The only problem with talking to Michael Adams and Dave Shadoan about their contemporaries and the history of live sound is that so many of the stories they tell are unprintable on a family website! That same evening, Dave and I both went to the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach to hang out with our mutual friend, the pride of Tucson, Mr. Tommy Rat, and even more entertaining yet classified tales were told.

I had not known that Silverfish Audio was the precursor to the Sound Image of today, the morphing taking place around1983 and ’84. The original owner of Silverfish, Ross Ratto, is still an active owner and Dave’s partner in the current company.

Dave Shadoan and Michael Adams, as another workday draws to a close

Although ACE was started by Sound Image, and began building composite boxes in 1993, it is now a separate entity of its own. The composite products are still engineered and built by ACE, but then become the responsibility of the sales and marketing divisions of QSC, who refers to them as “Composilite” cabinets.

In addition to the ACE 500, the 215 sub, and the multi-use 1250 cabinets, there is also the ACE 1100 series, which can be purchased in either a bi-ampable model or with a passive crossover.

Some of the 1100’s are being used around the Disney park in Tokyo, as they are designed to both be weatherproof and also radiate an extremely wide 160 degree pattern.

Just a few mics

One of the things I noticed when I was looking at all the mics, tube devices, dynamics, and EFX in a back room at Sound Image was that the room was really pretty clean. I mentioned that to Dave and he replied, “Oh, yeah, we’re really big on that.” And it’s true, when I have visited the best-known providers, they all tidy up at the end of the day.

Sure, we have all known great techs who might not be able to dress themselves, if their wives didn’t do it for them, and looked like the character Pigpen from “Peanuts” before they got married.

But the people who are processing the most rentals per year have to keep their shop space open and functional, to make their serious workflow possible. And Sound Image is chewing up and spitting out quite a bit of gear per year. The list of people who have been doing this longer than Dave Shadoan is not very long, and many of them have gone into positions at manufacturers, or other sanctuaries further from the front lines. Dave is still there, working the phone, giving tips to mixers in crisis on how to handle band managers, arranging logistics for deliveries to far-off locations, doing his thing - Chairman of the Boards.