a Recon to
that, that old one, just to make

271
00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:27,320
sure that you keep the original
tambor of the speaker itself.

272
00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:30,680
You've got interesting.
And I would guess a bunch of.

273
00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:32,480
Reasons to do it.
Or not.

274
00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,040
Yeah, I would guess the cost,
the cost difference between

275
00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:39,640
reconing and and just replacing
the speaker has probably like

276
00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:43,280
that gap has probably narrowed
over the years, you know, as

277
00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:44,720
things have just.
Yeah.

278
00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:50,360
So did they hire you as slave
laborer at that studio?

279
00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:55,160
No, they didn't.
I, I was just a kid who wandered

280
00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:57,000
in and they were nice enough to
teach.

281
00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:00,880
I I often make the joke in the
in this industry, the only

282
00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:05,400
reason I'm here is because I had
the best set of mentors that

283
00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:07,960
anybody could ever have had.
Yeah, who's that they?

284
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:12,119
They all did this.
I I just sat and slowly absorbed

285
00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:14,960
things as if through osmosis
because they surely couldn't

286
00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:17,640
spoon feed it to me.
It it it took some nailing in.

287
00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:21,079
So that studio you kept going
back there and for?

288
00:17:21,079 --> 00:17:23,480
Years lessons.
How often?

289
00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:27,680
Not even lessons, I would just
randomly show up and I was

290
00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:29,680
playing.
I was just a kid who was

291
00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:34,160
playing.
And later on I went to recording

292
00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:38,120
school and at the recording
workshop in Chillicothe, OH.

293
00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:41,200
Interesting.
The very next year I bought my

294
00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,480
first recording studio.
That's it's so cool, though,

295
00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:45,680
that they allowed you to do
that.

296
00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:48,280
Like I like that a lot.
That's that's really cool that

297
00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:51,280
I.
Ended up going back, the company

298
00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:55,480
changed hands, the Hannahs owned
it and some new people bought it

299
00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,440
who were working there and they
changed the the company really

300
00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:02,160
remained the same, but instead
of specialized audio, video

301
00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,200
became known as savvy.
Oh, OK, and I got it.

302
00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:07,360
I.
Went back years and years later

303
00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:13,280
after I started.
So this is 20 years later after

304
00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:16,560
I'd started working for DBXI.
Was oh man, almost 30 years

305
00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:19,080
later.
Anyway, I was doing trainings

306
00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:24,400
and we ended up at Savvy and I
lived in Geyser Crest, which was

307
00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,560
the name of the subdivision, and
everybody just called it the

308
00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:30,520
Crest.
And I walked into Savvy, Yeah.

309
00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:33,360
And I was explaining, Oh yeah, I
used to come down here when I

310
00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:36,160
was a kid and one of the guys
looks at me and goes, oh, you're

311
00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:38,160
that freaking kid from the
Crest.

312
00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:41,720
Oh, really?
And I was here to teach him.

313
00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:43,560
He remembered you.
Yeah.

314
00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:45,280
And you're there to teach them
about DVX.

315
00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:48,640
Stuff I was there to teach.
That is awesome at the time.

316
00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:51,040
So full circle.
Yeah, really true.

317
00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:52,120
Wow.
Full circle.

318
00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:54,920
That is so cool it.
Was a lot of fun.

319
00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:58,960
I I appreciate it very much.
I hope they did as well.

320
00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:02,680
It was it was just a special
moment.

321
00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:05,960
That's a cool story though.
Like I, I'm trying to think,

322
00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:09,480
would that happen today?
Like, first of all, you know,

323
00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,120
kids really aren't allowed to
ride their bicycles far from

324
00:19:12,120 --> 00:19:14,240
home anymore for good reason.
I guess.

325
00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:20,000
So, you know, because I used to
do that kind of discovery sort

326
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:23,000
of stuff when I was a kid too.
Like, oh, what's that, you know?

327
00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,040
And then next thing you know,
you're spending the whole day

328
00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:28,560
there and you can hear the bell
from miles away that your mom's

329
00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:31,800
ringing on the on the step.
You know that it's dinner time,

330
00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:34,720
you better get home, you know,
so we.

331
00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:36,680
We were.
Me and my friends we were.

332
00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:41,160
We were too far away to have
heard of Belle.

333
00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:44,720
Wow.
Usually Miles.

334
00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:48,640
Yeah, Yeah.
Well, so I mean, did you

335
00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:52,080
honestly know at a young age
that that's sort of the

336
00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:53,960
direction you wanted to go with
your life?

337
00:19:54,320 --> 00:20:00,920
No, the weird thing is I was
probably a teenager or coming up

338
00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:07,280
on it when I bought my first.
My first album, which was the

339
00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:10,880
soundtrack to The Muppet Movie.
So that was that.

340
00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:15,520
Was my first introduction to
anything out of outside of Iron

341
00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:22,560
Butterfly or or ABBA or Steely
Dan that my parents played.

342
00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:26,080
Oh wow.
But yeah, we had a in the Garden

343
00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:29,480
of Eden on reel to reel in my
living room.

344
00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,160
And having just come from a
recording studio where they're

345
00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:35,360
teaching me all these little
things, I, of course took a

346
00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:37,200
razor blade to that reel to
reel.

347
00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:40,320
No, spliced it up, spliced it,
all are.

348
00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:42,320
You, the one who turned it into
Inagada de Vita.

349
00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:45,320
Yeah, that was it.
I removed all those syllables.

350
00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:47,520
Damn you.
Yeah.

351
00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:52,240
Yeah.
Funny, that's so I, I'm guessing

352
00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:55,400
that I'm a little bit older than
you because, you know, I was

353
00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:58,480
part of that in a Gada de Vita,
you know, era, right?

354
00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:02,440
Like actually my first band that
I played in, I was probably 12

355
00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:07,480
or 13 and we played in a Gada De
Vita that was on our set list.

356
00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:14,120
And, you know, we played early
Kiss stuff, some Black Sabbath,

357
00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:17,280
like all kinds of pretty heavy
rock, lots of April wine because

358
00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:21,040
we were in Canada.
BTO.

359
00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:24,760
We played, you know, taking care
of business or something.

360
00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:27,880
Or ain't got nothing.
What's that other one?

361
00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:31,600
Ain't seen nothing yet.
That's the one.

362
00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:38,360
Yeah, that was a good 10.
But anyways, so, so where, where

363
00:21:38,360 --> 00:21:43,040
did it go from there then?
But how did how did you end up

364
00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:46,800
back in the audio business after
your 9 year old entrance?

365
00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:49,920
Yeah, after I.
After I took my my formidable

366
00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:53,080
years off chasing cars and and
girls and yeah.

367
00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:58,600
I chased guitars and girls.
Slightly different.

368
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:01,680
OK, yeah, I couldn't afford
cars, I couldn't afford guitars.

369
00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:05,280
But if you got the right girls,
they bought you the guitars.

370
00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:09,360
I didn't think they'd buy me
cars, but there's got to be a

371
00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:11,440
song in there somewhere.
You know you were a guitar

372
00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:12,800
player, so you were never
homeless.

373
00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:16,240
I was a bass player, so I was
always homeless.

374
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:20,160
Yeah, yeah, I was always
homeless.

375
00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:22,080
There's so many jokes there, I'm
just going to leave.

376
00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:25,560
I'm sure.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

377
00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:28,600
So.
I I tried a whole bunch of

378
00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:32,360
things, worked out a bunch of
jobs, didn't really see that at

379
00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:36,680
the time as a career move.
And somewhere around 19 it

380
00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,480
clicked in.
It's like, I really enjoyed

381
00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:42,760
doing that thing.
How do I do that again?

382
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:47,320
So at that point I looked up the
school, which was the recording

383
00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:52,360
workshop and called my parents
up and said, hey, this is what I

384
00:22:52,360 --> 00:22:54,480
want to do.
Any chance you'll you'll put me

385
00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:57,320
through school?
They of course saw the price of

386
00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:00,400
that versus the price of regular
colleges and they were like

387
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:02,600
we're in.
Yeah, looks good.

388
00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:04,640
So.
So that was it.

389
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:07,280
That's how we ended up going to
recording school.

390
00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:11,280
Yeah.
I have to imagine I was one of

391
00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:14,560
their worst students ever.
Why is that?

392
00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:17,160
Focus thought I already knew
everything.

393
00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:19,960
And that's.
Me too, me too.

394
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:23,640
I think our industry attracts
us, you know.

395
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:26,760
Those who are willing to beat
their head against the wall just

396
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:28,200
long enough to get to the other
side.

397
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:29,440
You.
Should be in business

398
00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:32,920
development.
Perfect.

399
00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:36,360
Yeah.
It's like a bug light for us.

400
00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:39,280
You know, people like us who pay
no attention have ADD

401
00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:41,000
constantly.
Yeah.

402
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:43,680
One in 1000 people are able to
achieve this.

403
00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:46,280
I'm in.
Yeah, awesome.

404
00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,800
Yeah.
Wait, do I get paid?

405
00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:51,320
Do I get paid anything?
I.

406
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:53,560
Don't think I even asked for my
first job if I got paid.

407
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:55,480
Yeah, I don't know that I did.
I was.

408
00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:57,800
Just so thrilled to pieces that
they were going to let me do it.

409
00:23:57,800 --> 00:23:59,040
It was like, all right, I'll be
there.

410
00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:02,240
Yeah, that's fun.
That's fun.

411
00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:05,080
So you went to recording school
and then were you certain that

412
00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:07,640
you were going to be a recording
engineer at that point or?

413
00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:09,960
Absolutely.
I was going to record the best,

414
00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:13,600
biggest albums on the planet.
Ever happened?

415
00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:16,720
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So that's awesome.

416
00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:21,720
It it of course took the normal
sideways turn if I'm going to be

417
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:25,080
a recording engineer.
So how about running monitors on

418
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:26,080
stage?
Yeah.

419
00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:29,680
Yeah, you take the gig that you
can get, I guess, right?

420
00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:34,080
Yeah, and and again, I still
thought at that point that I

421
00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:38,440
knew everything and I can
guarantee I knew almost nothing.

422
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:40,720
So like.
When would this have been

423
00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:44,600
mentors again?
Late 80s, early 90s sort of

424
00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:46,560
time.
Yeah, late 80s, early 90s.

425
00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:50,800
So this was yeah 89.
So that's very close to the time

426
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:52,640
because I was working at a music
store.

427
00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,560
Sorry, I don't know what's going
on with my throat here, but I

428
00:24:56,560 --> 00:25:02,280
was working for a music store.
I was in bands and you know, my,

429
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:05,680
I was earning 200 a week.
My bar tab was 250.

430
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:09,200
So I finally figured out this
ain't going to work out.

431
00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:11,440
You know, it probably isn't
going to work out for me.

432
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:13,920
Actually, what it really was is
I wanted a Corvette.

433
00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:16,960
Like when I was growing up, you
know, I grew up in Calgary,

434
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:19,560
Canada and Corvettes were a
thing.

435
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:22,920
Like it was pretty hot stuff.
If you had a Corvette and like,

436
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:26,400
I remember we'd be playing
around outside and a Mercedes

437
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:30,840
would drive by and you'd just
stop and go, wow, that was a

438
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:34,320
Mercedes.
You know, I wonder who that guy

439
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:36,000
is.
He must be important, you know.

440
00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:39,840
But so, you know, I went and got
a job at a music store, which

441
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,800
was the next easiest thing to
playing in a band.

442
00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:46,480
And plus you still hung out with
all the same people and, you

443
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:48,880
know, went to the same bars and
everything else.

444
00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:56,920
But I remember at one point we
had a small recording department

445
00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:03,040
that had, you know, studio
monitors and, and like Tascam 4

446
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:05,240
tracks, Tascam 8 tracks and
stuff.

447
00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:08,680
And then all of a sudden this
Akai thing comes in, I forget

448
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:12,040
what it was called, but it was
the 12 track Betamax thing

449
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:15,760
digital.
And we were like, I was like,

450
00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:18,480
what is it like a porta?
Studio or something like that,

451
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,200
yeah.
It was called a Akai 12

452
00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:25,840
something or other, 12, 50 or
1280 or something.

453
00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:28,320
Somebody's probably screaming at
me as they're listening to this

454
00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:30,200
right now.
It's the 1292.

455
00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:33,280
Yeah, yeah.
But it was basically it was, it

456
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,720
was, well, it was kind of 8
tracks on a Betamax, but then

457
00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:38,960
there were these four like
phantom tracks that you could

458
00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:42,320
also use.
And, and it was a built in

459
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:46,040
mixer.
It had like some processing in

460
00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:49,240
it and it might have even had
drums and stuff built into it.

461
00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:54,360
I can't remember uh, MPC 12 I
think it was called or in OK our

462
00:26:54,360 --> 00:26:57,440
pieces remember there were some.
MPCS out there, but I yeah, used

463
00:26:57,480 --> 00:26:59,560
them, so I don't know.
Yeah, that.

464
00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:02,720
Might be their other thing that
had all the pads on it that DJ's

465
00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:06,080
ended up using.
That was a percussion studio

466
00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:08,440
thing.
But anyways, so I started

467
00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:10,960
recording on this digital thing
going, whoa, this changes

468
00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:13,560
everything.
And then digital just started

469
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:15,680
taking off.
And that just seemed to really

470
00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:18,960
change the studio business.
As I'm sure you're about to tell

471
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:23,800
me how things shifted where, you
know, like I remember my first,

472
00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:27,800
not my first, maybe my second
Mac computer that I bought,

473
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:33,720
which was in 2006 or seven or
something, and it had Garage

474
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:35,320
Band on it.
And I was like, you got to be

475
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,520
kidding me.
Look, this is the coolest

476
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:41,040
recording studio I've ever seen,
and it's free and it comes with

477
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,800
my computer.
So yeah.

478
00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:51,720
Yeah, so has has a really out
there example some of my videos

479
00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:56,320
on my on my YouTube channel.
I did, I shot the video, I did

480
00:27:56,320 --> 00:28:01,800
the voice over, I did the video
editing, created all of the

481
00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:07,800
titles and I did that all from
my iPhone sitting on the show

482
00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:13,680
floor and uploaded it to YouTube
all in the same 3 hours.

483
00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:17,160
That's wild, The.
Amount of stuff that I can do

484
00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:20,840
now.
So the renders alone for the

485
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:24,840
video that I'm able to do now,
just to put in titles, just put

486
00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:28,280
in lower thirds or put in, you
know, put in a moving title or

487
00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:30,880
something like that.
That used to be an 8 hour

488
00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:33,880
render.
You'd hit go and you'd leave for

489
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,880
the night and you'd come back
and you pray that the computer

490
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,000
wasn't didn't hang up at some
point during the night and you

491
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:46,080
restart it in the morning and
now it just does it in literal

492
00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:50,120
real time as you type it.
It's just there and it's done.

493
00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:54,400
Isn't it crazy we've taken?
Something that was $300.00 an

494
00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:59,360
hour with a professional who had
all this gear, had millions of

495
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:03,320
dollars in gear and in some
cases down to I can do that

496
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:05,640
quality from back then on an
iPhone.

497
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:10,480
Yeah, well, you know, yesterday
I recorded a video for something

498
00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:13,960
very basic.
It was pretty easy, but I use, I

499
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:20,840
use in video AI, right?
And literally I took a, a press

500
00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:26,200
release, I copied and pasted it
into where you script the video.

501
00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:32,480
And within about four minutes it
created a video with full voice

502
00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:33,880
over.
I could change the voice.

503
00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:39,400
I want a Australian girl instead
of a British boy, you know, or

504
00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:41,400
whatever.
Like you can, you can just, and

505
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:43,880
then you can edit it, you can
edit the images, you can change

506
00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:46,720
the videos that are in it, all
stock video that comes with it

507
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:49,000
and stuff.
But literally it took 5 minutes.

508
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,240
And I had a video that, you
know, two years ago would have

509
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:55,120
taken me days.
Or would it cost me thousands of

510
00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:56,560
dollars to get somebody else to
do?

511
00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:59,320
It's crazy.
What would have been 8 hours

512
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:03,000
worth of work for me to do an
explainer video with, you know

513
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:06,160
the the hand that goes across
and just scribbles in things.

514
00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:08,520
Yeah, I saw your, I saw your
stuff on YouTube.

515
00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:11,880
Yeah, I mean that took that was
a full day just to create that

516
00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:15,200
little drop in with the with the
world and the spinning and the

517
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:18,520
tool with the truck.
And yeah, that took a full day.

518
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,960
And now I can get on to
something like Mid Journey or I

519
00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:24,800
can get on the Canva or
something like that in Video A.

520
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:28,040
Truck that.
Looks like it goes across a a

521
00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:32,640
white outline of the map of the
United States and it just pops

522
00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:34,760
the truck in the truck drives
across the United States.

523
00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:37,760
Done.
So for anybody who's watching

524
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:42,840
this and you're not using AI,
whatever is holding you back,

525
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:46,680
stop that.
Well, James, I talk about this

526
00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:50,120
so much because our industry and
maybe more so the lighting

527
00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:52,880
industry, but I think audio is
probably the same where front of

528
00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:56,880
house engineers are are
panicking right now and and stop

529
00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:00,840
all AI because I don't want, you
know, AI basically running front

530
00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:06,440
of house, you know, and they're
looking at worst case examples.

531
00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:08,600
You know, I like, I know
lighting designers who won't

532
00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:11,120
even talk to me about AI.
They're like, Nope, don't want

533
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,520
to hear it, you know, because
they just assumed that, you

534
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:18,640
know, MA lighting is building a
new console that has full

535
00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:21,560
lighting design capabilities
built into it.

536
00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:24,760
And you know, Beyoncé can just
walk up to it and saying,

537
00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:28,840
program my show, you know, and
boom, voila, there comes a light

538
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:31,640
show.
You know, whereas I always, I

539
00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:34,840
always say AI is meant right now
anyways.

540
00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:37,520
Like eventually it's going to
completely replace the human

541
00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:41,400
race and we're all screwed.
But but for now, AI is meant to

542
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:44,920
augment us, not to replace us.
It's meant to support us, right?

543
00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:49,120
And that's how I use it.
Oh I I completely agree.

544
00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:54,720
I I use it every single day just
because I have tasks that I

545
00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:57,240
can't keep up with.
I get so many phone calls and so

546
00:31:57,240 --> 00:31:59,800
many requests every single day
that I can't keep up with any of

547
00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:02,240
them.
So anytime I get off of a phone

548
00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:07,800
call, I pick up my phone, I open
up ChatGPT, I go to my tasks

549
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:13,640
list and I just talk into it.
A summary of what I just had a

550
00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:15,760
conversation on and any hit
points.

551
00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:20,760
And all it does is after I hit
hit enter, it just says added

552
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:23,280
the added to your list and I
lost way.

553
00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:26,680
And at the end of the week, I
say please, please list out any

554
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:28,720
open topics.
And it literally opens.

555
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:31,320
It gives me a perfect list of
everything there.

556
00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:37,040
And I can go down the list and
say #1 #5 and #7 are closed, and

557
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:38,680
then they don't come up anymore.
And that's it.

558
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:39,760
It's done.
Yeah.

559
00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:42,720
I.
I completely agree with you.

560
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:44,880
I I use it constantly for that
kind of stuff.

561
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:51,200
So we use, we, my company uses a
remote software product called

562
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:55,200
Rome.
It's my favorite tool in the

563
00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:57,120
whole world right now is, is
Rome.

564
00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:02,200
So it replaced Zoom, Slack and
probably 10 other things.

565
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:07,200
And so all of our meetings are
done in Rome video meetings.

566
00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:13,440
And it's got a, an AI note taker
that is so unbelievably good,

567
00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:15,920
you wouldn't even believe it.
It's called Magic Minutes and

568
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,920
it, the stuff it does is just
incredible.

569
00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:21,760
And the summaries that it gives
you at the end and then you can

570
00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:28,360
go into a timeline and see the
entire call transcript and it's

571
00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:30,520
just crazy.
But another thing I was going to

572
00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:33,520
mention about AI, So on this
platform that we're recording

573
00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:40,400
on, there's an AI voice tool
right now that's available that

574
00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:45,800
I I can use anytime.
But like when I read the the AVL

575
00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:50,720
promo just before the podcast
here, I could actually just take

576
00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:54,840
myself off the screen, copy and
paste the text into it using my

577
00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:57,360
voice.
It reads it perfectly, like it's

578
00:33:57,560 --> 00:34:00,320
extremely good, like even tricks
me.

579
00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:01,920
Oh, OK.
You know, I was gonna.

580
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:05,400
Say can it replace us because I
want to be donkey from Shrek.

