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Muse Productions
After a few years of focus on corporate work, Muse Productions has re-emerged as one of the leading touring sound rental companies in the southeastern United States. Muse now provides services throughout the North America, fielding system configurations to cover everything from hotel ballrooms to 20,000 seat arenas. To better serve current clients—and also become a prime contender for top entertainment tours—Muse recently sold its entire stock of (non-Meyer) loudspeakers and converted to an all-Meyer inventory based around the new M3D line array. "When our main corporate client, HealthSouth, decided to move their Road Show into larger venues, we knew it was time to make a change," recalls Muse CEO Robert Hawthorne. "I accepted an offer from Rick Coleman of Meyer to fly to California to hear the M3D in concert with Dido. When I saw the boxes go together so quickly, I was impressed, though still not convinced. But when I heard them I was awestruck. They had full range clarity to the back lawn of the amphitheater, and the overall sound was very musical. I auditioned some other new line arrays after that, but nothing came close." Hawthorne's associate for ten years, systems tech and FOH mixer Rolland Ryan, expresses similar enthusiasm regarding their move into the Meyer camp: "The M3D has all the throw and efficiency of a line array, and it's also very warm and musical. It doesn't have the sterile sound of some line arrays. "But it's also very accurate," Ryan adds. "You hear everything. It certainly keeps me on my toes." Hi-Fi Origins Concert sound reinforcement was not at the forefront of Robert Hawthorne's plans when he started Muse in the early 1980's. Rather, the company was originally founded as a maker of custom, high-quality home loudspeakers. "I had just graduated from college with a degree in industrial engineering and decided to go into business for myself," recalls Hawthorne. "So I started making high-end, folded horn loudspeakers. They were finished in hand-rubbed black lacquer, like the old Steinways. But it took about six months to turn out a pair, so when I came into possession of some PA equipment it was either learn how to use it or starve to death." Starting off with local bar bands, the PA business moved up through larger college fraternity show to regional tours. In its first flurry of success, Muse got a boost from extensive work with the Dave Matthews Band and Widespread Panic in their formative years, as well as one-off gigs and shorter tours with acts and events ranging from Aerosmith and Bruce Springsteen to Itzhak Perlman and the Miss Black America Pageant. In the mid-90's, Hawthorne decided to take a break from the constant touring to spend more time at home with his family. He sold the big touring rig and decided to concentrate on closer-to-home corporate work, primarily for the fast-growing sports medicine corporation, HealthSouth. But as HealthSouth's network of clinics grew—stretching from Florida to Alaska—so did their need for large-scale sound reinforcement capabilities. And that put Hawthorne at a crossroads. Reasons for the Road "I had entered into a non-compete agreement when I sold my touring rig," says Hawthorne. "When that expired last year, I laid down a few goals for getting back into that end of the business, one being that I would have to find something new that really excited me. And I also wanted to enjoy what I was doing. Meyer has accomplished both. The product is exciting, and the people I've met have been most enjoyable." Hawthorne says the HealthSouth shows will tie up his Muse M3D rig for nearly half the year, and he's already finding his new system is attracting attention from word-of-mouth. "We're looking at several tour offers for the summer," he says. "Also, I've been talking to Robin Magruder of Crossroads Audio in Dallas, Don Barber with Greyco up in Canada and Pete Diaz with Pete Diaz Productions in Miami about cooperative sharing to meet the demand for larger M3D packages. We're supporting each other, and it's a pleasant change from the cutthroat competition I've experienced in the past." The man behind the board, Rolland Ryan, also sees new opportunities opening for this "upgraded" version of Muse Productions: "Going to the Meyer system has definitely moved Muse up to the next level. After years of focusing on corporate work, the M3D has put us right back into the market for the big-name entertainment tours." But there's more to the business than a bottom line, insists Hawthorne: "The long and short of it is, that if I was going back out on the road, I wanted to have fun. Now I can honestly say that I am." Muse Productions August, 2004 |
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