FROM THE TOP NOEL LARSON I ASHLY AUDIO
INTERVIEWED BY KATIE KAILUS
HOW DO YOU START YOUR DAY? I’m up fairly early, usually by 5 a.m. during the week. Ashly Audio has a robust international business, so I’m usually catching up on emails and requests first thing. From there, I like to catch up on our social media, review news and eat something light. I’m usually in the office be - tween 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m., and then I have a structure built for that day the night before … sometimes I even make it to 9 a.m. before it all changes! CAN YOU SHARE A LITTLE BIT ABOUT HOW YOU CAME TO WORK AT ASHLY AUDIO? A little over six years ago, my good friend Jim Mack, [who was the] Ashly CEO at the time, and I spoke about me coming up to Webster, New York, to look at the product plan going forward. I had just left Harman Professional and was taking some time off and was happy to help. I had known Jim for over 25 years, since he was at Alesis and I was at Musician’s Friend, and we DJ projects togeth- er while I was involved with Lexicon at Harman. After I visited, I sent him a report on what they were working on, what I saw as potential for the brand, but also how impressed I was by the team in Webster. Jim said, ‘Well if you think we should do this, maybe you could join us.’ Ashly matched well with what I wanted to do next in my career. I wanted to work for a smaller brand that had a lot of potential, where I thought I could make a difference. So, I made the jump into the VP of marketing and busi- ness development role. Then, a little over a year ago, Jim decided to retire, and I was asked to take over the general manager role. Big shoes to fill! Over this year, we’ve fo - cused on developing new technologies, new products and integrating new resources we have available to us as part of American Music & Sound, as well as Jam/exertis. INTERESTING TRAJECTORY. SO, YOU’VE BEEN IN YOUR ROLE FOR ABOUT A YEAR NOW? Yes, we’re working on a lot of great projects, and I’m not sure where the time goes. Add in the craziness of COVID, and it feels like I just got here. I’m the baby here, as well. We have multiple employees that have been here for more than 30 years. This is mixed in with a great batch of up-and-coming team members who are really making their presence felt. SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT WORK ENVIRONMENT. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MANAGEMENT STYLE?
I’ve been very lucky to work with some of the greats in the industry, and I try to take the best from all of them, as well. The key is knowing what you don’t know, hiring the best people and empowering them to do their best. I say often, my main job is to move obstacles out of the way of my team. I also want to help provide vision for where we’re going and what we can accomplish together. WELL, CONGRATS ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF ASHLY AUDIO. WHAT DOES THIS MILESTONE MEAN TO YOU PERSONALLY, AS WELL AS THE COMPANY AS A WHOLE? Thank you! One, it reinforces my story about how many great pro-audio companies were formed between 1969–1974, like Ashly Audio. If you think about it, Woodstock reset a lot of minds about what a large show could be, how touring could work and what the cus- tomer would want as an experience. But the reason all of these companies started was, there was no industry or products, really. They had to invent their own mixers and power amps and processors to put on a show. Take that to the endpoint and when people go see a massive show like Taylor Swift, none of that would have been possible without people deciding to, literally, invent an industry to support it. To Ashly specifically and our customers, it means that we have experienced everything and survived. You may last for five-to-10 years off a good product or two, but to last 50, you’re in rarified air. On top of that, we just attended the InfoComm show in Las Vegas were we showed one of our early monitor mixers that had been used by Johnny Cash. We were also the first power amp approved for THX — if you wanted to see ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ when it came out, you listened to it from an Ashly amplifier. Finally, we’re building on the brand awareness for the next generation of amplifiers, like the new EcoTour series and the AQM-Processors. IS ASHLY AUDIO DOING ANYTHING SPECIAL TO CELEBRATE THE ANNIVERSARY? All year we have great events, specials, trainings, swag and amazing new products to share. We’ll be le- veraging the history of the brand, as well as making customers more aware of what we’re doing today. We just released a video telling some of the history directly from the team and were able to spend time with Bill Thompson to hear great stories directly from the founder. The most important thing we can do, however, is to set
34 I MUSIC INC. I AUGUST 2024
Powered by FlippingBook