581
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:08,280
Well, that's coming.
That's all coming.

582
00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:11,719
That's all coming, you know, and
I think you can already do that

583
00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:14,280
on the iPhone 16.
Now you can do stuff like that

584
00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:18,560
where it just uses your voice in
a, in a avatar thing or

585
00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:20,159
whatever, you know?
All right, Yeah, that's.

586
00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:23,040
Coming out, that's going to be
happening like tomorrow, so.

587
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:24,960
Here's another one I tripped
over yesterday.

588
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:29,239
Is is an app called Numerous AI.
Numerous.

589
00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:33,800
And so numerous works with
either Excel or Google Sheets

590
00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:38,600
and it can do a couple of things
incredibly well.

591
00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:41,520
It can probably do 100 things,
but I've I've found a couple so

592
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:43,880
far.
So one, which was the example

593
00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:48,679
that somebody demoed for me and
showed me what it did it it

594
00:34:48,679 --> 00:34:52,480
downloaded all of that company's
like, let's say your company

595
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:56,520
has, for example, Google
reviews.

596
00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:58,960
It downloads all of your
reviews.

597
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:02,480
And so it just says, here's the
name of the person, here's their

598
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:05,440
e-mail address that they put in,
and here's the review that they

599
00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:07,560
put in.
Well, you add a column next to

600
00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:11,120
it called mood.
And then within that column,

601
00:35:11,240 --> 00:35:14,680
there's a task in and so it it's
a Chrome extension.

602
00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:18,080
So you just click in that and
it's and use AI.

603
00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:20,360
Boom.
It brings up this sidebar and

604
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:24,040
you say, I forget what word they
use, but basically you say, you

605
00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:30,040
know, tell me what this, the
mood or the feeling of this was

606
00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:33,800
this, this, this review?
So it reads the review and it

607
00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:37,080
says positive or negative or
really positive or a little bit

608
00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:39,480
negative or whatever.
So it'll, and then you just copy

609
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:42,200
and paste all the way down the
column and it, it basically

610
00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:45,720
reviews all of your reviews and
tells you whether they're

611
00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:49,440
positive or negative.
Next column you could say, reply

612
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:57,720
to my using AI, reply to all of
these reviews using the

613
00:35:57,720 --> 00:36:00,240
information in column B, which
is the mood.

614
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:06,920
And so then it'll look at that
column and it'll reply saying,

615
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:11,280
hey, James, I'm really sorry you
had a bad experience with rotten

616
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:16,120
shrimp in your pasta today.
You know, we've just started

617
00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:19,480
using a new shrimp supplier and
they made a mistake and we

618
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:22,920
definitely had some problems.
We'd like to offer you a free

619
00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:26,200
meal, you know, and then you can
copy and paste that all the way

620
00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:31,520
down and it does unique
individual responses to each of

621
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:33,840
those reviews.
Incredible.

622
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:35,640
And then you can say send those
responses.

623
00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:39,760
So I'm always looking for little
tools and, and I mean, by the

624
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:45,040
way, you could using your voice,
you can go into a, a, a cell in

625
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:47,920
a spreadsheet.
You can say, you know, review

626
00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:52,560
all of the data in column A.
And what I need is I need a

627
00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:56,200
formula that's going to give me
blah, blah, blah information.

628
00:36:56,200 --> 00:36:59,320
If the weather outside is warm,
I want it to say this.

629
00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:02,480
If it's cold, I want it to say
like the most complicated

630
00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:05,240
formula that I can never figure
out how to do on my own.

631
00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:09,760
And it does it for you
instantly, like just.

632
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:12,520
Have it do trading for me, that
would be fantastic.

633
00:37:12,520 --> 00:37:16,160
There's all kinds of trading AI,
There's all kinds of trading AI

634
00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:18,480
apps right now.
I know I'm just two or four

635
00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:20,200
things those because that's real
money.

636
00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:24,080
It is, but I mean, the research
that they're doing is so much

637
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:26,400
better than the research that
your buddy who's giving you

638
00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:29,200
stock tips is doing.
You know what I mean?

639
00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:29,920
You have a.
Buddy.

640
00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:34,760
Yeah, well, you know, I mean, I
don't really play stocks very

641
00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:38,200
much like I'm, I'm pretty pretty
basic and boring when it comes

642
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:40,080
to that stuff.
Hey, I love this new iPhone.

643
00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:43,200
I'm going to go buy some stock
in in Apple because it looks

644
00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:46,080
like they're doing a good job.
That's actually a pretty solid

645
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:48,080
way to buy.
That's how stocks should be

646
00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:50,560
working.
Yeah, well, it worked out well

647
00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:52,960
for me.
Like Apple, when I first

648
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:58,280
switched to Apple, it was like
2004 or something and my PC

649
00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:04,000
crashed like with a virus and
just destroyed everything.

650
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:09,760
It was a complete nightmare.
And I was on the phone with my

651
00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:12,560
friend Marty Wickman, who's a
lighting guy out of LA.

652
00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:15,600
And I was like, he's like,
what's wrong?

653
00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:17,640
And I'm like, oh, he wouldn't
believe what just happened.

654
00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:21,600
Like my life is over right now.
All my business, everything is

655
00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:25,080
gone.
Like all my e-mail history and,

656
00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:28,960
and he said, what happened?
And I said my computer got some,

657
00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:31,200
this virus, it's called blah,
blah, blah virus.

658
00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:33,280
And he goes, why don't you just
buy a Mac?

659
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:36,600
And I said why?
And he says because that just

660
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:39,400
doesn't happen on Macs.
You don't get viruses on Macs.

661
00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:42,000
I'm like, really?
And he goes, yeah, you'll never

662
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:46,240
get a virus on a Mac, which
obviously is not true, but that

663
00:38:46,240 --> 00:38:47,600
was it.
I went and bought a Mac.

664
00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:50,840
I, I took like, I think it was
25 grand or something.

665
00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:56,320
I bought Apple stock right at
that moment and you know, it

666
00:38:56,320 --> 00:39:00,120
went up like 5X or something
over the next couple of years.

667
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:03,160
I bought a new house and I
wanted to put a pool in and some

668
00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:06,600
bunch of landscaping and stuff.
I sold my Apple stock and that

669
00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:09,720
paid for, you know, a crazy nice
pool and landscaping and all

670
00:39:09,720 --> 00:39:11,760
that shit.
So let's see, I got lucky on

671
00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:14,120
that one, I guess.
Yeah, we all, we all get lucky

672
00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:15,520
sometimes.
Yeah.

673
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:19,960
Yeah, mine are just luck.
Yeah, but most of them are bad

674
00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:22,920
luck, yeah.
Well, I don't know, looking at

675
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:25,240
your resume, you've done pretty
well, so you've had some good

676
00:39:25,240 --> 00:39:28,080
luck a long way so I've.
Had, like I said, I've had good

677
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:29,840
mentors.
I've had lucky people to be

678
00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:32,320
around.
Yeah, well, I mean all of us A.

679
00:39:32,680 --> 00:39:33,840
Great.
Path, all of us.

680
00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:37,720
I mean, every once in a while I
sort of reflect on my career and

681
00:39:37,720 --> 00:39:41,760
I think I was really fortunate
to have met that person at that

682
00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:43,240
moment.
What if I hadn't?

683
00:39:43,240 --> 00:39:46,480
If I hadn't met that person,
what would the changes have been

684
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:50,480
in my, you know, the that thread
that went through my life?

685
00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:54,480
You know, and yeah, I've been
very fortunate for a lot of the

686
00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:58,320
people and things I learned in
my life from those people or

687
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:01,120
whatever.
So back to you.

688
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,680
So we were at.
Where were we?

689
00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:07,920
We were.
Oh, was that?

690
00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:11,400
So you said that you decided to
go back into it?

691
00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:13,560
Yeah.
You went to school.

692
00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:16,320
So what happened after that?
Oh, and then you became a

693
00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:20,160
monitor engineer.
Well, I I became a part owner in

694
00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:23,080
a studio in Richmond, VA.
Oh, OK, and.

695
00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:28,640
Became the, you know, the 1st
engineer and had no business in

696
00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:31,520
that position.
Yeah, that's a huge thank you

697
00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:37,440
and apology.
But in the meanwhile, I need to

698
00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:40,200
make a living because I wasn't
getting anybody into the studio

699
00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:43,520
to record and all my brain was
saying was I have to look for

700
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:47,680
people doing albums where I
could, just doing commercials

701
00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:53,200
and making some money.
So I started working live sound.

702
00:40:53,240 --> 00:40:57,480
So I found a company in
Richmond, VA, Sound works in OK,

703
00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:00,840
and they were a Turbo sound
dealer, which is again full

704
00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:03,440
circle here.
I am coming back.

705
00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:05,480
Oh yeah, that's funny.
I'm.

706
00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:10,240
Selling the line that I first
really started on SO.

707
00:41:10,240 --> 00:41:11,280
That's hilarious.
This is a.

708
00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:13,600
Bit of tug at my heartstrings
for this one.

709
00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:18,200
Yeah, yeah, that's cool.
And so that was, yeah, that was

710
00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:26,800
303435 years ago that happened.
And they were really, really,

711
00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:30,080
you know, he was really nice.
He was like, hey, I don't know

712
00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:34,520
how much you know, but doing a
show today, come down and and

713
00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:37,600
work the show and we'll see if
we there's something there.

714
00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:40,400
Yeah.
And you know, it was one of

715
00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:43,080
those deals where you started
out and it was like 50 bucks a

716
00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:46,240
day in a in dinner.
And I took it.

717
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:49,920
Yeah, yeah.
Not even sure it was $50 a day

718
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:54,080
at the time, but it was it was
low pay with dinner and a lot of

719
00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:56,720
learning.
So I felt like I was getting the

720
00:41:56,720 --> 00:42:01,960
best education there was.
And we're back.

721
00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:06,440
Or are we?
We are indeed.

722
00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:08,720
Your Internet looks a little
better now.

723
00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:11,520
Yeah, hey, it's, you know,
we're, we're, we're starting to

724
00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:15,160
see some faster speeds.
It's improving for.

725
00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:18,600
For wherever we left off it was,
it was just fun starting off as

726
00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:20,360
a monitor engineer and and
learning.

727
00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:23,760
So it kind of went from the
studio to all of a sudden one

728
00:42:23,760 --> 00:42:25,800
day somebody said come learn.
And I did.

729
00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:29,720
And little by little I was doing
shows and then doing clubs.

730
00:42:29,720 --> 00:42:32,680
And then I was a pretty regular
monitor engineer for.

731
00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:38,600
Well, yeah, it's the one of
those things like go and name

732
00:42:38,600 --> 00:42:41,160
the whole list of bands, but
nobody wants to be bothered for

733
00:42:41,160 --> 00:42:43,960
that.
So it's it was just good times,

734
00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:46,240
good memories and, yeah, a lot
of fun.

735
00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:50,040
Yeah.
Then my wife at the time, she

736
00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:53,320
wanted to be an actress.
And she said, you know, that

737
00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:56,560
that that band that you're
working for, they just turned

738
00:42:56,560 --> 00:43:02,120
down a record label.
So how about we move to LA and I

739
00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:04,080
become an actress.
And I went, all right, We sold

740
00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:07,800
every last thing we had.
We got in a car, the kid, the

741
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:10,760
cat sold everything and moved to
LA.

742
00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:15,080
No job, no prospects, no place
to live, Just moved.

743
00:43:15,720 --> 00:43:19,880
You're you're either the
greatest husband ever or just an

744
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:21,640
idiot.
Oh, mostly, yeah.

745
00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:25,400
I won't say which one that is.
I I'm a little of both,

746
00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:29,200
probably, yeah, but.
I mean, that's such a brave

747
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:30,720
thing that so many people have
done.

748
00:43:30,720 --> 00:43:33,520
And for some people it's really,
really worked out well for.

749
00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:37,440
For others, maybe not so well,
like they became, you know,

750
00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:41,560
prostitutes or drug drug dealers
or something.

751
00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:44,400
We didn't have to do that.
I mean, I considered it for 5

752
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:46,520
minutes, but I thought, no, I'm
going to be terrible at that.

753
00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:51,080
Yeah.
So I I went the other direction

754
00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:56,680
and got a job doing IT and
bought another recording studio

755
00:43:56,680 --> 00:43:58,240
and rehearses.
My goodness.

756
00:43:59,880 --> 00:44:03,480
And that ran for another 11
years.

757
00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:08,400
So I, I, I got into, you know,
again, once again shares into a

758
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:14,680
recording studio in, in Southern
California and, and there we go.

759
00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:16,520
That was and.
They were actually making money,

760
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:23,520
you know.
So is this again, is it going

761
00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:26,280
backwards a little bit?
Is this because of that shift to

762
00:44:26,280 --> 00:44:29,680
digital, where now people could
record an album using Pro Tools

763
00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:32,520
or using, you know, all sorts of
different?

764
00:44:33,040 --> 00:44:37,680
A lot of it was that a lot of,
so when when everything really

765
00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:41,880
started off, you had people who
had to have a lot of brains to

766
00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:45,000
get into it because you needed
to build your own console.

767
00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:48,360
There was wire recording
technology and then there was,

768
00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:53,360
you know, recording on tape and
recording on vinyl and recording

769
00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:55,120
on everything that anybody could
get.

770
00:44:55,240 --> 00:45:00,320
Yeah, but there was this shift
because it it, it cost a lot of

771
00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:03,640
money to buy a 24 track Studer
at the time.

772
00:45:03,640 --> 00:45:07,880
And one of the studios I worked
at, we had a a Trident A80 with

773
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:11,120
I think an ADB Studer or I have
the A and the B on the other

774
00:45:11,120 --> 00:45:16,120
one.
But so 24 track, fantastic, full

775
00:45:16,120 --> 00:45:18,880
build out.
I mean, we're talking a boatload

776
00:45:18,880 --> 00:45:21,320
of money followed by an iceberg
of money.

777
00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:27,000
Yeah.
So then you get ADAP or you get

778
00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:34,640
the Tascam, the D80D88 I think
it was or and and all of a

779
00:45:34,640 --> 00:45:39,040
sudden these things cost 110th
of what one of these big

780
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:42,400
machines cost.
So you had a lot of people with

781
00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:47,440
at put knowledge to start doing
some recording, getting into the

782
00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:50,080
big recording game.
So they were sucking down the

783
00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:52,680
price.
So you went from somebody who

784
00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:56,600
had, let's say $1,000,000 worth
of gear and nostalgia who was

785
00:45:56,600 --> 00:45:59,800
charging two $300.00 an hour
because they were top of the

786
00:45:59,800 --> 00:46:04,080
line.
And now they could go record 10

787
00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:07,840
times as much at a little
recording studio down the road

788
00:46:08,240 --> 00:46:11,200
and get it all on tape and then
bring it back to the high dollar

789
00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:13,080
studio.
Which meant the high dollar

790
00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:15,800
studio couldn't afford that big
room anymore.

791
00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:17,760
They couldn't afford that big
building anymore.

792
00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:20,960
They couldn't afford, you know,
all those pieces anymore.

793
00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:23,840
So they had to slowly go out of
business.

794
00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:26,840
Because now you were just at
editing and mastering and stuff

795
00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:29,320
like, not really.
Editing, mastering or not even

796
00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:31,120
being called at all.
Yeah.

797
00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:34,480
You went from a place that was,
that was top of the line, top

798
00:46:34,480 --> 00:46:39,960
notch, top dollar to almost
irrelevant, not based on your

799
00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:43,280
experience, but based on the
price that somebody else was now

800
00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:46,200
offering you.
So it'd be like, it'd be like if

801
00:46:46,200 --> 00:46:51,360
you walk into Best Buy and you
see a 42 inch TV on the wall and

802
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:55,080
you see a 42 inch LED on the
wall, and the only

803
00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:58,760
differentiator between them is
just that price tag that you see

804
00:46:58,760 --> 00:46:59,720
there.
Yeah.

805
00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:02,720
Recording studio, this price.
Recording studio, this price,

806
00:47:02,720 --> 00:47:05,200
this many tracks.
Same number of tracks.

807
00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:06,520
Recording engineer comes with
it.

808
00:47:06,520 --> 00:47:08,040
Recording, I'm taking the
cheaper one.

809
00:47:08,480 --> 00:47:10,880
Yeah, you take the cheaper 1.
So makes sense.

810
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:13,280
There was no differentiator that
was thrown in there.

811
00:47:13,280 --> 00:47:16,240
If you'd looked at the quality
and skill of the people behind

812
00:47:16,240 --> 00:47:18,720
the console, you would have paid
the extra money.

813
00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:23,440
But yeah, yeah, if you're
starting out band, you're going

814
00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:26,360
to take the lower money.
But then I mean the other thing

815
00:47:26,360 --> 00:47:29,120
like, and you know, I have so
many friends who still to this

816
00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:33,480
day are in bands and stuff, but
the home studio became such a

817
00:47:34,040 --> 00:47:38,240
reachable thing with really high
quality stuff.

818
00:47:38,240 --> 00:47:41,200
You know where especially now,
like now you can build a home

819
00:47:41,200 --> 00:47:45,320
studio for probably 10 grand
and, and it's pretty decent.

820
00:47:45,320 --> 00:47:47,920
You know what I mean?
Like you could put a a Mackey

821
00:47:47,920 --> 00:47:51,080
recording console in there and
you know, some decent

822
00:47:51,080 --> 00:47:54,200
microphones and stuff and spend
20 grand and you got a half

823
00:47:54,200 --> 00:47:58,320
decent studio with software you
know to record on they.

824
00:47:58,320 --> 00:48:00,120
Don't even have a console
anymore.

825
00:48:00,800 --> 00:48:04,360
Yeah, I mean, go, go watch the
YouTube videos of Billie Eilish.

826
00:48:05,960 --> 00:48:09,720
I was recording on the couch
under my mind and it's

827
00:48:09,720 --> 00:48:12,760
fantastic.
So we've just come that far

828
00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:16,040
where the software, the editing
skills of the people and the

829
00:48:16,040 --> 00:48:19,440
software are just that good.
Yeah, well, like I said, my

830
00:48:19,440 --> 00:48:23,000
first because I had left sort of
the music store business and

831
00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:24,600
gotten into the lighting
business.

832
00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:27,480
So I wasn't paying attention
really to what was happening in

833
00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:31,680
the audio world.
And my first exposure to digital

834
00:48:31,680 --> 00:48:35,480
recording really or or I should
say software based computer

835
00:48:35,480 --> 00:48:40,800
based digital recording was
Garage Band and it blew my mind.

836
00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:43,600
Like I, I immediately went and
got an interface and started

837
00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:46,760
plugging guitars and microphones
in and recording songs going.

838
00:48:47,400 --> 00:48:49,360
You gotta be shitting me.
And it's got all the built in

839
00:48:49,360 --> 00:48:51,160
instruments and all this other
stuff.

840
00:48:51,160 --> 00:48:53,520
And I mean, you've got to be
kidding me.

841
00:48:53,520 --> 00:48:57,160
And this is free in my Mac.
Like this was 10s of thousands

842
00:48:57,160 --> 00:48:59,760
of dollars worth of equipment
just a few years ago.

843
00:49:00,240 --> 00:49:01,640
So bizarre.
Yep.

844
00:49:01,840 --> 00:49:03,080
And.
Now it's and now it's just

845
00:49:03,080 --> 00:49:05,880
included, just like everything
else.

846
00:49:05,880 --> 00:49:08,000
You have to have a box that
hooked up to your TV.

847
00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:10,880
My my TV has a power cord going
into it.

848
00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:14,360
Yeah, that's the only thing.
And it does everything I needed

849
00:49:14,360 --> 00:49:16,160
to do so.
True, isn't it?

850
00:49:16,240 --> 00:49:21,680
Yeah, so you kind of went
through the sort of digital

851
00:49:21,680 --> 00:49:26,200
transformation twice because you
did it once in the studio and

852
00:49:26,200 --> 00:49:31,120
then like live performing gear,
you know, again, like I sell

853
00:49:31,120 --> 00:49:38,200
tons of digital audio consoles
and used through my company and

854
00:49:38,800 --> 00:49:40,880
I don't even understand the
language anymore.

855
00:49:40,880 --> 00:49:44,800
Like, you know, the consoles I
remember were like, you know,

856
00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:48,880
the, the sound craft or the
whatever it was, it was these

857
00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:53,000
analog consoles where if you had
a 24 channel console, it had 24

858
00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:54,840
strips.
You plugged a microphone or a

859
00:49:54,840 --> 00:49:58,520
snake in in the back and and you
know, you did everything on the

860
00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:01,080
strip and then you had an
outboard rack with all your

861
00:50:01,080 --> 00:50:03,040
processing and your Eqs and
stuff.

