How We Got Loud · Historical Archive

Live Sound Companies Archive

A growing research archive documenting the sound companies that helped shape live sound, touring production, regional reinforcement, installed systems, and the broader professional audio industry.

149

Companies

Countries

1924

– Present

100+

Primary Sources

⚠ Research in Progress — This is not intended to be a final or complete record. It is a working framework built to collect, organize, and preserve information before it disappears. Information may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. If you spot an error or have something to add, please reach out at HowWeGotLoud@gmail.com

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Origin

All 🇺🇸 USA 🇬🇧 UK 🇨🇦 Canada 🇫🇷 France 🇩🇪 Germany 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🇧🇪 Belgium 🇨🇭 Switzerland 🇸🇪 Nordic 🇦🇺 Australia 🇯🇵 Japan

Era

All 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s+

US Region

All Northeast West Coast Midwest Southeast Southwest Pacific NW

Founded ↕	Country ↕	Company ↕	Location ↕	Founders ↕	Known For

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About This Archive

This archive grew out of the How We Got Loud podcast and ongoing research into the history of live sound. The goal is to document the companies — large and small, famous and forgotten — that built the infrastructure of live music as we know it. Many of these businesses left almost no paper trail. The people who ran them are aging. The knowledge is disappearing. This is an attempt to capture it.

Key Sources

Pisfil Zavaleta, Sergio. A New History of Rock Music: Documenting Live Sound between 1967 and 1973. PhD dissertation, University of Edinburgh, 2019. 98 firsthand informants
Pisfil, Sergio. "Woodstock and the Live Sound Industry in the Late 1960s." Popular Music and Society, 2019.
David Dansky "Recommended Sound Companies" list, c.1973. The only contemporaneous snapshot of the US touring sound industry at that moment
Donahower, Sepp. "Stories of John Judnich." Personal written account (undated). Founder of Pinnacle Productions; commissioned the original Tycobrahe system
Barth, Jay "Hot Sam". Fanfare Sound chapter. Personal account, c.2020s. FOH engineer, KISS 1974–76; Bob Seger 1976–1992
Dawson, Stuart "Dinky". Personal history presentation, April 2011. 67-slide firsthand account
Mix, FOH Online, Pro Sound Web, RE/P Magazine archives
AES Pro Audio Reference — Pro Audio Names (aes.org)
NAMM Oral History collection
Community submissions via the How We Got Loud Facebook page
Direct interviews and correspondence with industry figures

Contribute

Did you work for one of these companies? Do you know of a company that isn't listed? Have a correction, a photo, a document, or a story? This archive depends on people who were there.

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