Mark Carlson introduced his company, started some 8 years ago with Jonathan Stoverud-Myers. They began with shows up to 3,000 seats, and were headquartered in Everett, WA, north of Seattle. Today they handle shows up to the 30,000 seat arenas, and growth made them seek larger facilities in Seattle proper. They call themselves the largest regional sound company today.

Mark described how his company packages systems and operators. He attributes his success to customer service - the customer is king, he says. He said that the company is thinking about branching out into sound system installation and consulting. In answer to a question about how he hires people, Mark said that he looks for a person who is very interested in learning the business.

Dave Stevens then took the group down to the equipment area. Dave described his co-workers Mark as the gentle-touch-customer-oriented part of the business, Jonathan as the accounts person, and himself as the rock musician liaison.

The equipment is tracked with a computerized inventory system called Hiretrack. Dave demonstrated part of the setup being prepared for his tour with Everclear. Large QSC Powerlight amps and BSS Omnidrive controllers were controlled through a Lucent Technologies wireless ethernet system for the "Qs Control" control system. A PC ran sound functions and a Mac Powerbook ran MIDI show control.

The group was led through the equipment storage areas and loading docks, then adjourned to the offices for refreshments and chat.