862
00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:05,480
Yeah, it was pretty
straightforward and I could

863
00:50:05,480 --> 00:50:08,920
under, I could walk up to a
console and I did it quite often

864
00:50:08,920 --> 00:50:10,520
just for friends, bands or
whatever.

865
00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:13,400
I'd be like, hey, you want me to
go run the console for you just

866
00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:16,800
to make it sound a bit better,
you know, and I'd go, you know,

867
00:50:17,160 --> 00:50:20,680
just tweak some things, make it
sound a little louder and

868
00:50:20,680 --> 00:50:23,760
better.
And and I couldn't do that now.

869
00:50:23,920 --> 00:50:26,480
Like I couldn't walk up to a
console and turn it on.

870
00:50:28,200 --> 00:50:31,560
You'd be surprised at how much
of it you'd need a few minutes

871
00:50:31,560 --> 00:50:35,720
to get sorted out again, but one
once you did it would be you'd

872
00:50:35,720 --> 00:50:39,920
you'd pick it up.
It really the interface, the the

873
00:50:40,240 --> 00:50:43,000
user interface is probably the
number one piece of the console

874
00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:44,880
at this point.
Most everybody has a fantastic

875
00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:47,840
console.
The I'm lucky right now because

876
00:50:47,840 --> 00:50:51,800
I have the Midas consoles to
work with and they don't have

877
00:50:51,800 --> 00:50:55,840
the insert latency delay that
you get with other consoles.

878
00:50:55,840 --> 00:50:59,640
So you know, you insert a EQ,
you insert an effect, you insert

879
00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:01,800
a side chain, you insert a
compressor, you insert.

880
00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:04,840
And now all of a sudden you've
got like, you know, 67810

881
00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:08,760
milliseconds of delay and that
starts to affect people,

882
00:51:08,760 --> 00:51:11,000
especially within air monitors
and things like that.

883
00:51:11,400 --> 00:51:16,640
With Midas, you don't have that
delay so other because they the

884
00:51:16,680 --> 00:51:21,400
the chain is already pre delayed
so that everything else ends up

885
00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:25,840
aligned at the end because you
don't need this that mic and

886
00:51:25,840 --> 00:51:28,960
that mic picking up things in
the at equidistant, but then

887
00:51:28,960 --> 00:51:32,480
having them offset delayed to
the point where you're hearing

888
00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:34,880
them go boom, boom, boom instead
of boom.

889
00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:39,600
So everything's pre delayed out
so that you actually end up with

890
00:51:39,600 --> 00:51:43,840
a a a good place to start with.
You don't want all that extra

891
00:51:43,840 --> 00:51:46,280
delay so you don't have to
interesting on your speakers.

892
00:51:46,280 --> 00:51:48,840
And is that?
Unique to Midas.

893
00:51:49,200 --> 00:51:53,080
Or it's like, I don't know if
it's unique to Midas.

894
00:51:53,080 --> 00:51:56,560
I just know that it's, it's not
everybody, not everybody has

895
00:51:56,560 --> 00:52:01,520
that luxury And, and Midas does,
but some of the other companies

896
00:52:01,520 --> 00:52:08,000
have a user interface that I
might prefer or might have a, a

897
00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:10,040
tactile function.
Maybe their screens are on the

898
00:52:10,040 --> 00:52:11,960
left and another company does it
on the right.

899
00:52:11,960 --> 00:52:14,200
And if you like to have, if
you're left-handed and you like

900
00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:16,600
to reach with your left hand,
having the screen on the right

901
00:52:16,600 --> 00:52:19,360
makes a difference.
If you reach with for everything

902
00:52:19,360 --> 00:52:22,200
with your, your right hand like
I do, having the screen on the

903
00:52:22,200 --> 00:52:24,520
left makes, that makes a
difference to me.

904
00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:28,520
So having that interface.
And here we go trying to

905
00:52:28,520 --> 00:52:30,600
reconnect again, not sure what's
going on.

906
00:52:31,680 --> 00:52:34,280
They must be all I know they're
working on the Internet, my

907
00:52:34,280 --> 00:52:37,320
area, so I apologize.
That's probably me.

908
00:52:37,840 --> 00:52:41,400
Yeah, the the the Internet's
really bogging on your end

909
00:52:41,400 --> 00:52:42,680
again.
Yeah, I don't.

910
00:52:42,920 --> 00:52:45,760
Well, they're they're replacing
their, they're pulling up all

911
00:52:45,760 --> 00:52:48,520
the lines in my area and
switching it all over to fiber.

912
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:52,040
So who knows if somebody's out
there doing one of those today?

913
00:52:52,400 --> 00:52:55,320
So right now you're probably
telling wife you're probably on

914
00:52:55,320 --> 00:52:58,080
Wi-Fi from like the Walmart down
the street or something.

915
00:52:58,080 --> 00:53:00,360
Oh.
No, no, no, no, no.

916
00:53:00,360 --> 00:53:03,160
I actually have three.
It's showing 300 megabit and

917
00:53:03,160 --> 00:53:04,000
it's right here.
Yeah.

918
00:53:04,280 --> 00:53:06,000
It ain't delivering it, I
promise you.

919
00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:09,000
We can cut this here.
Cut that part out.

920
00:53:09,560 --> 00:53:12,120
Yeah, no, no.
Well, that's the cool thing

921
00:53:12,120 --> 00:53:14,840
about this recording system that
we use, because it'll be totally

922
00:53:14,840 --> 00:53:17,880
clean once it plays back.
But I have no idea what the last

923
00:53:17,880 --> 00:53:22,240
45 seconds of what you said was,
because it was like garbled.

924
00:53:22,280 --> 00:53:26,880
Like that's exactly what it was.
Yeah, so.

925
00:53:26,880 --> 00:53:30,320
But it's clean now, right?
But yeah, like, again, I mean,

926
00:53:30,680 --> 00:53:33,760
you know, you were just
explaining, I think how all of

927
00:53:33,760 --> 00:53:37,080
the how all of the processing
works and stuff on these digital

928
00:53:37,080 --> 00:53:39,960
consoles now.
But even Dante, you know, Dante

929
00:53:39,960 --> 00:53:42,760
and all the plugins, like I just
don't understand it all.

930
00:53:42,760 --> 00:53:46,040
And you know, again, probably if
I took a couple hours and sat

931
00:53:46,040 --> 00:53:48,360
down with Someone Like You and
you showed me, Oh well, here's

932
00:53:48,360 --> 00:53:50,640
what you do when you need this.
You grab this and you touch

933
00:53:50,640 --> 00:53:52,560
this.
And but I just.

934
00:53:52,560 --> 00:53:56,280
Don't know, like I I equated to
back in the day, I had to learn,

935
00:53:56,280 --> 00:53:59,600
you know, which pins on an XLR
were plus minus shield and where

936
00:53:59,600 --> 00:54:02,200
you lifted the shield and where
you tied the shield and where

937
00:54:02,200 --> 00:54:05,680
that Shields.
You know, pin one and pin 2

938
00:54:05,680 --> 00:54:08,680
should be tied or pin one and
pin 3 should be touching and

939
00:54:08,680 --> 00:54:11,600
where they shouldn't.
What was half balance full, you

940
00:54:11,600 --> 00:54:17,960
know, anyway, learn, since we
know that none of us, including

941
00:54:17,960 --> 00:54:20,960
me, wants to go backward and
have to reload and signal flow.

942
00:54:20,960 --> 00:54:22,480
I spent a lot of time doing
that.

943
00:54:22,680 --> 00:54:27,360
Yeah, it's almost irrelevant
knowledge right now.

944
00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:29,920
I'm at.
I mean, honestly, I might as

945
00:54:29,920 --> 00:54:34,520
well be I I'm from the buggy
whip factory.

946
00:54:35,280 --> 00:54:39,480
And.
So I'm having to learn all of

947
00:54:39,480 --> 00:54:41,760
that as well.
So I take the Dante classes and

948
00:54:41,760 --> 00:54:45,440
I say take the CTS courses
because that's just what it

949
00:54:45,440 --> 00:54:47,480
takes to say stay current these
days.

950
00:54:48,480 --> 00:54:53,280
But it's it's no different.
Instead of hooking up 20 things,

951
00:54:53,280 --> 00:54:56,640
you hook, hook up one thing.
And as long as you know that

952
00:54:56,640 --> 00:55:02,080
your stage box, which is just a
router with a, an RJ45 connected

953
00:55:02,080 --> 00:55:04,200
to it, that's your stage box
now.

954
00:55:04,560 --> 00:55:07,080
Yeah, as long as that's
connected properly and you've

955
00:55:07,080 --> 00:55:10,680
got throughput, it works.
Yeah, it's really no, no

956
00:55:10,680 --> 00:55:14,840
different goal.
So like I I'm not as familiar

957
00:55:14,840 --> 00:55:18,320
with the Midas range of consoles
as I am maybe with Digico or

958
00:55:18,320 --> 00:55:21,640
something.
So like as console technology is

959
00:55:21,640 --> 00:55:26,520
improving now, what are the
leaps and bounds improvements

960
00:55:26,520 --> 00:55:29,560
that we're seeing?
So when we're going from the,

961
00:55:30,120 --> 00:55:36,000
you know, Digico SD9 or SD12 or
SD7 or whatever it is to a

962
00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:39,920
quantum whatever, or from the
Midas this to the Midas this,

963
00:55:40,320 --> 00:55:43,080
what are the big changes that
are happening in concept?

964
00:55:43,120 --> 00:55:46,720
Technology, in most cases, it's
processing power, speed

965
00:55:47,080 --> 00:55:52,000
increases in usability again.
And I'm going to that's always

966
00:55:52,040 --> 00:55:54,400
my thing to harp on for count
concert.

967
00:55:54,600 --> 00:55:58,080
One person walks up to this
console and they can use it

968
00:55:58,080 --> 00:56:00,240
immediately.
It's intuitive for them.

969
00:56:00,760 --> 00:56:03,880
It almost doesn't matter to them
how the how it sounds because

970
00:56:03,880 --> 00:56:06,880
the sound quality on almost all
of them is so good that most

971
00:56:06,880 --> 00:56:08,280
people can't tell the
difference.

972
00:56:08,280 --> 00:56:11,680
Yeah, those of us who have done
recording and have been on doing

973
00:56:11,680 --> 00:56:14,600
shows all the time, we'll hear
the difference.

974
00:56:14,600 --> 00:56:17,480
But we even I still have to
actually sit there and

975
00:56:17,480 --> 00:56:19,320
concentrate on it.
Go ah there it is.

976
00:56:19,320 --> 00:56:22,720
I now I can hear it, yeah.
It doesn't just pop right out at

977
00:56:22,720 --> 00:56:26,400
me all the time if I don't have
a reference, like if I'm

978
00:56:26,400 --> 00:56:29,320
listening to playback.
Couldn't tell you the difference

979
00:56:29,320 --> 00:56:31,160
at all.
I could have another 45

980
00:56:31,160 --> 00:56:35,680
milliseconds or 45 minutes worth
of delay once the playback

981
00:56:35,680 --> 00:56:37,560
starts.
It's all playing in real time at

982
00:56:37,560 --> 00:56:39,600
that point, so I can't tell any
difference at all.

983
00:56:40,440 --> 00:56:42,680
So for me, it's going to be that
user interface.

984
00:56:42,680 --> 00:56:45,360
Some people for prefer one over
another.

985
00:56:45,360 --> 00:56:48,280
How many layers, how many
buttons do I have to push to get

986
00:56:48,280 --> 00:56:51,640
to the thing that I want to?
Because you and I, I want to

987
00:56:51,640 --> 00:56:52,960
turn it up.
I reach, I turn it up.

988
00:56:52,960 --> 00:56:54,200
It was done.
That was it.

989
00:56:54,200 --> 00:56:57,120
I'll turn it down, down.
You turn this one up, this one

990
00:56:57,120 --> 00:56:58,320
up.
Little high end, little high

991
00:56:58,320 --> 00:56:59,560
end.
And it's that fast.

992
00:56:59,560 --> 00:57:02,160
It's real time.
As fast as your arm can move,

993
00:57:03,000 --> 00:57:07,680
you're doing the job.
And now it's channel strip

994
00:57:07,680 --> 00:57:12,360
select, insert, select knob,
select up or down.

995
00:57:12,360 --> 00:57:15,880
OK, good channel select.
So your two or three button

996
00:57:15,880 --> 00:57:19,640
presses away from getting to
back to real time, which was

997
00:57:19,640 --> 00:57:22,560
just grab and go.
So that's probably the biggest

998
00:57:22,560 --> 00:57:25,480
improvement is little by little
people are getting back to grab

999
00:57:25,480 --> 00:57:27,960
and go.
Yeah, or building interfaces

1000
00:57:27,960 --> 00:57:30,320
that are are better.
That makes sense.

1001
00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:33,200
And so you know, some of these
questions are going to be

1002
00:57:33,200 --> 00:57:36,480
stupid, including this one, so
prepare yourself.

1003
00:57:36,560 --> 00:57:37,920
Haven't found yourself?
You're good.

1004
00:57:37,920 --> 00:57:39,680
Prepare.
Yourself for a stupid question

1005
00:57:39,680 --> 00:57:42,560
coming up right now.
So you know, I know in the

1006
00:57:42,600 --> 00:57:46,440
earliest days of like digital
audio consoles, one of the big

1007
00:57:46,440 --> 00:57:50,560
advantages or benefits of going
to a digital console was because

1008
00:57:50,640 --> 00:57:54,120
you could take this floppy disk
or then it became a thumb drive

1009
00:57:54,120 --> 00:57:57,600
or whatever, right.
But you could take your settings

1010
00:57:57,600 --> 00:58:01,000
and as long as you could, I
forget what the early Yamaha

1011
00:58:01,240 --> 00:58:04,200
console was called, but as long
as you could rent one of those,

1012
00:58:05,640 --> 00:58:09,720
you just put your floppy drive
or your your thumb drive into it

1013
00:58:11,040 --> 00:58:14,240
and boom, your show's ready to
go right on somebody else's

1014
00:58:14,240 --> 00:58:19,920
console.
And so since that time, I forget

1015
00:58:19,920 --> 00:58:24,160
where I was going with this.
Like, have we seen it?

1016
00:58:25,080 --> 00:58:29,600
Like for example, in in
lighting, they've got these

1017
00:58:29,600 --> 00:58:33,720
these systems that they build
into the consoles where you can

1018
00:58:33,720 --> 00:58:37,840
put this light, this light, this
light or this light and it will

1019
00:58:37,960 --> 00:58:40,080
just basically translate between
those.

1020
00:58:40,080 --> 00:58:43,400
So you could be programming on
light number one or, or brand

1021
00:58:43,400 --> 00:58:47,360
number one and they can just
mimic that brand across all of

1022
00:58:47,360 --> 00:58:49,520
these other lights so that you
don't have to go in and

1023
00:58:49,520 --> 00:58:52,840
reprogram the console.
Is it similar in audio now?

1024
00:58:53,120 --> 00:58:56,240
You when they came up with a
standard.

1025
00:58:57,640 --> 00:59:00,040
Well, or just a way of
translating?

1026
00:59:00,040 --> 00:59:02,200
Files or translate?
Yeah.

1027
00:59:02,320 --> 00:59:04,840
Yeah.
If you if you have somebody's

1028
00:59:04,840 --> 00:59:07,160
device.
So I'll pick on QSC because

1029
00:59:07,160 --> 00:59:09,320
they're probably the easiest one
to pick on for this.

1030
00:59:10,640 --> 00:59:14,840
There are so many people now who
are making their products with a

1031
00:59:14,840 --> 00:59:23,200
QSCQ Sys plugin simply because
the fact that Q Sys became well

1032
00:59:23,200 --> 00:59:26,440
recognized from number one in
certain areas in the installed

1033
00:59:26,440 --> 00:59:30,240
audio industry.
So it was easy for everybody

1034
00:59:30,240 --> 00:59:32,000
else to go, hey, I want to be
part of that.

1035
00:59:32,000 --> 00:59:34,520
Even I can't, if I can't get the
piece that I want, which they're

1036
00:59:34,520 --> 00:59:37,600
doing, maybe I can be this
accessory piece that maybe

1037
00:59:37,600 --> 00:59:39,720
somebody else wants to use mine
instead of theirs.

1038
00:59:40,520 --> 00:59:43,680
So it sounds like lighting did
that same thing, but they

1039
00:59:43,680 --> 00:59:46,880
probably did it through the
control consoles, not through

1040
00:59:46,880 --> 00:59:49,120
the lighting companies.
Is that correct or am I off

1041
00:59:49,200 --> 00:59:51,600
base?
Well, I think there's a little

1042
00:59:51,600 --> 00:59:54,960
bit of both.
And you know, my, my current

1043
00:59:54,960 --> 00:59:59,840
feeling regarding AI is most of
that compute is gonna move from

1044
00:59:59,840 --> 01:00:01,680
the console into the light
fixture.

1045
01:00:01,920 --> 01:00:05,560
Like I think light fixtures are
going to become much, much

1046
01:00:05,560 --> 01:00:10,320
smarter As you know, speakers
have in in your world, you know,

1047
01:00:10,320 --> 01:00:13,360
now you've got speakers with
with not only built in

1048
01:00:13,400 --> 01:00:17,440
amplification, but processing
and lots of thinking being done

1049
01:00:17,440 --> 01:00:19,160
on the speaker end of things,
right?

1050
01:00:19,760 --> 01:00:23,760
But I guess the question that I
was saying maybe so like if I'm

1051
01:00:23,960 --> 01:00:28,000
using a Midas console and I get
to Paraguay on my tour and

1052
01:00:28,000 --> 01:00:32,280
there's no Midas guy in Paraguay
and all they've got is is Digico

1053
01:00:32,280 --> 01:00:36,440
or, you know, God forbid, Alan
and Heath or something, right?

1054
01:00:36,920 --> 01:00:44,120
And is there any system in audio
right now where I can take my My

1055
01:00:44,120 --> 01:00:48,440
show file and plug it into
somebody else's console and

1056
01:00:48,440 --> 01:00:50,160
it'll translate into that
console?

1057
01:00:50,640 --> 01:00:55,080
So sadly the answer is I don't
know, but I'm getting the answer

1058
01:00:55,080 --> 01:00:57,200
and now I'm going to have to go
find out.

1059
01:00:57,280 --> 01:00:59,040
Well.
Yeah, it sounds like something

1060
01:00:59,040 --> 01:01:01,840
that should happen.
On me, because everybody is so

1061
01:01:01,840 --> 01:01:05,600
eager to just make you say,
well, no, I won't accept

1062
01:01:05,600 --> 01:01:09,400
anything but this console.
And the reason you don't want to

1063
01:01:09,400 --> 01:01:14,000
accept anything but that console
is not really, again, it, it

1064
01:01:14,000 --> 01:01:16,240
almost doesn't even matter the
the quality.

1065
01:01:16,520 --> 01:01:19,160
It's probably you're just used
to the interface.

1066
01:01:19,880 --> 01:01:23,000
So you workflow interface, you
want the workflow that you're

1067
01:01:23,000 --> 01:01:24,200
used to.
Yeah.

1068
01:01:24,200 --> 01:01:27,440
And that's why you want the
console, because even if you got

1069
01:01:27,440 --> 01:01:30,720
there and you could translate it
and it could pop into the

1070
01:01:30,720 --> 01:01:33,920
console and everything's working
the same way, you still don't

1071
01:01:33,920 --> 01:01:35,160
know where the buttons for knobs
are.

1072
01:01:35,800 --> 01:01:38,120
Yeah, but so the only reason I
say that doesn't.

1073
01:01:38,120 --> 01:01:41,840
Matter at that point.
Yeah, but like since COVID, one

1074
01:01:41,840 --> 01:01:46,000
of the common sort of vibes out
there is I'll use whatever you

1075
01:01:46,000 --> 01:01:49,560
got in your shop, right?
You know, that's that's become

1076
01:01:49,560 --> 01:01:53,440
much more common since COVID.
I think with a console it's a

1077
01:01:53,440 --> 01:01:56,960
little bit different.
Like if somebody has spectator

1078
01:01:56,960 --> 01:02:01,360
with a with AMA3 console, for
example, they're not going to

1079
01:02:01,360 --> 01:02:05,080
accept an AVO D9 or they're not
going to accept because they'll

1080
01:02:05,080 --> 01:02:08,280
have to generally program their
whole, reprogram their whole

1081
01:02:08,280 --> 01:02:10,440
show and learn another console
potentially.

1082
01:02:10,440 --> 01:02:12,880
So maybe it's a completely
stupid question.

