Thursday, February 09, 2012
In Profile: Kevin Margolin & Atomic Professional Audio
Always striving for the next levelAtomic Professional Audio’s growth has always been fueled by their habit of expanding the services they offer, and their inventory, in anticipation of the evolving needs of their clients.
That ethic comes from the top down, from co-founder Kevin Margolin.
And it isn’t terribly different to the way he sizes up potential gigs with a critical eye ahead of time, in an effort to make sure every show run as smoothly as possible.
“When I look at a site – you know, other people are looking at how beautiful it is and how many people they can fit there – I’m looking at parking, drainage and roads,” Margolin says.
Call it a “glass half empty” outlook, if you want, but Margolin isn’t pessimistic, he just wants to be prepared if the metaphorical glass is suddenly in danger of being full to the brim with rain or snow. The Rutland, VT-based company often has to cope with less than ideal weather, and more than ever this past year.
“All summer I was a weatherman. If it’s sunny and beautiful, it’s a pretty easy gig to do,” says Margolin. When it goes the other way, however, “We do what we have to. If a truck gets stuck, yes, we’re ready. We’ll have a bulldozer. We’ll have a plywood road. The gigs where you’re hanging out and loading out in the mud and rain – those aren’t as much fun, obviously – but at the end of the day, to me, they’re rewarding. And because we do so many of them, we’re really good at them from an audio and production perspective.”
In The DNA
Founded in 1994, Atomic has grown from a small audio provider to one of New England’s premier full service production houses, serving high profile touring artists, corporate clients, colleges and regional festivals, and offering everything from event management, audio, video, lighting, backline and staging services, to system design and integration.
Among those who’ve been instrumental in that growth, Margolin points to his wife, co-owner and company president Kristin Margolin, as well as a “few guys” who have been with him since the beginning – Dave Serrani, Mark Trepanier, Keith “Buzzy” Buzzell – and some for many years, Tim Rollet, George Perone, Matty Serrani, Mike Alcorn, Matt Munger, Dan Ostroff, Billy Yager, Vic Hess, Dennis “DJ” Johnson and Evan McElhinney.
Born in Bridgeport, CT, and raised in Poughkeepsie, NY, Margolin began dabbling in sound at age 12. Through his teenage years, he worked both on and off stage with various bands. “I played guitar, but I did it pretty poorly, I’m sure,” he says, laughing. “My father had a sound company, SJ Margolin Sound, so it always seemed the audio thing was a part of my DNA.”
As it turned out, he preferred audio, but initially worked as an electrician after high school. When a friend, whose band was busily mining the regional club scene for fun and profit, asked him to do their sound, Margolin initially refused the gig. “I had a job. I couldn’t just take off,’ but my friend said, ‘this is so much fun. You can’t imagine how much fun this is.’ So, six months later, when they got into it with their soundman, he was like, ‘C’mon what do I have to do to give you a job.’ I said, ‘just ask again.’”
For the next year, Margolin gigged between four and six nights a week, hauling his own system and adding gear as necessary. Eventually he tired of the road, however, but was unsure what to do next. For a time he worked with his father’s company, but relocated to Rutland, VT in 1985 to start his own sound company with another engineer. The company did well for several years, Margolin says, but in time the demand for their main clients – club oriented cover bands – dwindled.
In 1989, a friend who worked for NJ-based Metropolitan Entertainment asked Margolin to be a promoter rep at a show. As more shows came to the region, he took on promoter rep and site manager duties, and within six months found himself working everything from theatre gigs to large-scale outdoor shows like the Grateful Dead, coordinating local crew, security, catering, sound and lights and everything else.
Pieces & Parts
Margolin saw the potential for a business that could meet all those needs, but didn’t have enough equipment to do so, yet. In preparation, he made strategic gear purchases, expanding his previous inventory with an eye to being able to capitalize on the need for production infrastructure in the region himself.
“If all of the sudden we’re renting a bike rack, or cable mat for 10 venues, I’d go buy it. I think not being in a metropolitan area was the reason that we spread in so many directions. I mean, how many times have I got to drive to Boston to pick up pipe and drape – then drive back and return it – before I say, ‘I need to have this in my shop.’”
It was an obvious succession, he explains. “There was a lot of technical work and I knew the pieces and parts and all the players in the market. That’s how I grew the company in the beginning.”
Knowing his customers wanted a one-stop shop, he also invested in staff members who could provide everything necessary for a given event, from sound to IT support. Staff size also increased to 17 full-time people as well as about 30 subcontractors.
