The company has added video to its roster of services, but Damron is quick to point out that it’s still early days: “We jump into things feet first, but we sometimes sit on things (gear) for six months until we’re comfortable with it.” Still, a video wall was part of the production provided for a recent date in support of Chris Rock.
Nonetheless, Above Sound remains compact as an operation, with five full-time employees and a pool of local and Nashville-based freelancers. Damron’s responsibilities have changed as the company has grown, but he still does live sound work as often as he can.
“I don’t like being one of those people who doesn’t know how things work,” he states. “I especially like working with freelancers to see how they feel about how our systems are working. Not that we’re doing anything proprietary, but just the way our systems connect, talk to each other, and how our racks and power distribution systems are laid out.”
This approach – an unrelenting curiosity about “how things work” – is one of the primary drivers of his efforts: “Most of the musicians I know, when they were growing up, fantasized about being on stage. I did, too, but I was also thinking, ‘Well, it would be cool to be running that.’”
He also realized that becoming a rock star was a bit of an unlikely dream, whereas working in audio and owning a company was much more likely actual reality…and a job. “One I could live off of,” he says, laughing.
Over time there have been moments that were integral to the company’s growth, but Damron again references his work with DeMarcus as a turning point; the moment where he realized exactly what he needed to do to move forward and grow as business.
“Mixing Jay, with his dad, was like what I used to get to do with my grandpa,” Damron explains. “He asked us to do three days with the band in three different venues in town so we set up and tore down every night. He steps up to play and he’s like, ‘everything’s great.’ I realized, ‘Here’s this guy whose band is selling out arenas, and I thought it was going to be a long day, but we set up our system and he was super nice. And, he had us back for the next three years to do the same thing.”
Rascal Flatts also appeared at one of the Buckeye Cruise for Kids shows, he says, adding that his own association with the charity actually began when he was working as a drummer with a country band that worked the cruise for two years running. It ultimately led to Above Sound’s ongoing involvement.
The company also works with another charity on an annual basis, Musicians Against Childhood Cancer, which supports St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Hoover-Y Park in Columbus.
Stepping Up
In early 2016 Damron turned over the company’s inventory entirely, making a substantial investment in RCF systems and acting as “ambassadors” for the HDL 50-A and TT+ line arrays. “Originally we were looking for a small-format line array box and demoed the HDL 20-A,” he says. “We bought eight of them to try out and they blew our socks off. For a small company, being able to get rid of amplifier racks and large boxes was great for us. So we bought more of them.
“RCF have been great to us,” he continues. “We started with them a little over two years ago but then went completely ‘in’ as one of the first companies to get the HDL 50-A rig. I really credit a lot of our success over the last year to that.”
Since then Above Sound has deployed its new RCF rigs numerous times, including the HDL 50-A for Three Days of Loud in Lima, the TTL 33-A at the Columbus Zoo for its “Zootopia” summer concert series, and the HDL50-A for a Columbus Symphony Orchestra holiday concert on the 4th of July weekend at Bicentennial Park as well as for The Werk Out Music and Arts Festival in Thornville, OH. (An HDL-20A rig was also deployed for the side stage at Werk Out.)
The company continues branching out, having added installation work to its growing list of services over the past few years, an effort that Damron says is flourishing, in part owing to partnering up with another firm with a national reach. Outside of work there’s little time for much else, although he still plays with Snowblynd – the same band he’s played in since high school.
His main focus, however, is ensuring his staff and clients are taken care of, and growing the business.
“Music and work really are my passions,” he concludes. “We’re slowly hiring more people, but we’re not looking to be the next big thing. We want to be the ‘go-to’ for our clientele, so we’re spending a lot of this year working with our vendors and finding out what’s the latest and greatest, so we can come out swinging.”