1083
01:02:13,240 --> 01:02:16,920
No, actually I think I think it
was a fantastic question and I

1084
01:02:16,920 --> 01:02:20,520
think I just spotted the
disconnect between the two

1085
01:02:20,520 --> 01:02:26,360
things.
So if I show up at a show, I've

1086
01:02:26,360 --> 01:02:29,960
got, I show up at the show and I
bring my lighting board with me.

1087
01:02:30,640 --> 01:02:33,200
My lighting board is programmed
to do my show.

1088
01:02:34,320 --> 01:02:37,560
It's only programmed to do my
show with the fixtures that were

1089
01:02:37,560 --> 01:02:40,480
at that show.
Yeah, and the fixtures at that

1090
01:02:40,480 --> 01:02:43,080
show were in different places
with different numbers and

1091
01:02:43,080 --> 01:02:46,360
different everything.
When I show up with my sound

1092
01:02:46,360 --> 01:02:51,760
console with me at a show, I
plugged 2 cables into the back

1093
01:02:51,760 --> 01:02:55,280
of that console in the exact
same place as the last two

1094
01:02:55,280 --> 01:02:57,480
cables were removed from at the
last show.

1095
01:02:57,800 --> 01:03:00,720
Yeah, the sound system turns on
just like it did at the last

1096
01:03:00,720 --> 01:03:03,080
show, even though it's a
different sound system.

1097
01:03:03,520 --> 01:03:06,800
I see so.
In your case, you're talking

1098
01:03:06,800 --> 01:03:09,840
about fixture addresses.
You're talking about do you have

1099
01:03:09,840 --> 01:03:12,720
as many universes here versus
the last show that I did?

1100
01:03:12,720 --> 01:03:14,520
Do I have to abandon the other
two?

1101
01:03:14,960 --> 01:03:18,120
Where at my show I show up and
there's a front of house left, a

1102
01:03:18,120 --> 01:03:22,240
front of house right, and maybe
there's a sub subwoofer aux mix

1103
01:03:22,240 --> 01:03:25,440
or something like that.
Yeah, but it's still plugged

1104
01:03:25,440 --> 01:03:28,480
into the same console.
And the mix itself, if the sound

1105
01:03:28,480 --> 01:03:30,600
system is correct, is roughly
the same.

1106
01:03:31,480 --> 01:03:35,440
It's almost, it's almost the
same like so in my case, on a

1107
01:03:35,440 --> 01:03:41,320
tour, I can bring the same exact
console with me to every show

1108
01:03:41,320 --> 01:03:45,400
along with my mic box.
And then I can kind of say, OK,

1109
01:03:45,400 --> 01:03:48,240
I just need racks and stacks.
Because if it's a good sound

1110
01:03:48,240 --> 01:03:52,280
console, a good sound system,
the speaker system is adequate,

1111
01:03:52,760 --> 01:03:56,480
then I can I can get through
pretty easily and pretty fast.

1112
01:03:57,360 --> 01:04:00,080
But if I had to do that same
thing on lights, that's a full

1113
01:04:00,080 --> 01:04:03,040
reprogram even if you brought
the console and the file.

1114
01:04:03,760 --> 01:04:07,040
Yeah, yeah.
That's interesting.

1115
01:04:08,800 --> 01:04:11,400
Yeah, that's that's pretty
interesting.

1116
01:04:12,320 --> 01:04:17,120
So, you know, do you ever talk
to like front of house engineers

1117
01:04:17,120 --> 01:04:21,080
who are freaked out about the
whole AI thing as far as you

1118
01:04:21,080 --> 01:04:23,520
know?
Like at what point does the

1119
01:04:23,520 --> 01:04:27,600
console just analyze the room,
figure out any adjustments it

1120
01:04:27,600 --> 01:04:29,680
needs to make, and run the
sound?

1121
01:04:31,920 --> 01:04:36,760
So on the plus side, no I I
don't run into a lot.

1122
01:04:36,760 --> 01:04:41,960
Now that said, I am mostly
dealing with people on the

1123
01:04:41,960 --> 01:04:45,280
installed side.
So maybe it's a stadium or a

1124
01:04:46,720 --> 01:04:52,280
transit system or an airport.
And and then I also do the stuff

1125
01:04:52,280 --> 01:04:57,160
that's that's tour regional
related, but no, most of them

1126
01:04:57,760 --> 01:05:03,560
Even so let's say we did get AI
and AI has a console and it has

1127
01:05:03,560 --> 01:05:08,120
a piece.
You still need a guy that can be

1128
01:05:08,120 --> 01:05:10,520
there to unload and load the
truck and connect everything the

1129
01:05:10,520 --> 01:05:12,800
way it has to be.
You still need to rig it the way

1130
01:05:12,800 --> 01:05:15,920
it needs to be put up.
You still need to tune the sound

1131
01:05:15,920 --> 01:05:18,360
system, which means that
microphones have to physically

1132
01:05:18,360 --> 01:05:23,160
be placed in a place at all the
points that I can see in this.

1133
01:05:24,080 --> 01:05:28,240
You're still going to need a
front of house guy who's doing

1134
01:05:28,240 --> 01:05:29,760
that.
Maybe in the future when you've

1135
01:05:29,760 --> 01:05:33,200
got a club and the club is the
same, somebody still has to plug

1136
01:05:33,200 --> 01:05:35,560
the mics in.
Somebody tells us to run the

1137
01:05:35,560 --> 01:05:37,480
cables.
Somebody's tell us to set up the

1138
01:05:37,880 --> 01:05:40,200
the monitor mixes.
Yes.

1139
01:05:40,480 --> 01:05:43,280
I don't see the sound engineer,
especially the live sound

1140
01:05:43,280 --> 01:05:45,080
engineer.
I don't see him always curious.

1141
01:05:45,080 --> 01:05:48,200
About it yeah, I'm always I'm
always curious about it because

1142
01:05:48,200 --> 01:05:50,400
again, I have those
conversations like everyone's

1143
01:05:50,800 --> 01:05:53,560
always so afraid of AI and you
and I have already talked about

1144
01:05:53,560 --> 01:05:56,640
four or five areas where we'd
use it instantly, you know and

1145
01:05:56,960 --> 01:05:59,480
on lighting consoles, like
there's things that you're going

1146
01:05:59,480 --> 01:06:02,680
to do when you're programming a
light show that you have to do

1147
01:06:02,680 --> 01:06:07,880
every single time and it's like
like 1000 lines of code that you

1148
01:06:07,880 --> 01:06:11,320
basically have to put in every
time having it do that for you,

1149
01:06:11,840 --> 01:06:14,680
you know how about that how much
is that the real tedious stuff

1150
01:06:14,680 --> 01:06:18,840
that you don't need to be doing
you know so that's that's why

1151
01:06:18,840 --> 01:06:21,120
I'm always trying to get people
to warm up to it a little bit

1152
01:06:21,120 --> 01:06:23,680
and say hey, just try it you
know so I.

1153
01:06:23,960 --> 01:06:28,280
Think everybody's.
I think it's it's mostly fear.

1154
01:06:28,400 --> 01:06:31,440
I know what I know now.
It works for me now.

1155
01:06:31,520 --> 01:06:33,600
I don't want it to change.
Yeah.

1156
01:06:34,720 --> 01:06:37,760
And then there are people like
me who are like, oh, I know how

1157
01:06:37,760 --> 01:06:40,000
to do that now, so I don't want
to do that again.

1158
01:06:40,000 --> 01:06:42,080
Let's do something different.
Yeah.

1159
01:06:42,240 --> 01:06:46,680
Yeah.
I'd rather it's.

1160
01:06:47,240 --> 01:06:48,960
I've been told that it's a
failing.

1161
01:06:48,960 --> 01:06:51,440
But the moment I've learned how
to do something, for the most

1162
01:06:51,440 --> 01:06:53,680
part, I lose interest in it.
Yeah.

1163
01:06:53,680 --> 01:06:55,760
Because now I want to go learn
how to do something different.

1164
01:06:56,160 --> 01:06:59,920
Oh wow, you're just a a constant
geek you.

1165
01:07:00,160 --> 01:07:02,760
Just love to learn stuff.
I don't know how this works, but

1166
01:07:02,960 --> 01:07:05,040
you're that apart.
Yeah.

1167
01:07:05,720 --> 01:07:10,240
So back, back to your.
So you had the the studio in

1168
01:07:10,240 --> 01:07:13,560
California and then I guess at
some point you had to get a job,

1169
01:07:13,560 --> 01:07:16,520
right?
Well, I was, I was still doing

1170
01:07:16,760 --> 01:07:19,240
IT for a company in the San
Fernando Valley.

1171
01:07:19,240 --> 01:07:24,440
So I was covering 5 States and
the one of the partners was

1172
01:07:24,440 --> 01:07:26,440
running all the rehearsal
studios.

1173
01:07:26,840 --> 01:07:30,960
One of the partners was doing
all the recording in the studio

1174
01:07:31,680 --> 01:07:35,640
and I did all of the make sure
it works, make sure that, you

1175
01:07:35,640 --> 01:07:37,800
know, all that thing broke.
I'll take care of that.

1176
01:07:37,800 --> 01:07:42,280
So it allowed me to keep a full
time job, you know, raise, raise

1177
01:07:42,280 --> 01:07:47,920
my son and and and still stay in
in the industries to some, yeah.

1178
01:07:48,320 --> 01:07:52,800
Extent kept you attached.
But then, yeah, moved, moved

1179
01:07:52,800 --> 01:07:56,160
from there in 2000 back to
Virginia.

1180
01:07:58,680 --> 01:08:00,400
You didn't like short moves, did
you?

1181
01:08:00,400 --> 01:08:03,880
Yeah, moving back and forth
across the country.

1182
01:08:05,240 --> 01:08:07,800
So.
At this point, strangely, I've

1183
01:08:07,800 --> 01:08:13,960
lived in New York, New Jersey,
Virginia, Florida, Texas, Ohio,

1184
01:08:14,640 --> 01:08:18,000
California, New Mexico,
Colorado, and Utah.

1185
01:08:21,160 --> 01:08:23,640
I hope you're not buying houses
every time you move to.

1186
01:08:23,640 --> 01:08:28,240
Not every time, but quite a few.
Yeah, quite a few of them.

1187
01:08:28,720 --> 01:08:31,000
Imagine what you've paid in
closing costs, all I.

1188
01:08:31,000 --> 01:08:32,439
Don't even want to think about
it.

1189
01:08:32,640 --> 01:08:34,240
Just the book.
He's alone.

1190
01:08:34,640 --> 01:08:36,399
The truck, he's.
Have you moved?

1191
01:08:37,040 --> 01:08:39,279
Yeah.
Now between that and this, it's

1192
01:08:39,279 --> 01:08:41,439
worth travel.
It's worth it's like I'm not

1193
01:08:41,439 --> 01:08:43,120
going to take a single dollar
with me.

1194
01:08:43,120 --> 01:08:48,359
My, my, my oldest son.
He's doing great.

1195
01:08:48,359 --> 01:08:53,000
He's I mean, he and his wife and
my grandson are there doing

1196
01:08:53,000 --> 01:08:54,800
fantastic.
So they they don't.

1197
01:08:54,800 --> 01:08:57,680
Where do they live?
They're in El Paso, TX.

1198
01:08:58,359 --> 01:08:59,600
Oh, good.
Yeah.

1199
01:08:59,600 --> 01:09:02,240
So they're, they're the power
couple.

1200
01:09:02,279 --> 01:09:03,520
I'm really proud of both of
them.

1201
01:09:04,040 --> 01:09:05,160
Yeah.
And then and then.

1202
01:09:05,160 --> 01:09:08,840
The youngest is 5.
Oh wow Jesus.

1203
01:09:10,040 --> 01:09:12,399
So can I just throw a wild guess
out?

1204
01:09:12,439 --> 01:09:15,399
There that you.
May have you may have remarried.

1205
01:09:17,359 --> 01:09:18,920
Yeah, Yeah.
Remarried.

1206
01:09:18,920 --> 01:09:20,080
Divorced.
Remarried.

1207
01:09:20,080 --> 01:09:20,760
Divorced.
Oh.

1208
01:09:21,880 --> 01:09:24,279
Jesus, you do things the hard
way.

1209
01:09:25,040 --> 01:09:26,479
Yeah.
Yeah.

1210
01:09:26,800 --> 01:09:32,160
So, so your first gig like on
our side of the business, the

1211
01:09:32,160 --> 01:09:35,439
supply side of the business or
whatever was with who Harmon?

1212
01:09:36,600 --> 01:09:42,120
On the supply side, yeah, it was
with Harmon in 2002 thousand and

1213
01:09:42,160 --> 01:09:45,240
and five or 2000 late 2004 I got
the call.

1214
01:09:45,960 --> 01:09:47,760
Yeah.
You didn't just go hang out in

1215
01:09:47,800 --> 01:09:49,680
their lobby like you did when?
No, no.

1216
01:09:49,680 --> 01:09:54,920
No, this was so much worse.
I, I had filled out the

1217
01:09:55,120 --> 01:09:57,600
application.
So I was working an install

1218
01:09:57,600 --> 01:09:59,080
company.
We were doing, installing

1219
01:09:59,080 --> 01:10:00,800
churches.
So I was bidding and installing

1220
01:10:00,800 --> 01:10:03,120
churches.
And we also had a live sound

1221
01:10:03,120 --> 01:10:06,080
company portion of the business
doing local stuff.

1222
01:10:07,200 --> 01:10:12,600
And I, I just, I got tired of
that area and I filled out an

1223
01:10:12,600 --> 01:10:18,440
application for DBX and they
called me about 3-4 months later

1224
01:10:18,440 --> 01:10:20,960
and they're, they said, hi, this
is Harmon Music Group.

1225
01:10:21,720 --> 01:10:24,160
And I'm like, yeah, take me off
your call list because I had no

1226
01:10:24,160 --> 01:10:27,880
idea who that was.
And, and they're like, no, no,

1227
01:10:27,880 --> 01:10:31,680
you filled out an application.
So I literally almost had them

1228
01:10:31,680 --> 01:10:34,080
offering me a job and me telling
them to take me off their.

1229
01:10:35,520 --> 01:10:37,640
Oh my goodness.
Oh, so close.

1230
01:10:38,280 --> 01:10:39,600
So being.
Spammed.

1231
01:10:40,080 --> 01:10:42,560
Oh, I thought I was.
I was saying I was like somebody

1232
01:10:42,560 --> 01:10:44,240
trying to sell me something.
Here we go.

1233
01:10:45,200 --> 01:10:51,640
Oh, I took the interview and
packed up the my son was my

1234
01:10:51,640 --> 01:10:55,360
oldest was graduating high
school at that time.

1235
01:10:55,960 --> 01:10:58,880
And I'm like, hey, so you're
going off to school.

1236
01:10:58,880 --> 01:11:01,560
You're going off to college.
I think I want to take this job.

1237
01:11:01,560 --> 01:11:03,320
He looked at it.
He's like, oh, yeah, you got to

1238
01:11:03,320 --> 01:11:05,600
take this job.
Yeah, yeah.

1239
01:11:05,840 --> 01:11:09,680
So I moved to Utah Salt Lake
City in 2005.

1240
01:11:09,920 --> 01:11:13,200
You left Utah out of your list
of states that you've lived in,

1241
01:11:13,400 --> 01:11:15,440
did I?
OK, Yeah, you missed Utah.

1242
01:11:15,640 --> 01:11:18,080
Sorry, I missed that one.
I don't know, maybe I missed it

1243
01:11:18,080 --> 01:11:19,120
but.
We'll rewind it.

1244
01:11:19,840 --> 01:11:22,880
Yeah, yeah.
We'll edit it, we'll put AI in

1245
01:11:22,880 --> 01:11:24,600
there.
So there we go, add a few.

1246
01:11:24,600 --> 01:11:26,200
More states just to make it
exciting.

1247
01:11:26,440 --> 01:11:27,000
Sure.
Why?

1248
01:11:27,000 --> 01:11:29,520
Not.
So that had to be a big change.

1249
01:11:30,080 --> 01:11:32,880
Yeah, that was a big change That
was that was a lot of fun.

1250
01:11:32,880 --> 01:11:36,360
I became the product specialist
for DBX.

1251
01:11:36,360 --> 01:11:41,920
So this was Zone Pro installed
DSP products and helping to

1252
01:11:43,280 --> 01:11:49,000
design and test the new drive
rack tour products and the new

1253
01:11:49,000 --> 01:11:53,680
software for Harmon at the time,
which was audio Architect.

1254
01:11:54,240 --> 01:11:59,280
And and this was going to be the
one software that everything

1255
01:11:59,280 --> 01:12:02,880
worked in from microphones to
consoles to speakers to the amps

1256
01:12:02,880 --> 01:12:05,040
and DSP, everything was in one
software.

1257
01:12:05,640 --> 01:12:12,680
And I was lucky enough to be the
product guy for the very first

1258
01:12:12,680 --> 01:12:17,000
piece of equipment that worked
in the software, which meant 18

1259
01:12:17,000 --> 01:12:20,880
country tour for the next year.
Really.

1260
01:12:21,200 --> 01:12:24,480
Oh, it's fantastic.
I mean, I was, I was traveling.

1261
01:12:24,680 --> 01:12:29,480
I was out of the country way
more than that year than I was

1262
01:12:29,480 --> 01:12:31,640
in the country.
So at the end of the year was

1263
01:12:31,680 --> 01:12:34,680
when your first, when your first
divorce happened was at the end

1264
01:12:34,680 --> 01:12:35,880
of that year.
Yeah, yeah.

1265
01:12:36,120 --> 01:12:38,040
Yeah, so.
That's tough.

1266
01:12:38,120 --> 01:12:40,400
It's hard to keep a marriage
when you've been to 34

1267
01:12:40,400 --> 01:12:42,160
countries.
In a year or.

1268
01:12:42,200 --> 01:12:44,040
Whatever it was.
Yeah, it was.

1269
01:12:44,080 --> 01:12:46,640
I actually wrote a thing on it
years ago.

1270
01:12:46,640 --> 01:12:49,240
I don't know if it's published
anywhere or not, but it was 18

1271
01:12:49,240 --> 01:12:53,160
countries in 18 months, and that
is wild.

1272
01:12:53,160 --> 01:12:57,280
And at least five of those I
went to two or three times

1273
01:12:58,160 --> 01:13:01,720
during that 18 months.
So it was a lot of fun.

1274
01:13:01,720 --> 01:13:04,200
That was the first time I'd
actually went all the way around

1275
01:13:04,200 --> 01:13:06,960
the world, started at one side
and went all the way around and

1276
01:13:06,960 --> 01:13:10,160
landed again where I started.
That's incredible.

1277
01:13:10,160 --> 01:13:11,720
That's amazing.
I've never done that.

1278
01:13:13,520 --> 01:13:17,160
So were you just going out to
the DBX distributors or

1279
01:13:17,160 --> 01:13:19,920
something and teaching them
about new product or?

1280
01:13:20,720 --> 01:13:24,160
Going out to distributors and
teaching customers how to run

1281
01:13:24,160 --> 01:13:26,320
the software.
I mean, I had days where people

1282
01:13:26,320 --> 01:13:30,480
would show up and they'd have a
box where they'd just gone and

1283
01:13:30,480 --> 01:13:33,200
bought a computer so that they
could attend the class.

1284
01:13:33,840 --> 01:13:36,840
Really, they didn't know what
right click meant and they were

1285
01:13:36,840 --> 01:13:38,920
attending class.
So, you know, in a lot of cases

1286
01:13:38,920 --> 01:13:40,560
they had to just sit back and
watch.

1287
01:13:41,480 --> 01:13:45,080
But it was, it was in that new
day where there was new software

1288
01:13:45,080 --> 01:13:48,520
and new people were learning
things that, you know, there are

1289
01:13:48,520 --> 01:13:52,760
a lot of people who in 2005 who
had been doing this forever,

1290
01:13:52,760 --> 01:13:55,320
they could run any analog piece
of gear, they could make it

1291
01:13:55,320 --> 01:13:58,240
sound fantastic.
You wanted to put in a digital

1292
01:13:58,240 --> 01:14:00,400
high pass filter and they were
out of their depth.

1293
01:14:01,200 --> 01:14:03,160
Yeah, they just couldn't.
I get that.

1294
01:14:03,440 --> 01:14:06,320
Yeah, I get that, you know.
But we all passed to that that

1295
01:14:06,320 --> 01:14:08,480
milestone, so.
I didn't.

