Photos, recordings and anecdotes from the sound-desk - from dusty Township Jorls to dim lit coffee bars and Union meetings; from the Free People's Concerts to those ridiculous Road Show tours. Bill Hanley - Hanley Sound Boston, USA - a sound pioneer and visionary - was directly responsible for starting a remarkable industry in Africa. The great pity is, that few new generation sound people know that. What sound engineer or radio jock in the USA or UK would not know their music & sound history? It's not as if we never had a history - the sad thing is that many corporate individuals in the business don't want to 'waste time' getting to know. We have had a checkered, colourful history (forgive the politically incorrect puns) of our own. Let's hear about it & stop hiding. Nobody in the music industry has a better overall perspective of what goes into a show, tour, festival or club, than the 'sound person'. They are involved in every aspect of music and on all levels of "die groot politiek".
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 PA History Sound Safari
Part 2 - Wedgies from Woodstock to Soweto. David Marks let's you peep into a draft chapter of the Hidden Years Story.
...read the story >>
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 Ken E. Henson & David Marks - NUSAS / 3rd Ear / SAFMA Free Peoples Concert - Wits 1973. Note the Bell Bottoms, rotary pot Shure Mixers & the 'State-of-the-Art' 3rd Ear Sound System with the famed 'Woodstock Bins' - in front of the Wits Great Hall.
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 Waiting for Wilson Picket, The Young Rascals & Sly & The Family Stone. Hanley Sound Director Dave Freese (ex- Management of the Jefferson Airplane) takes time out with French Sound Engineer Sam & crewmember Scott Holden - Harvard University Baseball field 1969. Interesting speaker placement! Besides the stage stacks, the Stadium was 'ringed' by a dozen or so JBL / ALTEC 15 - 4's and driven by Mac & Crown DC 300 Amps. The 'natural' delay of the stadium was used to amazing effect - as long as the stands were full it worked. We are not sure if any delay lines were used - most probably was. Bill Hanley was (and still is) a sound visionary & pioneer - and as primitive as Rock 'n Roll systems & delays were in those days - he got amazing results. If the stands had been empty the slap back would have been uncontrollable - and the musicians on stage would have had a problem. But with a cast like that, it was a full house.
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The Woodstock Mixing Tower from on-stage - That's what drove the most famous Rock festival in history? A batch of 4 channel Shure rotation pots?
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David Marks mixing at the Free People 's Concert Wits 1974 - photo by Frank Black (The Star).
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The Woodstock Bins Soweto - 1972
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The Woodstock Mixer - Soweto - 1972
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