The Long And Winding Road With Bill Ostry

Bill has been with Shure for nearly 12 years now and is a Regional Sales Manager for the Pro Group. It was a long and winding path that led Bill to Shure, starting with his time at college. Bill bounced around between 6 different majors before he settled on studying acoustics at Columbia College Chicago. He’s worked throughout the country designing AV systems. He did briefly consider a career at In-N-Out, which would have allowed him to party on the beach in California. Instead of pursuing that, however, he helped his brother start a new business back in Chicago that was unrelated to the AV industry. After a few years, he reentered the industry when he joined the team at Radio Design Labs and soon was hired to work at Shure.

Besides Bill’s professional career, we learn about his musical family, his career in music, and how much he depended on Wendy’s chili while in college.

About Bill Ostry

Bill is a seasoned professional with a deep-rooted passion for audio and technology. With nearly 12 years of experience at Shure, he currently serves as a Regional Sales Manager for the Pro Group. Bill's path began at Columbia College Chicago, where he studied acoustics after exploring six different majors. His career in AV system design has taken him across the country, shaping his expertise and perspective in the field. While Bill briefly considered a career change to In-N-Out for a taste of beachside living, he instead chose to support his brother in starting a new business in Chicago, eventually leading him back to the AV industry and to Shure. Beyond his professional endeavors, Bill enjoys woodworking and home DIY projects. Connect with Bill on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/billostry

Make sure to listen and subscribe to the Sound Connections podcast on your favorite podcasting apps including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts!

Clinton

Welcome to another episode of Sound Connections. Today we've got Bill Ostry from Shure. He happened to be in town doing some work with us so we thought we would wrangle him in here and get him in front of a microphone, a Shure microphone.

Bill

Good thing it's a Shure microphone.

Clinton

Thanks for coming.

Bill

Thanks for having me. Excited to be here.

Clinton

Yeah, yeah we're excited to have you here.

Bill

Glad we got that out of the way.

Clinton

Yeah exactly. You're excited because it's like minus 20 where you're from.

Bill

Yeah, it’s freezing. There was a snowstorm on the way here so happy to get on a plane and get into some 50 degree weather.

Clinton

50 yeah. Which is really hot.

Bill

Which is about 45 degrees warmer than it is in Chicago right now.

Clinton

You did get here right at the peak of our cold front. so last night was 39. I think tonight's gonna be a little low like that too, but uh and then, by the way I'm sad to tell you, like I didn't check today but last time I checked it's going to rain all day tomorrow, yeah so cold and rainy tomorrow. But by Wednesday, Thursday especially when you're down in Miami it'll be great.

Bill

No It's not snowing so I'm happy. Alright. That's a good start.

Clinton

So you're here on behalf of Shure here in Florida.

Bill

That's correct.

Clinton

To work with us on some stuff and see some customers. So how long you work there and how did you get there?

Bill

Now that's a tough question. I think it's 12 years.

Clinton

Was it like a work release program or something or did you just?

Bill

I just kept showing up and eventually they just let me in. I worked for another manufacturer prior to this for several years, and eventually, I was connected with the right person through another rep and said, hey, you know, they were looking for someone to fill in the market development position and my background just seemed to be just kind of the right fit for that, and I was lucky enough to get an interview and the rest is kind of history.

Clinton

Nice. Who'd you have to interview with first?

Bill

So I interviewed with Jim Schantz.

Clinton

Yeah, I know Jim. That must have been fun. At the same time, a little scary.

Bill

Yeah, that was probably the most comical interview I've ever been a part of. He's so funny. I mean, he's just a great person to interview you. And then of course Rick Renner and the whole line I had.

Clinton

Man, Rick's already been there more than 12 years?

Bill

Yeah, he's been there longer than me.

Clinton

Holy smokes, time flies.

Bill

Because you're more than me.

Clinton

Okay, all right. So the market development position, so back then we didn't have the pro and systems divided. So you were—

Bill

Yeah, we were actually pro systems and retail were all still under the same umbrella. So when I came on board, it was right about the time that we were about to release just before MXW came out, I believe, and ULXD, it's all jumbling together. That's how long I've been there. But at that time, it seemed to make more sense that we could do a little bit more benefit to our customers and to the company by splitting off the pro and systems as its own group.

Clinton

Right.

Bill

And retail had its own vertical as well. So we could actually cater to the customers a little bit better and do each one of those verticals a little bit more justice. And then it was so successful that we had an opportunity to once again split off pro from systems, just because those are two very different groups as well. And it's been really successful for both the company and the customers because we can get a lot closer to the needs of the different aspects of the different verticals. Because you've got someone that's a retailer, they don't really need to know about what's going on in the broadcast studio, for example. Who doesn't need to know about what's going on in the corporate boardroom. So that way we can tailor to each one of those groups and have specialists associated with each one of them. So it's been really good.