1296
01:14:08,920 --> 01:14:14,080
I'm still stuck there yeah like
we get an SPX 90 up for sale on

1297
01:14:14,080 --> 01:14:17,320
gear source and I'm so excited
cuz I'm like finally a piece of

1298
01:14:17,320 --> 01:14:18,120
gear.
I know how to.

1299
01:14:18,120 --> 01:14:20,480
Work.
Oh my God, I work in.

1300
01:14:20,560 --> 01:14:25,080
SPX. 90 A Rev 7.
Yeah, a Rev 70.

1301
01:14:25,080 --> 01:14:27,520
My goodness, I remember how to
work those.

1302
01:14:27,520 --> 01:14:27,840
Oh.
My God.

1303
01:14:28,480 --> 01:14:30,240
Yeah, I.
Love when we get pieces of gear

1304
01:14:30,240 --> 01:14:37,080
like that or the what was the
the real flat 24 channel sound

1305
01:14:37,200 --> 01:14:39,760
SR24 sound craft mixer?
Yeah.

1306
01:14:39,760 --> 01:14:41,000
Is that what it was called?
Yeah.

1307
01:14:41,240 --> 01:14:44,720
I mean we get those every once
in a while for like $200.00 on

1308
01:14:44,720 --> 01:14:47,360
gear source or something.
And I'm like, I loved that

1309
01:14:47,360 --> 01:14:48,920
console.
It was great.

1310
01:14:49,360 --> 01:14:51,480
If you've.
Ever seen an Allen and Heath

1311
01:14:51,480 --> 01:14:56,840
Sincon B?
Let me know cuz I-1 Really One

1312
01:14:56,840 --> 01:15:00,400
still exists.
That was the. 1st That was my

1313
01:15:00,400 --> 01:15:03,840
first recording studio that that
I had a piece of I used to.

1314
01:15:03,840 --> 01:15:07,720
Always think it'd be fun to buy
like APM 5000 and just have it

1315
01:15:07,720 --> 01:15:09,720
sitting in your garage or
something you know because the

1316
01:15:09,720 --> 01:15:14,120
flight case is as big as my
garage you know and and you can

1317
01:15:14,120 --> 01:15:18,120
buy them now for like 1500 bucks
or something you know and PM

1318
01:15:18,120 --> 01:15:20,960
5000 in a case shipping is 2
grand.

1319
01:15:20,960 --> 01:15:25,200
But you know, you can buy the
console for nothing and it's

1320
01:15:25,200 --> 01:15:28,840
$100,000 console not that long
ago so.

1321
01:15:29,720 --> 01:15:34,280
My my buddy took his old Crest
console.

1322
01:15:34,920 --> 01:15:37,040
Yeah.
And it was one, I can't remember

1323
01:15:37,040 --> 01:15:39,480
the model number.
It was very flat with the meter

1324
01:15:39,480 --> 01:15:41,200
bridge coming up.
Yeah, I remember those.

1325
01:15:41,200 --> 01:15:45,920
And he was like, well, this is
my last Crest, Crest desk.

1326
01:15:46,440 --> 01:15:49,560
So I turned it into a desk.
He literally just put a piece of

1327
01:15:49,560 --> 01:15:54,120
glass right over the top of the
the whole thing turned on the

1328
01:15:54,120 --> 01:15:56,640
the meter bridge.
So it was still still lit up.

1329
01:15:57,320 --> 01:16:00,520
Yeah, that's a cool idea and.
Now that's his his desk in his

1330
01:16:00,520 --> 01:16:02,720
office.
I like when people do stuff like

1331
01:16:02,720 --> 01:16:05,240
that.
Like I know there's a an old

1332
01:16:05,240 --> 01:16:08,880
Martin light that's just one of
the most hated lights ever in in

1333
01:16:08,880 --> 01:16:10,920
the lighting business called the
Martin Pal.

1334
01:16:11,440 --> 01:16:15,600
And I know somebody who made a
coffee table out of one of those

1335
01:16:17,320 --> 01:16:20,480
upstaging did a really cool
thing after one of the Stones

1336
01:16:20,480 --> 01:16:24,560
tours, like probably 20 years
ago, they, the Stones were

1337
01:16:24,560 --> 01:16:28,000
paying them to store a whole
bunch of stage decks for a long

1338
01:16:28,000 --> 01:16:31,280
time.
And they finally said just bin

1339
01:16:31,280 --> 01:16:33,040
those for us.
And they're like, well, we can't

1340
01:16:33,040 --> 01:16:35,160
just bin them, that's stupid.
And they're like, yeah, but

1341
01:16:35,160 --> 01:16:36,200
we're never going to use them
again.

1342
01:16:36,720 --> 01:16:40,360
And they were very specific
stage decks to this custom stage

1343
01:16:40,360 --> 01:16:41,880
that was built for the Stones
tour.

1344
01:16:41,880 --> 01:16:46,520
So it was hard to sell them.
So what they did is they figured

1345
01:16:46,520 --> 01:16:51,120
out how to put 4 legs on them
and they like lacquered the top

1346
01:16:51,120 --> 01:16:54,840
and I think they might have even
had the band autograph them or

1347
01:16:54,840 --> 01:16:57,120
something and they sold them as
conference tables.

1348
01:16:57,640 --> 01:17:00,000
That's perfect.
Yeah.

1349
01:17:00,120 --> 01:17:01,880
So.
Creative things.

1350
01:17:01,880 --> 01:17:05,160
Those are always fun.
Yeah, well, I mean, you know,

1351
01:17:05,160 --> 01:17:09,040
we're we're a nostalgic bunch
and, you know, touring people,

1352
01:17:09,240 --> 01:17:13,760
music consumers, people who buy
tickets to these concerts, you

1353
01:17:13,760 --> 01:17:16,120
know, and they're chasing
anything from a set list to a

1354
01:17:16,120 --> 01:17:18,760
guitar pick to whatever.
Like when you go to them and

1355
01:17:18,760 --> 01:17:20,480
say, hey, do you have an office?
Yeah.

1356
01:17:20,560 --> 01:17:23,520
Yeah, I own this company.
Oh, you're a big Stones fan.

1357
01:17:23,520 --> 01:17:25,440
You're here at the show.
Would you like to buy a

1358
01:17:25,440 --> 01:17:29,440
conference table that is an
actual stage deck used from this

1359
01:17:29,440 --> 01:17:31,520
show?
And of course, they've got their

1360
01:17:31,520 --> 01:17:34,760
freaking black Amex out in
minutes, you know.

1361
01:17:34,760 --> 01:17:35,800
Yeah.
Yeah.

1362
01:17:35,800 --> 01:17:37,640
So that's.
Fantastic.

1363
01:17:38,000 --> 01:17:41,240
So we keep going a little bit
off course here.

1364
01:17:41,240 --> 01:17:44,720
So you're at Harmon digress.
You were there for what, 10

1365
01:17:44,720 --> 01:17:47,280
years, right?
Yeah, 10, almost 11 years.

1366
01:17:47,280 --> 01:17:52,640
Started out as the product
specialist, was asked to move

1367
01:17:52,640 --> 01:17:59,080
over to kind of reorganize the
support the phone support tech

1368
01:17:59,080 --> 01:18:01,480
support group.
Yeah.

1369
01:18:02,240 --> 01:18:06,080
So I did that and but that had a
termination date on it.

1370
01:18:06,080 --> 01:18:08,640
I prearranged that that would be
an 18 month thing.

1371
01:18:08,640 --> 01:18:11,080
And then I was going to go back
to what I, you know, really like

1372
01:18:11,080 --> 01:18:18,200
doing and I went back to product
management and then I went to

1373
01:18:18,200 --> 01:18:22,320
product development specialist,
or I mean senior product

1374
01:18:22,320 --> 01:18:25,160
development specialist for BSS
and DBX.

1375
01:18:25,720 --> 01:18:28,200
Oh wow, that's.
When all the sound web was

1376
01:18:28,480 --> 01:18:31,360
coming out.
And so basically I was running

1377
01:18:31,360 --> 01:18:34,240
around the country and the world
teaching people how to use sound

1378
01:18:34,240 --> 01:18:37,440
web at that point.
So at that point, I think my

1379
01:18:37,440 --> 01:18:43,320
career took a very, very solid
turn toward teaching and

1380
01:18:43,320 --> 01:18:46,280
training.
And that's probably still mostly

1381
01:18:46,280 --> 01:18:50,800
what I do today, even though I
run sales and marketing, I do it

1382
01:18:50,800 --> 01:18:52,560
through training.
It's it's always, yeah, they're

1383
01:18:52,560 --> 01:18:55,000
so closely attached.
Like they really.

1384
01:18:55,800 --> 01:18:58,840
People kind of know what they
want, they just really need you

1385
01:18:58,840 --> 01:19:02,920
to help them piece it together
properly and make sure all the

1386
01:19:03,800 --> 01:19:06,760
parts connect, you know, and how
they connect.

1387
01:19:07,160 --> 01:19:11,120
So visibility is a huge piece of
most, most products.

1388
01:19:11,120 --> 01:19:15,120
So if you've got a brand that
you're working with and nobody's

1389
01:19:15,120 --> 01:19:18,680
ever heard of it, there should
be no expectation that anybody

1390
01:19:18,680 --> 01:19:22,760
will ever buy it.
You can make the best thing in

1391
01:19:22,760 --> 01:19:26,240
the world, but if nobody's heard
of it, you have no thing.

1392
01:19:26,760 --> 01:19:29,840
Yeah.
So I'm constantly telling

1393
01:19:29,840 --> 01:19:33,160
people, you know, marketing is,
is the first, is the first

1394
01:19:33,160 --> 01:19:34,840
pitch.
Because even if you walk in this

1395
01:19:34,840 --> 01:19:37,560
this sales guy and say, hey,
here's this really good speaker

1396
01:19:37,560 --> 01:19:38,760
and they go, I've never heard of
that.

1397
01:19:39,480 --> 01:19:40,960
Yeah.
There's no trust already.

1398
01:19:40,960 --> 01:19:43,200
Never heard of it.
Yeah, they're already pushing

1399
01:19:43,200 --> 01:19:44,480
back.
I've never heard.

1400
01:19:44,480 --> 01:19:46,360
It's weird.
Yeah, I get that.

1401
01:19:46,360 --> 01:19:48,760
What is this I I got to see a
buddy?

1402
01:19:49,680 --> 01:19:52,320
So how did you find that
transition from from like

1403
01:19:52,320 --> 01:19:55,120
product management to business
development sales?

1404
01:19:55,760 --> 01:19:58,560
Like, did you find it really
hard when suddenly there was a

1405
01:19:58,560 --> 01:20:04,440
quota, a sales target?
No, strangely it didn't.

1406
01:20:07,800 --> 01:20:12,400
I think the sales targets have
always been the training wheels

1407
01:20:12,400 --> 01:20:15,560
for the people who are watching
so that they know that you're

1408
01:20:15,560 --> 01:20:21,160
staying upright.
Here we go again.

1409
01:20:22,800 --> 01:20:25,240
Oh, are we losing you?
I don't know.

1410
01:20:25,240 --> 01:20:26,680
I can still.
I can still hear you.

1411
01:20:26,760 --> 01:20:31,880
So we're.
So yeah, I think it's the it's

1412
01:20:31,920 --> 01:20:36,760
the way for people to manage and
feel like they're doing their

1413
01:20:36,760 --> 01:20:40,000
job from the top.
I've always had the opinion if I

1414
01:20:40,000 --> 01:20:43,080
have the right people, I don't
have to manage them.

1415
01:20:43,640 --> 01:20:46,920
And if I really have to manage
them, I know I have the wrong

1416
01:20:46,920 --> 01:20:52,280
people.
So I felt the transition in that

1417
01:20:52,280 --> 01:20:54,320
way I.
Completely agree with you, but

1418
01:20:54,360 --> 01:20:57,080
it's a nice thought.
You know it's not 100% true.

1419
01:20:57,080 --> 01:20:58,760
It's a very.
Romantic idea.

1420
01:20:59,080 --> 01:21:02,520
I know it's a.
It's not 100% true, but the

1421
01:21:02,520 --> 01:21:06,720
reality for me is it always had
that band on stage feel, which

1422
01:21:06,720 --> 01:21:11,240
was the job has to get done the
the show's going on.

1423
01:21:12,800 --> 01:21:14,920
I mean, when we were standing
out in the middle of a parking

1424
01:21:14,920 --> 01:21:19,440
lot 1 day and for some reason
somebody came and re wired the

1425
01:21:19,440 --> 01:21:24,240
generator and blew up half of
the electronics on the show.

1426
01:21:25,120 --> 01:21:29,000
The show went on.
Yeah, we made it happen.

1427
01:21:29,000 --> 01:21:32,400
We did all sorts of crazy funky
stuff you shouldn't do with the

1428
01:21:32,400 --> 01:21:34,160
sound system.
But the show went on.

1429
01:21:34,880 --> 01:21:39,000
And I, I think it's that same
thing with marketing and sales.

1430
01:21:39,080 --> 01:21:42,120
It's and targets.
The show has to go on.

1431
01:21:42,120 --> 01:21:46,400
If I'm not hitting my target,
I'm doing something wrong or the

1432
01:21:46,400 --> 01:21:49,040
target was wrong.
Yeah, if I.

1433
01:21:49,040 --> 01:21:51,040
Make a change and I get to my
target.

1434
01:21:51,040 --> 01:21:54,320
Does that mean I should stop?
Yeah, so.

1435
01:21:54,320 --> 01:21:56,120
No, I'm, I'm never working for
the target.

1436
01:21:56,120 --> 01:21:59,640
I'm working for me.
And I, I, that's an interesting

1437
01:21:59,640 --> 01:22:02,000
approach.
I kind of feel that the target

1438
01:22:02,000 --> 01:22:04,640
is just something to trip over
on the way to wherever I was

1439
01:22:04,640 --> 01:22:06,160
going.
Yeah.

1440
01:22:07,120 --> 01:22:10,760
Well, you know what I mean.
I think what you're saying is,

1441
01:22:10,760 --> 01:22:14,080
is basically if you've got the
right energy and you're going

1442
01:22:14,080 --> 01:22:16,960
through the the right steps and
you're doing the right things

1443
01:22:16,960 --> 01:22:21,160
and talking to the right people,
the target is, is, you know,

1444
01:22:21,160 --> 01:22:23,200
it's just a byproduct of all of
that.

1445
01:22:23,200 --> 01:22:25,760
And, and it's going to happen
and it should, that should be a

1446
01:22:25,760 --> 01:22:29,040
byproduct.
I mean, in my sales career,

1447
01:22:29,040 --> 01:22:31,640
that's how it always was.
It was always like, you know,

1448
01:22:31,640 --> 01:22:33,320
here's your sales number for the
month.

1449
01:22:33,320 --> 01:22:37,400
And I'd usually crush it by like
the 18th or 19th of the month

1450
01:22:37,400 --> 01:22:40,440
because I was just, I was really
passionate about what I did.

1451
01:22:40,440 --> 01:22:43,920
And if I did it well and I did
it enough, I was gonna hit that

1452
01:22:43,920 --> 01:22:46,520
sales target.
You know that the scary thing in

1453
01:22:46,520 --> 01:22:49,240
sales, especially in companies
these days when we're getting

1454
01:22:49,240 --> 01:22:53,320
more and more aggressive, it
seems, is that every time you

1455
01:22:53,320 --> 01:22:57,920
hit the target, it, it, it's
like, oh, you know, the, IT just

1456
01:22:57,960 --> 01:23:01,000
gets slippery and suddenly moves
away from you again, you know,

1457
01:23:01,480 --> 01:23:05,800
so and.
And maybe that's justifiable in

1458
01:23:05,800 --> 01:23:09,520
some cases, and some cases it's
absolutely not justifiable.

1459
01:23:09,520 --> 01:23:14,240
It's wishful thinking.
Or in many cases, and I've been

1460
01:23:14,240 --> 01:23:17,680
part of these as well, you get
to a point where somebody is in

1461
01:23:17,680 --> 01:23:23,400
a position of power where their
opinion can now be forced into

1462
01:23:23,400 --> 01:23:27,560
fact.
So they decide that, oh, we

1463
01:23:27,560 --> 01:23:30,440
should be able to do 10% more.
And because they've decided that

1464
01:23:30,440 --> 01:23:34,200
everybody now is on the hook for
10% more, whether that's a

1465
01:23:34,200 --> 01:23:38,720
reality thing or not, they've
now made their opinion your

1466
01:23:38,720 --> 01:23:42,560
reality.
Let me let me ask you were were

1467
01:23:42,560 --> 01:23:45,640
you at Harmon still when when
Samsung came in?

1468
01:23:50,280 --> 01:23:52,960
Yeah, it was just, it was a
really quick crossover.

1469
01:23:53,600 --> 01:23:56,880
Yeah, because the only to be.
Honest to you, I can't actually

1470
01:23:56,880 --> 01:23:59,320
remember whether or not that had
happened.

1471
01:23:59,320 --> 01:24:02,200
I think it happened just after I
left to be honest with you.

1472
01:24:03,000 --> 01:24:05,240
Yeah.
I mean, the, the thing that I'm

1473
01:24:05,240 --> 01:24:08,800
getting at there is, is it seems
like whether it's a public

1474
01:24:08,800 --> 01:24:13,120
company or a privately or a
private equity owned company,

1475
01:24:13,960 --> 01:24:18,200
that's where the sales target
just becomes like religion, you

1476
01:24:18,200 --> 01:24:22,320
know, because it's like we need
to promise our shareholders a

1477
01:24:22,400 --> 01:24:27,240
14% year over year growth and
you're not hitting that number.

1478
01:24:27,240 --> 01:24:30,880
You're only at 6%, you know,
therefore you're a bad guy.

1479
01:24:31,360 --> 01:24:36,560
And so you know it, a lot of the
fun and fluffiness goes out of

1480
01:24:36,560 --> 01:24:38,400
it because now it's just black
and white.

1481
01:24:38,400 --> 01:24:43,120
You either hit it or somebody's
got some splainin to do, you

1482
01:24:43,120 --> 01:24:45,720
know?
Hopefully you and I never have

1483
01:24:45,720 --> 01:24:50,520
to go back to a point in our
life where that black and white

1484
01:24:51,120 --> 01:24:54,040
is the target, that that's just
the goal.

1485
01:24:56,320 --> 01:25:01,320
I, I work with plenty of people
right now who have fun doing the

1486
01:25:01,320 --> 01:25:04,040
numbers.
They have fun watching them,

1487
01:25:04,080 --> 01:25:06,440
watching the orders and doing
all the stuff that's actually

1488
01:25:06,440 --> 01:25:09,760
their fun.
So that's fantastic that they do

1489
01:25:09,760 --> 01:25:12,280
their job and they stay in their
lane doing what they do.

1490
01:25:12,280 --> 01:25:16,520
And it's, so it allows me to
stay in my lane, which is to

1491
01:25:16,520 --> 01:25:21,160
have fun first.
Because if I have fun, I found

1492
01:25:21,160 --> 01:25:25,200
that it drags a lot of people
into wanting to have a piece of

1493
01:25:25,200 --> 01:25:28,880
that as well.
Yeah, these Crazy Rd. tours, you

1494
01:25:28,880 --> 01:25:31,240
may have seen some of the videos
I did.

1495
01:25:31,240 --> 01:25:36,320
Yeah.
The Insanity Rd. tours have just

1496
01:25:36,320 --> 01:25:39,200
been blast and people really dig
it.

1497
01:25:39,200 --> 01:25:41,840
And it ended up moving the
needle a lot.

1498
01:25:43,120 --> 01:25:45,360
So talk.
About this this insanity tour

1499
01:25:45,360 --> 01:25:46,880
thing.
So like, what is it?

1500
01:25:46,880 --> 01:25:51,320
Where'd the idea come from?
Why is the question for sure.

1501
01:25:52,320 --> 01:25:55,880
So this was a stolen idea.
So I I turned, I turned

1502
01:25:55,880 --> 01:25:59,920
somebody's little regional idea
into a national tour.

1503
01:26:01,280 --> 01:26:06,320
And that somebody was Andy Combs
up in Michigan, and he and I had

1504
01:26:06,320 --> 01:26:09,200
been traveling and he had a
trailer and we went out to see

1505
01:26:09,200 --> 01:26:11,960
customers and he dragged out all
the equipment.

1506
01:26:11,960 --> 01:26:14,920
He'd set it up in front of the
customers and he brought chairs

1507
01:26:14,920 --> 01:26:18,000
so they could all sit down and
watch this demo go on.

1508
01:26:18,080 --> 01:26:20,720
What a contest.
Saw the look on their faces.

1509
01:26:20,720 --> 01:26:23,680
And it's like, this is this is
so simple.

