One-Stop Shop
In 1999, Allstar Audio expanded again by developing a relationship with Canada’s Mobile Stage Rentals (MSR) to add staging to the inventory, and now owns two Stageline stages in addition to managing several others for MSR.”
More recently, Borne has incorporated a couple of D.A.S Audio line arrays to his inventory, as well as DiGiCo digital consoles. “When I took this system out, I just fell in love with it. To this day, it’s still the best system I’ve mixed on. Thank you D.A.S. and DiGiCo, you made mixing fun again.”
With each expansion comes challenges, but every successive move and expansion has further established Allstar Audio as a one-stop shop for production rentals, sales and installations.
And, over the years, Borne’s approach has proved very popular; so much so, he counts repeat customers as fully 90 percent of his business. Whether supplying systems for touring artists, or events like the Memphis Beale Street festival (as the company’s done for 19 of the past 21 years), or fulfilling production riders for the campaigns of political candidates and sitting presidents as far back as Ronald Reagan, in every case the people representing Allstar Audio are as important as the quality of the gear.
“Engineering is only a part of it,” he explains. “If something happens on stage and you’re working for the president of the United States, you want to walk calmly, with authority, and go up and fix it. You don’t want to run, because the Secret Service will shoot you in the ass.
“Integrity, honesty, professionalism; it’s the whole package. Relationships are what kept us going all these years, with our great co-workers, manufacturers, their reps, and some of the best clients out there.”
In Good Hands
Moving forward, Borne continues to cleave to that ethic when making decisions professionally and personally, nowhere more so than when deciding to move his family to Florida in 2003.
With three grown children, he and wife Kathy began making plans to do more for themselves, “the kind of things you don’t consider when you’ve got a bunch of kids in the house, because you can’t afford to,” he says.
Shortly thereafter, however, they got the news that Kathy was pregnant, but rather than put their dreams on hold, decided to make the move anyway.
While Borne may spend more time away from his Smyrna facility now, he always knows what’s there and that it’s in good hands. He also keeps quite a bit of inventory, including his Stageline rigs, near his new home in Merritt Island, FL.
While the idea of opening a permanent facility in Florida is under consideration, working from home has already paid huge personal dividends, allowing him to indulge a longstanding passion for boating and, more importantly, to spend time he wouldn’t otherwise be able to with his now 8-year-old daughter Annabella.
And while the recent economic downturn has made for a wild ride, it has also prompted Allstar Audio to develop a comprehensive internship program, which brings Borne substantial personal satisfaction. “Teaching is such a cool thing; we give our interns real-world experience, and I just love seeing the light go on in people’s heads.”
In continuing to chart the future of his company, he sees no reason to change the approach he’s always taken with his work. “We’ll go carefully. You’ve got to get the root system growing before you grow the tree up real tall, or the first wind storm that comes along will blow it over.”
Fast Facts
Job Title: Founder/president Allstar Audio Systems, Inc.
Location: Smyrna (Nashville), TN and Merritt Island, FL
Years in the Business: 37
Favorite tools: My iPhone and my ears
Worked With: Various Fortune 500 companies and presidential candidates, Alltel Communications NASCAR, Memphis in May International Festival and the Beale Street Festival, artists including Restless Heart, Charlie Daniels, Ronnie Milsap, T.G. Sheppard, Lee Greenwood, Diamond Rio, Jo Dee Messina and others.
Based in Toronto, Kevin Young is a freelance music and tech writer, professional musician and composer.