As the company became known for providing efficient solutions for increasingly varied segments of the industry, Atomic’s client base and inventory grew substantially. “It seemed like we were doing just about anything related to the business and suddenly I was going, ‘Where did we get all this equipment?’” In the mid-2000’s, Atomic moved from a 4,000-square-foot space to the 12,000-square-foot facility they inhabit now, although they’ve outgrown that space and are looking for more room.
The move allowed them to diversify further and offer, in addition to existing services, substantial amounts of backline – an initiative Margolin took on personally. More recently, in 2011, the expansion of their lighting inventory was a major focus, Margolin adds, but maintains that one of their greatest preoccupation remains providing increasingly high quality sound.
Key Relationships
Given the dismal state of the current economy, the business isn’t as easy as it once was, but Atomic’s consistent efforts at diversifying have served them well. “2011 was a record year for us, even in this economy,” Margolin says, attributing the company’s success, in part, to relationships developed with key equipment manufacturers, artists and other regional production companies over time.
A relationship with Adamson Systems has been particularly helpful in the past decade. “That was tremendous for growing the company. Nobody has anything bad to say about the product. You either used it and loved it, or heard that it was great, or were curious whether if it really was that good. The kind of gigs we were attracting with those boxes brought us up to another level.”
From the late 1990s to the present day, artist relations have also been of great importance. “An artist would come through and say to promoters, ‘Don’t shop around. We want these guys.’” Although they weren’t aiming directly for the touring market, business landed in Atomic’s lap because of relationships fostered with acts like Linkin Park, who asked Atomic to provide a sizeable Adamson rig for arena and shed tours for the last four years.
Typically, regional festivals are a mainstay of the business, Margolin notes, adding that they’ve become increasingly complex undertakings. “There’s a high level of patience and detail you have to apply and ever changing technical needs. Used to be you’d drop a couple of analog consoles out front and a couple in monitor world. Now it’s 10 different digital boards and a lot of guys are traveling with their own desks, so that changes it quite a bit.”
While Atomic has a comprehensive inventory of digital desks on offer – including models from Avid, Yamaha, and others – Margolin still appreciates analog consoles. “I was just hoping analog would stick around longer, and I still have some analog gear I’m keeping. I’m not going to sell it.”
New Directions
As the inventory and services expand, Margolin wants to ensure that the level of customer service Atomic provides keeps pace. Not because he feels they fall short in that department, but because, “I think we could always do better. I don’t want one unhappy customer.”
Although they built their reputation as a “rock and roll” company, the number of corporate projects they take on has also grown significantly. Their gear, and the level of detail they bring to bear on every project, he believes, makes them an ideal fit for such applications, and often they’ll partner with other production companies to provide the best possible service and equipment.
Margolin places a high value on the associations with those companies, stressing that when they work together they do so out of mutual respect and the desire to help one another. “To me, there’s an ethical line; we don’t cross it, we don’t get close to it. There’s no reason to. There’s plenty of work. When we’re subbing for another company, we’re not going in there wearing shirts that say ‘Atomic’ and passing out business cards,” he says. “We’re competitors, we bid on jobs against each other, but we respect each other.”
At times, he has contacted those competitors to let them know one of their customers has approached him. In some circumstances, when asked to, “we’ll walk away from it. We built this business on being straight with our customers and other companies.”
As Atomic has grown, Margolin’s role has changed substantially. “My responsibilities of turning knobs behind a mixing desk turned into sitting behind a desk and running the business.” Although he rarely does sound these days, however, he remains hands-on in the field as technical director/production manager for various event management clients.
Atomic recently became the latest U.S. company to join the growing list of Adamson’s ongoing Project Energia beta partners, taking delivery of new E15 line source loudspeaker systems. While Atomic is a long-time Adamson user, Margolin notes that the performance of the E15 is “truly stunning. We’re also very excited to be a beta partner.”
Moving forward, the co-owners and their company team still base their decisions – whether related to expanding their services, client base, or inventory – on the most basic bottom line. “I’m a business guy, but I’m an audio guy and I’m not going to buy something just because it’s popular,” Margolin concludes. “At the end of the day, the guy sitting in the third row doesn’t care how long it took to hang the PA, or how lightweight it is, he just wants it to sound good, and so do I.”
Based in Toronto, Kevin Young is a freelance music and tech writer, professional musician and composer.
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