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Lloyd Sound
In the face of an industry trend toward ever larger and more specialized operations, John Lloyd survives - and even thrives - as a pro audio generalist. "If you want to talk to somebody who knows a little bit about everything in the sound business, we're the ones to call," he says. Since 1977, the Cortland, New York-based Lloyd Sound has offered regional clients a diversified mix of services, including system consulting, design/build installations and troubleshooting services. In the realm of production services, Lloyd Sound's reach extends throughout the United States and into parts of Canada, offering full production packages complete with lights, sound, staging and crews. For the past five years, the company has built its primary touring/rental audio system around an inventory of loudspeakers from Meyer Sound. According to Lloyd, his Meyer Sound products represent the culmination of an important concept - internal amplification and processing - that has finally come of age. "I've been working in audio since 1965, and I've seen other companies try out this idea in part, and then fall short," Lloyd explains. "But Meyer's self-powered systems intrigued me from the time they were introduced. They immediately solved problems as far as power balancing issues and redundancy among many other great features. We finally made the investment and we've had great success with them so far." Lloyd Sound's Meyer Sound rig currently comprises eight MSL-4 Horn-Loaded Long-Throw loudspeakers, six 650-P High-Power subwoofers and an LD-1A Line Driver. During the summer months, the Meyer Sound rig has enjoyed repeat bookings for the Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival and the Pocono Blues, Gathering and Classic Rock Festivals. The balance of the bookings is a mélange of county fairs, community events, corporate meetings, local engagements of touring shows and the occasional national or regional tour. Over the past 25 years, the company has worked with more than 1,000 national acts, while musically, Lloyd and the other mixers on his staff have worked across virtually all musical disciplines. "Shows just within the last few weeks include Everclear, The Robert Cray Band, and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones," notes Lloyd. Regarding his relationship with Meyer Sound, Lloyd points to solid technical support as a key factor in the high level of satisfaction with the company's products. "Of all the companies I've worked with over the years, I'd have to say the support from Meyer has been the best. Others have been very good, but there were some situations where I needed something fast from Meyer and they came through, no questions asked. The people at Meyer really understand our business; that's the bottom line." Lloyd's first exposure to Meyer Sound's advanced engineering extends back to a time before Meyer Sound was formally established. "I was providing stacks and racks for an Andy Williams show up in Syracuse in 1978," Lloyd recalls, "and they brought in a monitor system from McCune Sound that John Meyer had designed. At that time it was called the JM Series. I was blown away by the sound quality and SPL from a speaker system that size. Back at that time, it was almost unheard of. Nobody else made anything remotely like it. It took a while, but now we are proud to offer a house system that is the result of John Meyer's research since the JM Series was developed." Lloyd finds it interesting to note the close parallels between his company and Meyer Sound: both were established in the late seventies, and both were founded and operated by a husband and wife team. (Lloyd and his wife Roxanna jointly run the business, with assistance from a crew of six part-time engineers and technicians.) Although Lloyd's business runs on a comparatively smaller scale, he notes the common element of long experience. "We know this business from all the different angles," he points out. "We can provide lights, sound, staging and crews, and event management. We can also support larger companies as a subcontractor for bigger projects." With his strategic location in the geographic center of the Northeast, Lloyd foresees ample opportunities for expanding the reach of his business. In light of that fact, he is currently eyeing further expansion of his Meyer Sound inventory, most likely with addition of an M3D Line Array or M2D Compact Curvilinear Array system. This move would allow more flexibility and accommodate some larger venues, though Lloyd acknowledges that he doesn't expect to move into the realm of the national touring giants. "We have no plans to become a huge company," he confesses, though he quickly adds with a chuckle, "but I'm not going to predict the future. Strange things can happen in this industry." Lloyd Sound Systems March, 2003 |
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