1510
01:26:23,680 --> 01:26:27,160
This is so straight.
It's this is so visceral and

1511
01:26:27,160 --> 01:26:32,320
real and felt and accepted.
And this was entertainment.

1512
01:26:32,760 --> 01:26:35,320
Yeah.
And so that's that was what I

1513
01:26:35,320 --> 01:26:40,320
set out to do was I wanted to
set out on a tour to entertain

1514
01:26:40,320 --> 01:26:43,280
the people and show them
something new, show them

1515
01:26:43,280 --> 01:26:46,120
something that maybe make them
have them sit back and go, Oh,

1516
01:26:46,120 --> 01:26:48,400
wow, holy smokes, that's
amazing.

1517
01:26:48,400 --> 01:26:53,800
Or, or did you just you know, I
usually we would pull up, I had

1518
01:26:53,800 --> 01:26:56,720
a van full of gear.
And you know, for anybody who

1519
01:26:56,720 --> 01:26:58,800
wants to see if they can watch
the YouTube thing, there's

1520
01:26:58,800 --> 01:27:03,080
actually a rolling number that
that shows that stopwatch go as

1521
01:27:03,080 --> 01:27:05,200
we open the truck.
So you can see the exact

1522
01:27:05,440 --> 01:27:09,320
timeline that it takes.
We emptied a 15 foot box truck

1523
01:27:09,320 --> 01:27:14,400
full of equipment, including a
ground stacked line array speak

1524
01:27:14,400 --> 01:27:16,800
speaker systems, amplifiers,
everything set up.

1525
01:27:16,800 --> 01:27:18,840
I'm ready to go.
And it was like 11 minutes or

1526
01:27:18,840 --> 01:27:20,200
something like that.
Wow.

1527
01:27:20,600 --> 01:27:24,240
And so it was all pre packaged
where when it was all done, I

1528
01:27:24,240 --> 01:27:26,800
had to connect four cables
between the racks and plug in a

1529
01:27:26,800 --> 01:27:28,600
power cord and it was all it all
turned on.

1530
01:27:28,600 --> 01:27:31,760
Oh wow.
Yeah, well, you got dialed after

1531
01:27:31,760 --> 01:27:33,560
doing it that many times.
I'm so.

1532
01:27:33,640 --> 01:27:37,960
Much fun man.
Three 350 stops in 130 days.

1533
01:27:38,840 --> 01:27:41,080
That's just ridiculous, you know
that, right?

1534
01:27:41,080 --> 01:27:45,440
And we were, well we were making
in 130 days, we were making 2-3

1535
01:27:45,440 --> 01:27:49,040
and sometimes 5 stops.
So the the best one we ever did,

1536
01:27:49,040 --> 01:27:52,080
we made five stops in a day
where we literally emptied the

1537
01:27:52,080 --> 01:27:54,600
truck, put it all together, did
the demo, put it back in the

1538
01:27:54,600 --> 01:27:56,480
truck, and we did that five
times.

1539
01:27:57,880 --> 01:28:00,920
You know, here's the cool thing.
Like you say, it's entertainment

1540
01:28:00,920 --> 01:28:04,120
and all that stuff, but the way
I look at it, and I know a lot

1541
01:28:04,120 --> 01:28:05,920
of companies do these Rd. shows
now.

1542
01:28:07,200 --> 01:28:12,040
So a lot of small companies,
sound company, lighting company,

1543
01:28:12,040 --> 01:28:16,880
whatever, don't get to all the
trade shows and so they don't

1544
01:28:16,880 --> 01:28:21,280
get to see all the new gear.
And even if they do, the owner

1545
01:28:21,280 --> 01:28:25,200
might go, the owner and the
asset manager and maybe the top

1546
01:28:25,200 --> 01:28:28,600
biz dev guy might go like 3 or 4
people might go.

1547
01:28:28,600 --> 01:28:31,120
But what about all those shop
guys that never get to see all

1548
01:28:31,120 --> 01:28:33,600
the new products?
What about, yeah, what about the

1549
01:28:33,600 --> 01:28:36,000
rest of their team?
What about their customers who

1550
01:28:36,000 --> 01:28:38,720
never get to those trade shows?
What about their accounting

1551
01:28:38,720 --> 01:28:41,760
department who always just sees
checks coming in, checks going

1552
01:28:41,760 --> 01:28:43,760
out?
They've never actually seen the

1553
01:28:43,760 --> 01:28:48,240
gear being demoed like that.
So I think it's an amazing

1554
01:28:48,280 --> 01:28:50,240
opportunity.
Like I know more and more

1555
01:28:50,240 --> 01:28:54,560
companies have dedicated a part
of their budget to it so that

1556
01:28:54,560 --> 01:28:57,080
they're not just doing like 3
trade shows a year.

1557
01:28:57,080 --> 01:28:59,920
They're now doing 3 trade shows
plus a whole bunch of these Rd.

1558
01:28:59,920 --> 01:29:03,760
shows per year.
So you just did it to the like

1559
01:29:03,760 --> 01:29:07,840
this Insanity tour, you did it
to an insane sort of scale.

1560
01:29:09,080 --> 01:29:11,320
You took it to 11.
You sure did.

1561
01:29:11,720 --> 01:29:15,200
It was.
It was, it was fun because all

1562
01:29:15,200 --> 01:29:19,400
of these demos, we didn't go to
a hotel room and ask a bunch of

1563
01:29:19,400 --> 01:29:21,880
people to join.
We called people up and said,

1564
01:29:21,880 --> 01:29:23,920
would you like to see this demo?
And they're like, oh, we don't

1565
01:29:23,920 --> 01:29:25,680
have time for it.
I'm like, well, we're going to

1566
01:29:25,680 --> 01:29:29,200
do it in your parking lot.
Oh, all right, come on over.

1567
01:29:29,840 --> 01:29:32,560
And they were thinking we were
going to set up a speaker too.

1568
01:29:32,560 --> 01:29:35,320
So when we, we would show up and
say, hey, where you want it out

1569
01:29:35,320 --> 01:29:37,280
in the parking lot, they're
like, oh, over there, let me get

1570
01:29:37,280 --> 01:29:38,960
you some help.
And I'm like, no, no, no, no, go

1571
01:29:38,960 --> 01:29:41,080
away.
Well, we'll let you know when

1572
01:29:41,080 --> 01:29:44,560
we're ready.
And in 15 minutes we would walk

1573
01:29:44,560 --> 01:29:46,160
inside and go, OK, we're all set
up.

1574
01:29:46,160 --> 01:29:50,520
And when they would walk out,
they'd see this 20 foot wide

1575
01:29:51,000 --> 01:29:55,680
display of gear that was like,
you know, almost like an Infocom

1576
01:29:55,720 --> 01:29:59,440
level trade show booth, but it
was all live.

1577
01:29:59,760 --> 01:30:03,960
So it was like, I brought the
demo room from Infocom to their

1578
01:30:03,960 --> 01:30:06,760
parking lot.
Yeah, that's so cool.

1579
01:30:06,840 --> 01:30:09,120
And it was personal and private
and fun.

1580
01:30:09,120 --> 01:30:12,640
And they could stop and ask
questions or or say, hey, I want

1581
01:30:12,640 --> 01:30:14,600
to poke at this or my favorite
one.

1582
01:30:15,760 --> 01:30:17,680
I have speakers that sound
better than that.

1583
01:30:17,800 --> 01:30:19,080
All right, cool.
Go grab one.

1584
01:30:19,480 --> 01:30:22,840
I've got a connection for you to
plug it into so you can actually

1585
01:30:22,880 --> 01:30:24,520
a be it against what I'm showing
you.

1586
01:30:25,040 --> 01:30:26,320
Maybe you're right, maybe I'm
wrong.

1587
01:30:27,240 --> 01:30:30,200
I mean, you know, especially
these days with all the Zoom and

1588
01:30:30,200 --> 01:30:33,360
all the meetings that you do
like this, which for me is

1589
01:30:33,680 --> 01:30:37,560
almost 100% of my interaction is
through Zoom meetings.

1590
01:30:39,400 --> 01:30:43,360
It's so cool to get in front of
customers, to show them product,

1591
01:30:43,360 --> 01:30:46,800
to see their face, to talk to
them about their applications or

1592
01:30:46,800 --> 01:30:48,800
whatever.
Like there's just nothing that

1593
01:30:48,800 --> 01:30:51,360
replaces it.
And you know, I happen to really

1594
01:30:51,360 --> 01:30:54,760
love video calls.
I do them all day every day.

1595
01:30:54,760 --> 01:31:00,480
I'm on usually 767 hours a day
on video calls with people, but

1596
01:31:00,480 --> 01:31:03,200
it just doesn't replace sitting
in the same room with somebody.

1597
01:31:03,200 --> 01:31:06,560
It doesn't.
It's it's 70 percent, 80% of the

1598
01:31:06,560 --> 01:31:08,560
way there.
Maybe like it's better than just

1599
01:31:08,560 --> 01:31:11,760
a phone call, but it's still not
the same, you know?

1600
01:31:12,400 --> 01:31:15,040
Yeah, now that personal.
Touch, especially when people

1601
01:31:15,040 --> 01:31:18,280
can walk over to it.
You have that fun moment where

1602
01:31:18,280 --> 01:31:20,560
you're playing something,
somebody thinks you're playing a

1603
01:31:20,560 --> 01:31:23,280
joke and they go over and put
them and that wants subwoofers

1604
01:31:23,280 --> 01:31:25,080
and make sure you're not messing
with them.

1605
01:31:25,920 --> 01:31:27,320
So.
He's just on you have a good

1606
01:31:27,320 --> 01:31:27,560
time.
Have.

1607
01:31:27,560 --> 01:31:32,800
You hit big Stephen Costers with
that that budget yet for the the

1608
01:31:32,960 --> 01:31:35,760
insane roadshow next year, the
insane you would.

1609
01:31:36,200 --> 01:31:39,720
You would be shocked.
After putting the whole thing

1610
01:31:39,720 --> 01:31:42,000
together, it was instantly
approved.

1611
01:31:43,000 --> 01:31:45,160
Really.
Yeah, the you guys are going.

1612
01:31:45,400 --> 01:31:48,720
To do something similar, I.
I don't have to go.

1613
01:31:49,480 --> 01:31:53,560
I mean, the, the budget that
most people would go to to do.

1614
01:31:54,240 --> 01:31:57,920
And I'll just, I, I won't name
names on it, but I can tell you

1615
01:31:57,920 --> 01:32:04,360
that I made my 350 stops Yeah,
for with more equipment, more

1616
01:32:04,360 --> 01:32:09,320
personally to more people than
some of the major manufacturers

1617
01:32:09,320 --> 01:32:12,440
do to just make 5 stops.
I do it for less money.

1618
01:32:13,840 --> 01:32:17,520
It actually costs less to make
the 350 stops than taking a

1619
01:32:17,520 --> 01:32:21,600
tractor trailer tour and 15
people that fly there and get

1620
01:32:21,600 --> 01:32:24,880
hotel rooms.
Yeah, you do five of those and

1621
01:32:24,880 --> 01:32:27,200
I'm well under that budget.
Oh yeah, yeah.

1622
01:32:27,240 --> 01:32:30,280
Well, I mean, these trade shows
are so expensive now, like doing

1623
01:32:30,280 --> 01:32:36,440
a, a real Infocom booth, you
know, like a A50 by 50 or 60 by

1624
01:32:36,440 --> 01:32:39,040
60 booth or something at
Infocom, by the time it's all

1625
01:32:39,040 --> 01:32:40,960
said and done, you're spending
half $1,000,000.

1626
01:32:42,080 --> 01:32:45,960
Goodness, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, so Steven's a smart guy,

1627
01:32:45,960 --> 01:32:50,360
Andrew's a smart guy.
When I proposed this and I gave

1628
01:32:50,360 --> 01:32:53,760
them a budget for what it was
going to cost, they, they

1629
01:32:53,760 --> 01:32:56,320
instantly saw the value.
They've been doing this a long

1630
01:32:56,320 --> 01:32:59,640
time, so it wasn't hard math for
them or anybody else to do.

1631
01:32:59,640 --> 01:33:02,320
If I if I gave you the numbers,
you'd be like, Oh yeah, I'd do

1632
01:33:02,320 --> 01:33:03,280
that too.
Yeah.

1633
01:33:03,520 --> 01:33:06,640
So let me ask though, are you
doing it yourself or do you have

1634
01:33:06,640 --> 01:33:09,840
a team to do this now and you're
just going to teach me you're

1635
01:33:09,840 --> 01:33:12,880
crazy.
It will be me and I'm only doing

1636
01:33:12,880 --> 01:33:15,120
every other week.
I'm not doing the whole tour.

1637
01:33:15,120 --> 01:33:18,440
Last time I did it straight on.
The first time I ran out.

1638
01:33:18,440 --> 01:33:21,400
I actually left the house right
after the new year.

1639
01:33:21,400 --> 01:33:26,520
So I left my house on January
2nd and I came home for the

1640
01:33:26,520 --> 01:33:29,280
first time.
The only time that I that I've

1641
01:33:29,280 --> 01:33:32,240
saw the first time in that run
that I'd come home was June 6th.

1642
01:33:33,520 --> 01:33:36,440
Jesus so.
It was 100% on the road until

1643
01:33:36,440 --> 01:33:39,760
that.
And if you look at the videos, I

1644
01:33:39,760 --> 01:33:43,600
made crazy videos and did crazy
adventures the whole way.

1645
01:33:43,600 --> 01:33:48,160
I mean, we were flying by planes
and I flew jets over new, you

1646
01:33:48,160 --> 01:33:51,400
know, New Mexico, got the
aerobatic over New Mexico.

1647
01:33:51,400 --> 01:33:54,760
And, yeah, just do crazy stuff.
Let's go OverDrive, you know?

1648
01:33:55,040 --> 01:33:57,040
Now, granted, the business
didn't pay for that.

1649
01:33:57,120 --> 01:33:59,080
I paid for that stuff.
Yeah.

1650
01:33:59,680 --> 01:34:02,400
Or like, you know when I took
100 customers on the New York,

1651
01:34:02,400 --> 01:34:06,000
NY roller coaster in Vegas.
That's fun, yeah.

1652
01:34:06,440 --> 01:34:10,160
Just to it's funny how many
people show up and they're they

1653
01:34:10,440 --> 01:34:14,800
especially with especially with
audio demos where you go to a

1654
01:34:14,800 --> 01:34:17,880
customer and you say I want to
do a a training for you and

1655
01:34:17,880 --> 01:34:20,280
we've all will gotten accustomed
to lunch and learn.

1656
01:34:21,000 --> 01:34:23,920
Yeah.
And what I generally say is no

1657
01:34:23,920 --> 01:34:26,600
lunch and learns.
I'm not bringing you an apology

1658
01:34:26,600 --> 01:34:31,640
meal for wasting your time.
I'm going to bring you value and

1659
01:34:33,320 --> 01:34:36,040
and I think we've all gotten too
accustomed to bringing things

1660
01:34:36,040 --> 01:34:39,040
like Donuts because you don't
have anything to really talk.

1661
01:34:39,040 --> 01:34:41,680
You're just trying to walk in
the door and say I, yeah, I made

1662
01:34:41,680 --> 01:34:45,160
that call.
And the reality is make make an

1663
01:34:45,160 --> 01:34:46,320
appropriate call.
Don't bring.

1664
01:34:46,320 --> 01:34:48,920
Don't.
Plus now people don't eat Donuts

1665
01:34:48,920 --> 01:34:51,120
anymore, they eat carrots and
and I.

1666
01:34:51,120 --> 01:34:55,640
Mean, you know, they eat Donuts.
I'm joking, I don't eat Donuts

1667
01:34:55,640 --> 01:34:57,560
anymore because I just don't
want to get fat.

1668
01:34:58,000 --> 01:35:00,520
Yeah.
But no, that's cool.

1669
01:35:00,600 --> 01:35:02,080
I watched a couple of your
videos.

1670
01:35:02,080 --> 01:35:06,280
I saw the one with the I used to
be a scuba diver.

1671
01:35:06,280 --> 01:35:08,240
I wouldn't say I'm a diver
anymore because I haven't been

1672
01:35:08,240 --> 01:35:12,600
diving in so long, but I used to
be a scuba diver and I saw you

1673
01:35:12,600 --> 01:35:15,600
do that underwater pumpkin
carving.

1674
01:35:15,640 --> 01:35:17,960
Underwater pumpkin carving
Halloween which.

1675
01:35:18,600 --> 01:35:21,040
That was incredible.
Like they had the car sunken

1676
01:35:21,040 --> 01:35:24,200
underwater and and the skeletons
in it and stuff.

1677
01:35:24,200 --> 01:35:25,880
They made it all out for
Halloween.

1678
01:35:25,880 --> 01:35:28,480
But but the whole pumpkin and
all the fish sitting there

1679
01:35:28,480 --> 01:35:30,960
waiting for the pumpkin to come
flying off the carving, you

1680
01:35:30,960 --> 01:35:34,120
know, it was, it was really what
a cool idea.

1681
01:35:34,160 --> 01:35:36,600
It was such a class.
I mean, somebody had said one

1682
01:35:36,600 --> 01:35:39,200
day, oh, I'm going to take a
class in underwater basket

1683
01:35:39,200 --> 01:35:40,440
weaving.
Yeah.

1684
01:35:40,440 --> 01:35:44,840
And I'm like, you know, and, and
then this thing popped up and

1685
01:35:44,840 --> 01:35:46,520
I'm like, I got to do it.
I got to.

1686
01:35:46,520 --> 01:35:48,560
Do it.
That's funny, that's funny.

1687
01:35:49,040 --> 01:35:52,880
So you you sent us some notes
before this podcast and one of

1688
01:35:52,880 --> 01:35:55,400
the one of the comments you made
cracked me up.

1689
01:35:56,240 --> 01:36:00,120
You said the under appreciated
background music and paging

1690
01:36:00,120 --> 01:36:06,560
system and it brought to me in
this instant weird memory of and

1691
01:36:06,560 --> 01:36:08,480
you made you.
Did you know a company called

1692
01:36:08,480 --> 01:36:11,600
Axe Music in Alberta?
I don't think I do.

1693
01:36:12,560 --> 01:36:14,000
I'm not from up there.
So it's.

1694
01:36:14,160 --> 01:36:17,600
Yeah, yeah.
Well, but if you sold them

1695
01:36:17,600 --> 01:36:21,160
product or whatever, I'm sure at
the time we were a DBX dealer or

1696
01:36:21,160 --> 01:36:25,680
whatever.
But anyways, we, we sold sound

1697
01:36:25,680 --> 01:36:27,480
installations, lighting
installations.

1698
01:36:27,480 --> 01:36:30,520
That's really how I decided I
didn't want to go the sound

1699
01:36:30,520 --> 01:36:31,960
route and I wanted to go the
lighting route.

1700
01:36:32,600 --> 01:36:38,080
And but anyways, I sold a job
that was to a guy who owned I

1701
01:36:38,120 --> 01:36:40,480
think it was like 20 Boston
pizzas.

1702
01:36:41,680 --> 01:36:44,520
And he had each one had lounges
and stuff.

1703
01:36:44,520 --> 01:36:46,440
And they actually they were
building a bunch of new

1704
01:36:46,440 --> 01:36:48,520
locations at the time is what
was happening.

1705
01:36:48,960 --> 01:36:57,360
And so we had to design A 70
Volt system and this whole

1706
01:36:57,360 --> 01:37:00,440
background music thing for their
lounge and and their

1707
01:37:00,440 --> 01:37:02,280
restaurants.
And he had to have separate

1708
01:37:02,280 --> 01:37:05,360
controls.
And I mean, thinking back, this

1709
01:37:05,360 --> 01:37:09,160
was probably in the late 80s, so
it wasn't super high tech back

1710
01:37:09,160 --> 01:37:13,400
then, but I just remember this,
this system and how for me it

1711
01:37:13,400 --> 01:37:16,320
was so complicated because I had
no idea what, what I was doing

1712
01:37:16,320 --> 01:37:19,120
at the time.
And, and then we had like a

1713
01:37:19,120 --> 01:37:25,440
Muzak like like system which was
called like ACS or AES or ASI or

1714
01:37:25,440 --> 01:37:27,360
it was 3 letters that started
with AI.

1715
01:37:27,360 --> 01:37:31,120
Remember that?
And they were like a competitor

1716
01:37:31,120 --> 01:37:33,680
to Muzak, but maybe a little
less money or something.

1717
01:37:34,600 --> 01:37:39,160
Yeah, that was that was that was
really the extent of my

1718
01:37:39,960 --> 01:37:42,640
underappreciated background
music and paging system.

