In Profile: Stan Miller, Continuing To Explore The Possibilities

Turning A Corner
While these were all wonderful experiences, Miller says, and were important to his development as an engineer/sound designer, it was a gig in Vermillion at the University of South Dakota in 1967 that would have the most dramatic effect on his career.

“I was on a bus and truck tour with Peaches and Herb, and Neil shared the bill with them. It was a little theatre, 300, maybe 400 people, and Neil’s road manager said ‘geez, that was good. Can you do a show with us in a week or two?’ I said sure, and I’ve never looked back.”

Miller continued to tour with Diamond and countless others while expanding his Nebraska-based audio company – designing and manufacturing the popular Stanley Screamers for Altec, working with JBL as a consultant/designer on their JBL Concert Series, opening an LA office and, ultimately, overseeing upwards of 100 employees.

Coordinating all that from the road was difficult because of the limitations of the communications technology of the time, but, even after his heart attack, he refused to slow down.He also worked at the Greek Theatre and Universal Amphitheatre as a sound contractor and designed systems for Pink Floyd’s The Wall – Live concert in 1981, the opening and closing ceremonies for the 1984 Summer Olympics, and Pope John Paul II’s 1987 appearance at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Rather than treat the onset of digital sound technology with skepticism, Miller became a driving force in its advancement – forging a 20-year partnership with Yamaha that led to the development of the PMD1 and PMD5 digital consoles, building a groundbreaking system consisting of 14 small Yamaha digital consoles linked to a computer that allowed recall of settings, pioneering remote control of digital systems and amplifiers, and doing an entire Neil Diamond show using PM1D software and a laptop as his control surface.

Miller at the helm of a Yamaha PM1D digital console.

As much as he loves technology, however, Miller cautions that a blind dependence on it can be counterproductive to innovation. “Some people are so locked in to how they’ve figured out how to do something – not because they figured out a better way to do it – but because somebody else does it that way. The entrepreneurs, the people who own sound companies today, they figured out how to do things that were unusual. That was their niche.”

Basis For Everything
Even when you have an eye on moving forward it’s important to keep an ear on the basics, he says. “Young guys ask me ‘what do I need to do to do what you do?’ And I tell them ‘first, learn to listen.’ I’m a classical music buff. I’m a big believer in listening to acoustic instruments and the acoustics of a room. I think that we have gotten so far in being able to tweak everything we’ve forgotten what some things should sound like.

“Go back to the basics. Go to a concert hall and listen. Get caught up in what’s happening acoustically – that’s the basis for everything – and then use all your tools and tweak the sound.”