Moderator: Good evening, and welcome to our chat with David Scheirman!

David Scheirman: Thanks, David, glad to be here.

Moderator: This is the third in our series of chats with guys named Dave.

David Scheirman: Don't forget "Another Dave"... :-)

Moderator: David, could you start with some background on how you got into
this business?

David Scheirman: There are lots of stories...all true...but the short version is, I was throwing papers on my route in Oklahoma City and heard a band practicing. They didn't have a bass player, and I noticed the drummer was in my math class at junior high. Plus, since my Mom had a station wagon, I had to haul the singer's Shure Vocalmaster once they let me into the band (and I got my drivers' license... :-)

The transition from musician to "sound guy" is one that many of us have made, I suspect. Having been a musician - and then learning basic audio - was a good platform to build on.

Tucci: The early days of reinforcement fascinate me. This industry is not very old, barely mature in real business parlance. I'm curious as to how things were done early on.

David Scheirman: Early on, depends on how early! I saw The Who play on top of a community swimming pool at a theme park, using Fender guitar cabinets for the PA. Vanilla Fudge toured with Bruce speaker columns. The Beach Boys used Sunn Studio PA speakers (JBL loaded) on tripods.

Probably one of the biggest innovations was when larger horn-loaded gear (like RCA cinema bins) were used to get better bass response. Iron Butterfly hauled Altec multicells to the U.K. and stimulated a lot of development in horn loaded systems from folks like Stephen Court and Dave Martin

Tucci: I mean the early rigging experiments, the advent of MSI's proprietary
gear, as well as Northwest and Clair.

David Scheirman: OK - early hanging systems were funny (and awkward) by today's standards. Some firms built huge, flat heavy steel platforms and loaded bins & horns on top, then hoisted them up. It all started to come together when CM Lodestar agreed to offer a standard inverted chain motor hoist in their product line. That let us all start pulling loads up from pre-hung points. That was around 1973-75.

Tucci: Could you tell us some of the artists you worked for and for how long. Was there a natural progression of artists or all to chance?

David Scheirman: Artists worked for...well, I began with R&B/gospel. Was working with Andrae Crouch and the Disciples in the mid 70's when they were awarded "Best Gospel Group" by Billboard magazine.