1719
01:37:42,720 --> 01:37:44,600
That that's my experience in
that world.

1720
01:37:45,720 --> 01:37:48,120
So most you've done some crazy
jobs.

1721
01:37:48,800 --> 01:37:53,000
Most of the yeah, there have
been some weird ones, but yeah,

1722
01:37:54,480 --> 01:38:00,000
most of the money in the
industry is done in boring

1723
01:38:00,000 --> 01:38:01,920
audio, what I just call boring
audio.

1724
01:38:02,120 --> 01:38:06,680
And, and I steal that from Cody
Sanchez, who, you know, was

1725
01:38:06,680 --> 01:38:08,360
always talking about boring
businesses.

1726
01:38:08,360 --> 01:38:11,160
Boring businesses make the most
money, the most consistent

1727
01:38:11,160 --> 01:38:13,880
money, and boring audio makes
the most consistent money.

1728
01:38:14,280 --> 01:38:18,880
If you're not passionate,
passionate about audio, then do

1729
01:38:18,880 --> 01:38:20,920
commercial audio systems all day
long.

1730
01:38:20,920 --> 01:38:22,680
You'll, you'll actually enjoy
yourself.

1731
01:38:22,680 --> 01:38:24,320
You have a good time, you'll
make some money.

1732
01:38:24,320 --> 01:38:26,880
It's and everybody you know,
it's easy.

1733
01:38:26,880 --> 01:38:31,080
It's it's straightforward and
everybody needs it.

1734
01:38:31,080 --> 01:38:34,840
If you buy drive by a building
and they have a sign out front,

1735
01:38:34,840 --> 01:38:38,120
they are a customer.
When also the customer isn't

1736
01:38:38,120 --> 01:38:42,160
demanding that you use L
acoustic or DNB or or turbo

1737
01:38:42,160 --> 01:38:47,040
sound or whatever brand X you
know the customer doesn't demand

1738
01:38:47,040 --> 01:38:50,160
which product yeah they just
need to hear speakers they.

1739
01:38:50,160 --> 01:38:52,000
Just need they need the job
done.

1740
01:38:52,520 --> 01:38:55,200
And sometimes you get to do the
fun ones where they actually are

1741
01:38:55,200 --> 01:39:00,040
trying to create a mood to try
to create an ambiance, you know,

1742
01:39:00,040 --> 01:39:02,680
something that that is part of
their brand.

1743
01:39:02,680 --> 01:39:06,720
The brand essence is is
encapsulated in that audio and

1744
01:39:06,720 --> 01:39:08,600
the way that they're trying to
project it.

1745
01:39:08,600 --> 01:39:11,600
So you might be buying clothes,
but they're actual club

1746
01:39:11,600 --> 01:39:16,360
subwoofers in the clothing racks
that are actually in the racks.

1747
01:39:17,240 --> 01:39:19,800
Wow.
And playing really cool stuff.

1748
01:39:19,800 --> 01:39:22,400
I mean, I think it was the Nike
store in New York.

1749
01:39:22,400 --> 01:39:28,960
They actually had a DJ up in a
DJ nest that was hanging down

1750
01:39:28,960 --> 01:39:32,920
over the show, the showroom, the
store.

1751
01:39:33,360 --> 01:39:36,000
I can't remember if it was them
or but it was one of the name

1752
01:39:36,000 --> 01:39:39,600
brand companies that had done
this and they were playing real

1753
01:39:39,600 --> 01:39:43,200
music and it was just fun and
lively and kept people going.

1754
01:39:43,680 --> 01:39:49,480
If you're really passionate
about it, do do sound for bands

1755
01:39:49,480 --> 01:39:51,560
to do that stuff.
If you're looking for that

1756
01:39:51,640 --> 01:39:54,960
career, you're going.
I want to go and and learn how

1757
01:39:54,960 --> 01:39:57,280
to do this.
Don't go to recording school and

1758
01:39:57,280 --> 01:39:59,320
think that you're going to get
out and make 100 grand a year.

1759
01:39:59,320 --> 01:40:00,560
You're not.
You're going to make 20.

1760
01:40:01,040 --> 01:40:04,880
Yeah, and, and, and if you're
not happy about that, you really

1761
01:40:04,880 --> 01:40:08,440
chose the wrong Ave.
Go go start installing ceiling

1762
01:40:08,440 --> 01:40:10,800
speakers.
Yeah, yeah.

1763
01:40:10,840 --> 01:40:14,120
Although every touring audio guy
I know now makes over 100 grand

1764
01:40:14,200 --> 01:40:17,080
a year, so I think everybody.
Knew now, but they've been doing

1765
01:40:17,080 --> 01:40:19,560
it for 20 years.
Yeah, well, no.

1766
01:40:19,560 --> 01:40:22,920
And it's just since COVID, like
if you've got a pulse, you know,

1767
01:40:22,920 --> 01:40:26,080
and and half a brain and the
ability to travel, you're going

1768
01:40:26,080 --> 01:40:27,600
to make 100 grand a year
touring.

1769
01:40:27,840 --> 01:40:29,280
Yeah.
Well, if you're doing a tour,

1770
01:40:29,280 --> 01:40:31,160
that's true.
If you're if you're at the level

1771
01:40:31,160 --> 01:40:33,480
where you're capable of doing a
tour, then you should be

1772
01:40:33,480 --> 01:40:35,720
commanding that money.
Yeah, there's so.

1773
01:40:35,720 --> 01:40:37,600
Much work right now for for
people.

1774
01:40:37,600 --> 01:40:40,800
Like it just keeps blowing my
mind how the, you know, I keep

1775
01:40:40,800 --> 01:40:44,240
saying, OK, we've hit a ceiling
now and then boop up it goes

1776
01:40:44,240 --> 01:40:48,960
again, you know, and not just
for for quantity of show, but

1777
01:40:48,960 --> 01:40:51,560
also for for prices, for ticket
prices.

1778
01:40:51,560 --> 01:40:53,640
It's just, you know, like, I
don't know if you've been

1779
01:40:53,640 --> 01:40:56,040
hearing any of this stuff going
on about Oasis.

1780
01:40:56,080 --> 01:40:57,800
Have you heard any of this Oasis
stuff?

1781
01:40:57,880 --> 01:41:01,280
No Oasis.
The band is, is reuniting, which

1782
01:41:01,280 --> 01:41:04,160
is basically two brothers that
just decided they hate each

1783
01:41:04,160 --> 01:41:07,480
other and started just
completely annihilating each

1784
01:41:07,480 --> 01:41:11,600
other on social media and stuff.
And so, you know, they've

1785
01:41:11,640 --> 01:41:14,360
decided, hey, it's time.
So they've gotten back together

1786
01:41:14,360 --> 01:41:16,480
and it's just, it's like a
Beatles reunion.

1787
01:41:16,480 --> 01:41:19,600
Like it's just a frenzy.
It's a complete frenzy.

1788
01:41:20,040 --> 01:41:24,480
And ticket prices are just like,
it makes Taylor Swift look like

1789
01:41:24,480 --> 01:41:27,000
a bargain, you know?
Oh, wow, That's rough.

1790
01:41:27,000 --> 01:41:30,040
Crazy, crazy stuff.
Yeah.

1791
01:41:30,040 --> 01:41:32,400
So it's.
Always fun to do that stuff

1792
01:41:32,400 --> 01:41:34,280
though.
That's, I mean, if you're, if

1793
01:41:34,280 --> 01:41:38,560
you're running sound for a band,
I don't, I don't know how to

1794
01:41:38,560 --> 01:41:45,200
describe that.
Yeah, you have to live that.

1795
01:41:45,200 --> 01:41:48,200
I mean, when you have that
moment where you're running

1796
01:41:48,200 --> 01:41:52,360
sound and it actually is all
right, every last piece of it

1797
01:41:52,360 --> 01:41:55,040
sounds more like the album than
a live show.

1798
01:41:55,040 --> 01:41:57,640
At that point.
It's just magic.

1799
01:41:57,640 --> 01:41:59,480
It's Velvet.
You just feel like it's like

1800
01:41:59,480 --> 01:42:01,680
Velvet runs over you.
It's fantastic.

1801
01:42:02,240 --> 01:42:07,880
Yeah, So you know, this, I want
to get into obviously ABL we've

1802
01:42:07,880 --> 01:42:10,600
we've sort of skirted around the
edges of it a little bit.

1803
01:42:10,600 --> 01:42:13,360
And I happen to have known
Stephen Coster's.

1804
01:42:13,360 --> 01:42:16,320
I, I don't even remember when I
met him, but I probably was

1805
01:42:16,320 --> 01:42:20,000
working at a music store
somewhere in Calgary or Edmonton

1806
01:42:20,000 --> 01:42:21,880
even because I was in Edmonton
for a while.

1807
01:42:22,080 --> 01:42:27,480
But this would have been in the
mid to late 80s, probably closer

1808
01:42:27,480 --> 01:42:30,160
to the mid 80s.
So I'm talking like 40 years

1809
01:42:30,160 --> 01:42:32,840
ago.
So I've known him for 40 years,

1810
01:42:33,320 --> 01:42:36,240
always been a nice guy, always
been a guy.

1811
01:42:36,240 --> 01:42:40,480
That's that, Yeah, he's, he's
just a super guy and, you know,

1812
01:42:40,480 --> 01:42:43,480
typical flamboyant French
Canadian.

1813
01:42:43,720 --> 01:42:47,160
And, and so I get along with him
so well.

1814
01:42:47,160 --> 01:42:49,600
And I've always liked him.
And we've always every single

1815
01:42:49,600 --> 01:42:52,720
trade show, every year, it's
always been like, hey, Steve,

1816
01:42:52,720 --> 01:42:55,200
hey Marcel, how are you?
And we'll sit and talk for 10

1817
01:42:55,200 --> 01:42:57,160
minutes and, and that's about
it.

1818
01:42:57,160 --> 01:43:04,760
But you know, with with the
whole thing now with you going

1819
01:43:04,760 --> 01:43:08,560
there and, and Nick Owen as
well, you know, he seems to

1820
01:43:08,560 --> 01:43:11,720
really be making some moves like
that's that's two pretty big

1821
01:43:11,720 --> 01:43:14,560
hires at the same time.
Well.

1822
01:43:14,880 --> 01:43:19,480
With with two very, very clear
tasks and Nick, Nick, Nick does

1823
01:43:19,480 --> 01:43:21,280
what he does and he does it very
well.

1824
01:43:21,360 --> 01:43:24,600
And I don't want to do the parts
that he does.

1825
01:43:24,880 --> 01:43:25,560
They don't.
So what?

1826
01:43:25,560 --> 01:43:29,040
Is the separation between you 2
like explain the different 2,

1827
01:43:29,040 --> 01:43:31,680
two different roles of the two
guys because you literally were

1828
01:43:31,680 --> 01:43:34,600
hired at the same time, right?
Like I think the press release

1829
01:43:34,600 --> 01:43:36,840
went out at the same time and
everything, yeah.

1830
01:43:37,440 --> 01:43:39,440
Nick, Nick is top down.
I'm bottom up.

1831
01:43:41,080 --> 01:43:42,120
It's that easy.
Explain.

1832
01:43:42,120 --> 01:43:47,640
That unpack that for me so.
Nick deals with numbers and

1833
01:43:47,640 --> 01:43:54,040
corporate and and making sure
that everybody's programs or

1834
01:43:54,040 --> 01:43:58,600
targets or or you know, all of
that stuff is met and keeps

1835
01:43:58,600 --> 01:44:01,520
track of the upper business
portion of business development.

1836
01:44:01,920 --> 01:44:03,000
Yeah, OK.
So.

1837
01:44:03,000 --> 01:44:05,080
He might be dealing with
consultants or he might be

1838
01:44:05,080 --> 01:44:08,520
dealing with large integrators
or tour houses.

1839
01:44:09,200 --> 01:44:11,360
Sort of like the traditional VP
of Sales.

1840
01:44:11,560 --> 01:44:15,600
Yeah, so he's he is literally
working top down.

1841
01:44:15,720 --> 01:44:17,920
So he top of the company to the
bottom of the company.

1842
01:44:18,240 --> 01:44:21,600
I'm working from the guy that's
on the street who's got a job

1843
01:44:21,600 --> 01:44:24,520
that he's got to get done and he
needs the knowledge to get it

1844
01:44:24,520 --> 01:44:27,400
done and I'm working my way up.
Yeah.

1845
01:44:27,400 --> 01:44:30,880
So he's, he's hitting the the
big stuff over here and I'm

1846
01:44:30,880 --> 01:44:34,760
hitting the big wide funnel of
little stuff over here.

1847
01:44:35,920 --> 01:44:39,880
And because in the end they end
up being about the same size as

1848
01:44:39,880 --> 01:44:42,960
far as number and quantity of
customer and jobs and all of

1849
01:44:42,960 --> 01:44:45,520
that.
Yeah, but they're very, very

1850
01:44:45,520 --> 01:44:48,840
different approaches to how you
get it done.

1851
01:44:48,840 --> 01:44:52,920
So of course, really smart move
on Steven's part that he said we

1852
01:44:52,920 --> 01:44:55,400
need a guy to do that, but we
also need a guy to do this.

1853
01:44:55,800 --> 01:44:58,320
Yeah.
When you guys, did you guys

1854
01:44:58,320 --> 01:45:00,920
present yourselves as a package
or did that just happen?

1855
01:45:00,920 --> 01:45:03,560
Because I I think you both work
together at Harmon, right?

1856
01:45:04,040 --> 01:45:06,720
We did, but it was, you know, 11
years ago.

1857
01:45:07,200 --> 01:45:10,520
So it was just completely by
accident that this all came

1858
01:45:10,520 --> 01:45:12,440
together.
That is wild.

1859
01:45:12,440 --> 01:45:14,520
That's such a cool coincidence,
huh?

1860
01:45:15,400 --> 01:45:16,280
He.
He.

1861
01:45:16,320 --> 01:45:19,000
In the funny fun part.
And he'll he'll tell you this as

1862
01:45:19,000 --> 01:45:20,880
well if you if you talk with
him.

1863
01:45:23,280 --> 01:45:26,360
He had ended his his job with
Harmon.

1864
01:45:26,640 --> 01:45:31,080
I had ended a job with something
in between that.

1865
01:45:31,080 --> 01:45:34,000
It was just a an idea for a
minute there.

1866
01:45:34,240 --> 01:45:36,560
Yeah, not another.
Studio I hope.

1867
01:45:36,880 --> 01:45:38,800
No, no, no, no.
It's just, it was another

1868
01:45:38,800 --> 01:45:41,600
business that I went, that I
went into and it just was a poor

1869
01:45:41,600 --> 01:45:43,920
fit.
So we very quickly, like very

1870
01:45:43,920 --> 01:45:46,560
fast, just a couple months ended
that, yeah.

1871
01:45:46,560 --> 01:45:48,920
And I decided I was going to
take off until February.

1872
01:45:50,320 --> 01:45:52,920
I wasn't even going to look for
a job until February.

1873
01:45:52,920 --> 01:45:55,720
And I talked to Nick and he was
like, man, it was really weird.

1874
01:45:55,720 --> 01:45:58,080
I wasn't even looking for a job
until like maybe February,

1875
01:45:58,080 --> 01:46:00,680
April.
Yeah, that's fine.

1876
01:46:01,920 --> 01:46:03,440
Right now for a while and have a
little.

1877
01:46:03,440 --> 01:46:05,880
Time off?
Well, it's nice to do every once

1878
01:46:05,880 --> 01:46:08,000
in a while, just to exhale,
yeah.

1879
01:46:08,200 --> 01:46:10,760
And and this, this presented
itself.

1880
01:46:11,520 --> 01:46:14,520
And this is not something that I
was initially looking for.

1881
01:46:14,520 --> 01:46:16,360
And I looked at what they were
doing and I looked at the

1882
01:46:16,360 --> 01:46:18,200
brands.
I looked at the possibilities.

1883
01:46:18,200 --> 01:46:21,280
And it was like, wow, this is
actually, I'm going to have fun

1884
01:46:21,280 --> 01:46:22,720
doing this.
Yeah.

1885
01:46:22,720 --> 01:46:27,400
And I can tell you I I've been
at my desk since 4:30 this

1886
01:46:27,400 --> 01:46:31,440
morning for this.
So I got my first cup of coffee

1887
01:46:31,440 --> 01:46:33,880
at 4:30.
Married, travelling, freaking

1888
01:46:34,000 --> 01:46:38,560
300 days a year, going to work
at 4:00 in the morning, like

1889
01:46:38,560 --> 01:46:41,120
what the hell are you doing?
Well, I mean, if you walk

1890
01:46:41,120 --> 01:46:44,440
through that direction about
foot and a half, you're, you'd

1891
01:46:44,440 --> 01:46:47,520
actually fall into my bed.
So I work home.

1892
01:46:47,520 --> 01:46:49,920
Yeah, I work.
I work in the secret dungeon

1893
01:46:49,920 --> 01:46:54,120
known as my My Office.
Yeah, right.

1894
01:46:54,120 --> 01:46:58,400
Next, so I don't have to walk
far, but at the same time I got

1895
01:46:58,400 --> 01:47:01,040
up this morning I'm like you
know what I got some stuff I

1896
01:47:01,040 --> 01:47:04,360
just want to do so I got up and
I started doing it and and then

1897
01:47:04,360 --> 01:47:07,160
I realized I hadn't had a cup of
coffee and it was 7:30 in the

1898
01:47:07,160 --> 01:47:09,880
morning I'd been at it for three
straight hours and hadn't even I

1899
01:47:09,880 --> 01:47:13,040
know the same and it's like I do
the.

1900
01:47:13,040 --> 01:47:15,800
Same all the time.
It's not work if you love what

1901
01:47:15,800 --> 01:47:17,560
you're doing.
And I know that sounds cheesy

1902
01:47:17,560 --> 01:47:20,280
and corny and all that stuff,
but if you like what you're

1903
01:47:20,280 --> 01:47:22,280
doing, it doesn't feel like
work.

1904
01:47:22,280 --> 01:47:23,760
It just feels like what I really
want.

1905
01:47:24,000 --> 01:47:27,680
Like on Saturday, you know, when
my girlfriend's not looking, I

1906
01:47:27,680 --> 01:47:31,200
kind of grab my laptop and I.
And.

1907
01:47:31,560 --> 01:47:34,320
You open it up real secretly and
I'm not looking at, I'm not

1908
01:47:34,320 --> 01:47:35,960
looking at porn.
I'm looking at a stupid

1909
01:47:35,960 --> 01:47:39,360
spreadsheet or something, you
know, I'm just, I love doing

1910
01:47:39,360 --> 01:47:40,960
what I do, you know?
Yeah.

1911
01:47:41,120 --> 01:47:43,800
He's like, it only sounds corny
to the people who have never

1912
01:47:43,800 --> 01:47:45,840
experienced it.
True.

1913
01:47:45,920 --> 01:47:49,320
Yeah, people who hate their job.
Yeah, if you've experienced,

1914
01:47:49,320 --> 01:47:51,240
sorry for those people, you're
doing this.

1915
01:47:51,240 --> 01:47:55,360
Is this you actually have that
giddy moment like somebody's

1916
01:47:55,440 --> 01:47:57,640
paying me to do this?
Yeah.

1917
01:47:58,080 --> 01:48:02,760
So is, is your world with AVL,
is it, are you basically is it a

1918
01:48:02,760 --> 01:48:06,520
whole new division or is is it?
Yeah, OK.

1919
01:48:06,560 --> 01:48:09,280
So you're just organizing what
was already there and yeah,

1920
01:48:09,400 --> 01:48:11,120
making it better I.
Mean there, there are good

1921
01:48:11,120 --> 01:48:15,000
people all over this company
that work with this company that

1922
01:48:15,000 --> 01:48:19,200
are supporting this company.
And this is just kind of getting

1923
01:48:19,200 --> 01:48:23,040
ducks in a row that were already
there, but maybe just weren't

1924
01:48:23,040 --> 01:48:26,640
lined up or taking a new
approach to something.

1925
01:48:26,640 --> 01:48:29,560
And, and I'm just a I'm there's
nothing wrong with the company

1926
01:48:29,560 --> 01:48:30,640
and the way they were doing
things.

1927
01:48:30,640 --> 01:48:32,320
I'm just a fresh pair of eyes,
that's all.

1928
01:48:32,480 --> 01:48:36,560
Yeah, no, it's, it's always good
to bring in fresh people to, you

1929
01:48:36,560 --> 01:48:39,120
know, because like especially a
guy like Steven who's been

1930
01:48:39,120 --> 01:48:42,920
running his company for 50 years
or whatever, you know, bringing

1931
01:48:42,920 --> 01:48:48,200
in people at the level of of you
2 guys is such an incredible,

1932
01:48:48,760 --> 01:48:51,920
that opportunity or experience,
guys who have been with Harmon

1933
01:48:51,920 --> 01:48:58,080
and been with Bosch and EV and
just like that's amazing

1934
01:48:58,080 --> 01:49:00,080
experience to bring into a
company like his.

1935
01:49:00,680 --> 01:49:03,920
Are you guys just us, you're
just focused on the US markets

1936
01:49:03,920 --> 01:49:05,760
or Canada as well?
Just us.

1937
01:49:06,280 --> 01:49:07,840
OK.
Yeah, they have.

1938
01:49:07,840 --> 01:49:09,400
They have come.
They have all their people.

1939
01:49:09,400 --> 01:49:10,440
They're right up there in
Canada.

1940
01:49:10,440 --> 01:49:13,040
They can take care of all that.
When they have a completely

1941
01:49:13,040 --> 01:49:16,200
different operation in Canada,
like it's, it's the way they,

1942
01:49:16,280 --> 01:49:18,360
you know, all about it, the way
they run their business in

1943
01:49:18,360 --> 01:49:21,840
Canada is just totally different
than the Usus is a much more

1944
01:49:21,840 --> 01:49:24,600
traditional distribution sort of
arrangement.

1945
01:49:24,600 --> 01:49:28,000
Whereas in Canada it's, it's
different, yeah.

1946
01:49:28,200 --> 01:49:29,920
It's like a fulfillment
business.

1947
01:49:30,600 --> 01:49:33,320
OK, Yeah, I'm.
Not as familiar with that

1948
01:49:33,360 --> 01:49:35,320
portion.
So I would be speaking out of

1949
01:49:35,320 --> 01:49:36,760
turn to really even comment on
that.

1950
01:49:36,760 --> 01:49:39,360
No, it's a really.
Unique, I like it.

1951
01:49:39,360 --> 01:49:42,200
It's, it's an interesting and
very unique model that they do

1952
01:49:42,200 --> 01:49:45,680
in Canada.
You know, Canada for most, not

1953
01:49:45,680 --> 01:49:49,400
most, I would say for some
brands that they carry, Canada

1954
01:49:49,400 --> 01:49:53,320
is such a small market that you
have to treat it differently.

1955
01:49:53,320 --> 01:49:58,160
Like growing up in Canada in, in
our industry, I was always told

1956
01:49:58,160 --> 01:50:02,640
Canada is basically equal to the
New York market or the

1957
01:50:02,640 --> 01:50:06,400
California market.
All of Canada, the entire

1958
01:50:06,400 --> 01:50:08,880
country is equal to either the
New York market or the

1959
01:50:08,880 --> 01:50:13,560
California market.
And so, you know, it's basically

1960
01:50:13,560 --> 01:50:18,600
like 10% of the humans, 10% of
the business, and it might even

1961
01:50:18,600 --> 01:50:20,600
be smaller than 10% of the
business.

1962
01:50:21,120 --> 01:50:24,320
And so, yeah, it doesn't make
sense to try to do business

1963
01:50:24,320 --> 01:50:26,520
exactly the same way in Canada
as you do.

1964
01:50:26,520 --> 01:50:28,240
You have to.
You have to speak to your

1965
01:50:28,240 --> 01:50:29,920
audience.
Of course.

1966
01:50:29,920 --> 01:50:33,440
Yeah, of course.
So when did you officially

1967
01:50:33,440 --> 01:50:36,880
start?
September 1st Oh wow, you're

1968
01:50:36,880 --> 01:50:40,280
really new.
Oh yeah, let's see 26 days as

1969
01:50:40,280 --> 01:50:44,440
the calendar runs, but only like
20 on working days so.

1970
01:50:45,160 --> 01:50:47,280
And so you're based now in
California?

1971
01:50:47,800 --> 01:50:50,080
No, I'm in.
I'm in Richmond, VA.

1972
01:50:50,800 --> 01:50:53,120
You keep going back there.
What is it about Richmond?

1973
01:50:53,120 --> 01:50:54,600
Depending.
That this is my third time.

1974
01:50:54,600 --> 01:50:56,760
Third time.
Yeah.

1975
01:50:56,760 --> 01:50:59,640
Third time back.
Yeah, What is it about Richmond?

1976
01:50:59,640 --> 01:51:02,760
You just love the area or?
You know, it was the first place

1977
01:51:02,760 --> 01:51:06,160
that actually spoke to me that I
chose to live in.

1978
01:51:06,440 --> 01:51:12,200
So it's kind of like I left New
York, went to Florida, Florida

1979
01:51:12,200 --> 01:51:14,680
didn't.
It just didn't work well for me.

1980
01:51:15,680 --> 01:51:19,880
And so I was on my way back
north and we were moving back

1981
01:51:19,880 --> 01:51:25,280
north and stopped in Richmond.
Kind of like a we just need a

1982
01:51:25,280 --> 01:51:28,080
break from all the travel and
the moving and all of that stuff

1983
01:51:28,600 --> 01:51:31,760
and didn't leave.
For interesting years, huh?

1984
01:51:32,240 --> 01:51:33,680
That's interesting.
Yeah.

1985
01:51:34,120 --> 01:51:37,040
And I don't even think I've ever
been to Richmond, VA, to be

1986
01:51:37,040 --> 01:51:39,680
perfectly honest with you.
I think I'm going to have to go

1987
01:51:39,680 --> 01:51:43,640
now.
It's a very nice, it's the

1988
01:51:43,640 --> 01:51:47,680
people are very friendly.
Yeah, there's a lot of museums,

1989
01:51:47,680 --> 01:51:49,760
there's a lot of art, there's a
lot of music.

1990
01:51:51,600 --> 01:51:53,480
How big is it?
How big is Richmond?

1991
01:51:53,760 --> 01:51:57,320
I don't know how many people are
in Richmond as far as far as

1992
01:51:57,320 --> 01:52:00,680
population anymore, but I mean
it's a it's a decent sized city

1993
01:52:00,680 --> 01:52:03,520
but it's very spread out.
If you drive from one end to the

1994
01:52:03,520 --> 01:52:07,160
other, you can easily be 45
minutes.

1995
01:52:07,360 --> 01:52:09,640
Oh oh, OK, so it's not a tiny
city.

1996
01:52:09,800 --> 01:52:11,360
No, no, it's very, very spread
out.

1997
01:52:11,360 --> 01:52:13,400
They're not growing up, they're
going out.

1998
01:52:13,920 --> 01:52:15,360
Yeah.
Interesting.

1999
01:52:16,080 --> 01:52:20,840
So there's on so many festivals,
so many stages, so many

2000
01:52:20,840 --> 01:52:23,160
everything going around around
all those times.

2001
01:52:23,840 --> 01:52:27,160
Yeah.
Oh, it's 229,000 people, so it's

2002
01:52:27,160 --> 01:52:31,240
a fairly small city.
I just looked it up while we

2003
01:52:31,240 --> 01:52:35,120
were talking.
So yeah, I mean, you know, for

2004
01:52:35,120 --> 01:52:38,640
me, like I grew up in Calgary.
When I grew up in Calgary, it

2005
01:52:38,640 --> 01:52:42,520
was 650,000 people, 600,000
people, something like that.

2006
01:52:42,520 --> 01:52:45,240
And now Calgary is almost 2
million people, I think.

2007
01:52:45,240 --> 01:52:48,360
So it's, it's completely changed
in Calgary.

2008
01:52:48,360 --> 01:52:51,960
And, and, but when I moved from
Calgary and I ended up in South

2009
01:52:51,960 --> 01:52:55,160
Florida, I was always just in
kind of a state of shock.

2010
01:52:55,160 --> 01:52:59,440
How many people like traffic?
You know, I remember in Calgary,

2011
01:52:59,440 --> 01:53:02,440
it was like you'd be listening
to the radio and it'd say, you

2012
01:53:02,440 --> 01:53:05,720
know, rush hour traffic.
You stay away from Memorial Dr.

2013
01:53:05,720 --> 01:53:09,600
There's A2 light delay on
Memorial Drive, you know, A2

2014
01:53:09,600 --> 01:53:12,880
light delay.
And I mean, then I get to Miami

2015
01:53:12,880 --> 01:53:16,120
and I'm sitting in traffic for
like an hour and a half trying

2016
01:53:16,120 --> 01:53:18,120
to get someplace 20 minutes
away, you know?

2017
01:53:19,000 --> 01:53:20,760
I lived in LA and it was the
same way.

2018
01:53:20,760 --> 01:53:25,000
It was LA nightmare and.
LA is such a nightmare.

2019
01:53:25,440 --> 01:53:27,520
Oh, so bad.
Well, and, and the last time I

2020
01:53:27,520 --> 01:53:29,480
was in Dallas, it was just as
bad.

2021
01:53:29,760 --> 01:53:31,480
Dallas is getting bad.
Absolutely.

2022
01:53:31,480 --> 01:53:33,560
Just terrible.
Chicago's terrible.

2023
01:53:33,560 --> 01:53:35,880
Like all the big cities are just
crazy now.

2024
01:53:36,280 --> 01:53:38,640
Crazy.
But LA was always a super

2025
01:53:38,640 --> 01:53:42,200
special kind of crazy.
Like, I remember one time it was

2026
01:53:42,200 --> 01:53:46,760
like 1:00 in the morning and my
sales guy was driving me back to

2027
01:53:46,760 --> 01:53:48,520
my hotel and we're on the
freeway.

2028
01:53:49,040 --> 01:53:51,920
And all of a sudden the cops
start doing this thing on the

2029
01:53:51,920 --> 01:53:54,600
freeway where they're zigzagging
back and forth to stop the

2030
01:53:54,600 --> 01:53:57,280
traffic because something was
happening up ahead.

2031
01:53:57,280 --> 01:53:59,480
And I'm like, what the hell is
this?

2032
01:53:59,480 --> 01:54:01,320
Like, why are we stopped on the
freeway?

2033
01:54:01,520 --> 01:54:04,280
He goes, Oh, yeah, yeah, they do
this all the time.

2034
01:54:04,280 --> 01:54:06,960
Like it's just to, it's
basically to thin out the

2035
01:54:06,960 --> 01:54:08,320
traffic.
And I'm like, well, that ain't

2036
01:54:08,320 --> 01:54:10,120
working.
We're sitting here stopped, you

2037
01:54:10,120 --> 01:54:12,160
know, Like, tell me where that
is.

2038
01:54:12,360 --> 01:54:14,480
What's that doing for us?
It's crazy.

2039
01:54:14,920 --> 01:54:17,120
But I mean, that's just part of
growing up.

2040
01:54:17,160 --> 01:54:19,960
I'm part of a country getting
bigger and more populated I

2041
01:54:19,960 --> 01:54:21,160
guess.
Absolutely.

2042
01:54:21,560 --> 01:54:24,040
And according to Elon Musk, we
need more population.

2043
01:54:25,920 --> 01:54:28,400
Well, according to the current
statistics, we're about to top

2044
01:54:28,400 --> 01:54:31,760
out in two or three more years.
You think or or?

2045
01:54:31,760 --> 01:54:33,760
10 more years.
I can't remember what the number

2046
01:54:33,760 --> 01:54:35,960
was, but I was just watching
something on that.

2047
01:54:36,160 --> 01:54:39,240
If that's true, then we'll hit 9
1/2 billion people and start to

2048
01:54:39,240 --> 01:54:40,680
topple over and start going
down.

2049
01:54:41,160 --> 01:54:43,240
Yeah, no, we'll need AI and
robots.

2050
01:54:44,280 --> 01:54:46,560
But I mean, I, I don't know if
you've noticed this, but I've

2051
01:54:46,560 --> 01:54:49,600
certainly noticed that nobody
has kids anymore.

2052
01:54:49,760 --> 01:54:54,520
You know, like people who are in
their 30s and 40s and even 20s

2053
01:54:54,760 --> 01:54:56,960
like you used to be, couldn't
wait to have a kid.

2054
01:54:56,960 --> 01:55:00,000
Nowadays it's like, I don't
think I'm going to have kids.

2055
01:55:03,880 --> 01:55:07,360
One of my favorite movies, and
it's a terrible movie.

2056
01:55:07,360 --> 01:55:10,440
It's a dumb movie.
For anybody who's having that

2057
01:55:10,440 --> 01:55:12,640
thought of what you just
described there and the way that

2058
01:55:12,640 --> 01:55:18,240
things are changing, watch
Idiocracy, Idiocracy, Idiocracy,

2059
01:55:19,720 --> 01:55:22,280
Idiocracy.
You'll you'll, you'll look at it

2060
01:55:22,280 --> 01:55:24,080
and you're like, this is the
dumbest movie in the world.

2061
01:55:24,080 --> 01:55:27,000
And by the end, you're going,
this is a documentary.

2062
01:55:29,160 --> 01:55:30,960
That's funny.
Yeah.

2063
01:55:31,000 --> 01:55:32,880
I'll have to check it out.
Idiocracy.

2064
01:55:32,880 --> 01:55:34,960
Yeah, it's.
A it's a terrible movie.

2065
01:55:34,960 --> 01:55:37,160
I mean, you're going to you're
going to start watching it and

2066
01:55:37,160 --> 01:55:39,840
go, Oh no, I'm not getting these
minutes.

2067
01:55:40,520 --> 01:55:42,600
And you'd be correct.
But it's funny.

2068
01:55:43,720 --> 01:55:46,920
Yeah, well, I'll tell you what.
I appreciate you, James.

2069
01:55:46,920 --> 01:55:49,120
I appreciate you doing this.
It's been fun getting to know

2070
01:55:49,120 --> 01:55:52,520
you and and yeah, well, it's
been interesting working around

2071
01:55:52,520 --> 01:55:54,520
your Internet glitches.
I will tell you that.

2072
01:55:54,520 --> 01:55:57,120
Like I'm trying to piece
together, you know, 2 words out

2073
01:55:57,120 --> 01:55:59,080
of a sentence that had 20 in it
and go.

2074
01:55:59,120 --> 01:56:02,360
I think he said that, but that's
OK.

2075
01:56:02,520 --> 01:56:06,360
Hopefully you can get something
out of it that's not well.

2076
01:56:06,480 --> 01:56:10,960
I'm an expert at gibberish.
So I mean, I, I think, I think I

2077
01:56:10,960 --> 01:56:12,840
did pretty well.
And in the end, you're going to

2078
01:56:12,840 --> 01:56:14,800
listen to it and go, he didn't
make any sense.

2079
01:56:14,800 --> 01:56:16,840
That was stupid.
But.

2080
01:56:17,240 --> 01:56:19,560
No, it's been great.
Getting to know you and I really

2081
01:56:19,560 --> 01:56:21,400
like Steve Costers and I wish
you well.

2082
01:56:21,400 --> 01:56:25,040
I think you're in good hands
over there and and it sounds

2083
01:56:25,040 --> 01:56:28,520
like he's done really well
bringing you on board and and

2084
01:56:28,520 --> 01:56:30,360
your your counterpart there,
Nick.

2085
01:56:31,840 --> 01:56:35,280
So it's a good time.
We're either going to prove that

2086
01:56:35,280 --> 01:56:39,120
he was brilliant or or he's
going to have to go find more

2087
01:56:39,120 --> 01:56:41,680
people because that's that's our
job.

2088
01:56:41,680 --> 01:56:44,160
Is he?
He's a fantastic guy.

2089
01:56:44,160 --> 01:56:46,960
And I know that Nick and I have
really, really been been

2090
01:56:46,960 --> 01:56:49,360
enjoying working with everybody
up there, not just Steven, but

2091
01:56:49,400 --> 01:56:51,840
yeah, every Canadians.
Are frigging amazing people.

2092
01:56:52,720 --> 01:56:56,080
I just apologize, yeah.
Oh, I'm sorry I said that.

2093
01:56:56,160 --> 01:56:59,440
Yeah, I'm sorry.
So I'm sorry.

2094
01:56:59,840 --> 01:57:04,400
Yeah, yeah, I got rid of that
like because I first moved to

2095
01:57:04,400 --> 01:57:07,520
Chicago for a short period of
time with my then girlfriend who

2096
01:57:07,520 --> 01:57:12,760
became my now ex-wife and and
all of her friends used to be

2097
01:57:12,760 --> 01:57:16,320
like, sorry a you know, and
stuff like that, like just the

2098
01:57:16,320 --> 01:57:19,320
really dumb stuff, you know,
that they always give me shit

2099
01:57:19,320 --> 01:57:22,480
about.
And so I just, I forced myself

2100
01:57:22,480 --> 01:57:26,200
to drop most of the Canadian
Canadianisms, right?

2101
01:57:26,200 --> 01:57:30,640
Like, and, and I became much
more of a, an American from the

2102
01:57:30,640 --> 01:57:34,080
way I spoke anyways.
But now I spend half the year up

2103
01:57:34,080 --> 01:57:35,440
in Canada.
I'm in Canada now.

2104
01:57:35,440 --> 01:57:39,160
I, I have a, a house in the
Canadian Rockies that I built

2105
01:57:39,160 --> 01:57:42,320
about 20 years ago.
And so I spend this, I'm a

2106
01:57:42,840 --> 01:57:45,000
snowbird basically.
I spend the summers up here in

2107
01:57:45,000 --> 01:57:48,680
the winters in Florida.
And so I come up here and I

2108
01:57:48,680 --> 01:57:51,760
start talking like a Canadian
again and, and apologizing every

2109
01:57:51,760 --> 01:57:56,040
time I every time somebody bangs
into me in the grocery store,

2110
01:57:56,040 --> 01:57:59,640
I'm like, sorry, yeah.
Whereas in Florida, you'd be

2111
01:57:59,640 --> 01:58:02,320
like, hey, watch it, buddy.
Yeah, yeah.

2112
01:58:02,880 --> 01:58:05,880
Knock you out.
Very, very different, yeah.

2113
01:58:06,320 --> 01:58:08,200
Well, good luck to you and
hopefully I'll meet you at a

2114
01:58:08,200 --> 01:58:10,760
trade show or something at some
point and God knows you'll be

2115
01:58:10,760 --> 01:58:14,000
doing a road show that I'll trip
over and well.

2116
01:58:14,680 --> 01:58:20,000
The the the first video should
drop in less than a month with

2117
01:58:20,040 --> 01:58:23,440
the outline of what the video of
what the trip will be with all

2118
01:58:23,440 --> 01:58:26,240
of the cities and all of the
equipment that you can expect to

2119
01:58:26,240 --> 01:58:30,400
see on the trip.
The first run that I'm going to

2120
01:58:30,400 --> 01:58:32,920
have will be mid November.
Yeah.

2121
01:58:33,320 --> 01:58:37,160
And the first Test runs, we'll
do a test run and, you know,

2122
01:58:37,160 --> 01:58:40,360
kind of like an internal
training and scripting run.

2123
01:58:40,360 --> 01:58:42,800
Cool.
Well, if you ever get to South

2124
01:58:42,800 --> 01:58:44,520
Florida, let me know.
You know it'll.

2125
01:58:44,520 --> 01:58:45,960
Be South Florida.
That's where we're kicking it

2126
01:58:45,960 --> 01:58:46,360
off.
What?

2127
01:58:46,360 --> 01:58:48,000
Really.
That's hilarious.

2128
01:58:48,520 --> 01:58:51,200
Well, do me a favor if, if you
can remember to shoot me an

2129
01:58:51,200 --> 01:58:53,440
e-mail or something and just
say, hey, we're going to be in

2130
01:58:53,760 --> 01:58:57,680
South Florida at such and such
on these days and, and I'll come

2131
01:58:57,720 --> 01:58:59,040
over.
And say hello, I will send you

2132
01:58:59,040 --> 01:59:02,720
the dates I there in November,
mid November and I'll be down

2133
01:59:02,720 --> 01:59:07,320
there with the with the gear and
we'll either we bring them a

2134
01:59:07,320 --> 01:59:10,200
Midas HD 96.
Fun.

2135
01:59:10,680 --> 01:59:12,440
Don't even know what that is,
but it sounds amazing.

2136
01:59:12,440 --> 01:59:14,880
That's that's the big monster
console, that's the one you

2137
01:59:14,880 --> 01:59:16,400
wanted to.
Cool.

2138
01:59:16,680 --> 01:59:18,480
Awesome.
Well, thanks, James.

2139
01:59:18,480 --> 01:59:19,400
Appreciate you.
Fantastic.

2140
01:59:19,720 --> 01:59:20,520
Thanks.
All right, buddy.

2141
01:59:20,720 --> 01:59:22,000
Yeah, bye.
Bye.