Clinton

So now you're our regional sales manager for pro, but going back, what drew you to the business development position? I mean, to me that sounds like a fun gig. Like, I see some of the other BDMs and what they get to do for their jobs, but what drew you to that?

Bill

Well so prior to Shure I was with another manufacturer, a sales manager there, which was actually my second go around with that manufacturer because I took actually a three year hiatus away from the industry. And I had a company with my brother in Chicago. So prior to that, I worked with that manufacturer for a couple of years as a system sales engineer. And then when I came back, I rolled into a sales manager position. But all of that actually going farther back, I really got my start off in the industry while I was studying audio and acoustics at Columbia in Chicago. I did several internships and one was with a company called Bridgewater Custom Sound, which if you're from Chicago and you are in audio and production, everyone has taken their turn there. I don't even know if they're still in business. I don't think they are anymore. But everyone that it was like a rite of passage. I still come across people now that like, hey, you work there? I didn't know you worked there. I worked there too. Actually, someone recently, he was working in shipping at the same time I was there. We'd never even met each other when we were working there. So anyway, Bridgewater was a production company, but they also had an integration side. So I was studying systems design at Columbia. So I did an internship there, and then I got hired and I was working there. And then I had an opportunity to do another internship at a company called Kierkegaard in Chicago, an acoustics internship. So I started there under the acoustics umbrella. And then one of the other fellows there realized that I knew the systems design side. So he kind of snatched me and took me under his wing and really just fostered my growth in that side of the industry. And so I worked there for a little while.

Clinton

So what kind of firm were they? Were they consulting or?

Bill

Consulting, yeah, it was consulting. Mostly performing arts facilities. So concerts, theaters, things like that. And it was great, and it taught me a lot. And I got a chance to learn, to speak with all different types of individuals in the industry, from architects to the end users to everyone in between. Right. So it was really good. And then I had an opportunity to come move to Florida. So I moved to—

Clinton

Yeah, that's that was…you told me that story once.

Bill

But yeah, that was a wild ride. And I went to work for another company down in Miami. I got down there, you know, so I'm from Chicago. I got on a plane, left very stormy middle of winter, Chicago. I landed. I saw the palm trees and I was sold like instantly. And when I went in there, I went into this office. There were several cubicles full of engineers drafting and putting together designs. And the person that had hired me, I don't remember exactly how we got introduced, but I think it was at a trade show. He caught wind, he caught my name from someone else and he hunted me down at the trade show. So kind of interviewed me on the spot and then convinced me to come down for a formal interview, which I did. So anyway, six months later, I was down in Florida. I walked in, he said, this is my last week. Oh, no. And I turned around, like everyone else, all the cubicles were empty because all the other engineers had quit. Turns out this place was kind of a revolving door for engineers. So I got thrown into the hot seat and I was doing some pretty big jobs, not only from systems design for like the venues, because these were multi-room designs. And so I was doing a lot of those and designs I had no business doing on some of the some of the aspects. Like one was like a boardroom, for example. I never designed a boardroom in my life. So I was kind of thrown into the hot water, the boiling water and just treaded and kept my head above water for about a year and a half. Got to do a lot of designs when I was there. So I moved on there and like three months later, 9/11 happened.

Clinton

Oh, right.

Bill

So the company that I was working for had to completely do what they were even working on. Right. It was cruise ships at the time. That's what I was brought down there to do was work on cruise ship designs. And so next thing you know, we were bidding on theater jobs with a whole crew of people that didn't know anything about doing the land-based jobs. It was really quite interesting. So at that time, I got to meet another rep that was in Florida. And he said, “hey, you know what? I know these guys out of California that are looking for someone with some of your qualifications.” I said, OK. So he connected me with Jerry Clements from RDL. So I ended up flying out to meet him in California. I got off the plane and I smelled all the wildflowers. It was just like the sun was shining. It was like it was just one of those amazing moments where I got the plane. I was like, I hope this goes well, because this could be kind of cool. And I always wanted to learn how to surf. And I was like, what could be worse than living in Santa Barbara? So that did go well. I got a chance to work with RDL for a couple of years. And then unfortunately, Jerry passed away. So at that point, I had a decision to make. California, as you can guess, is so expensive, right? So expensive. At the time, I was actually renting a room with four UCSB grad students.

Clinton

Oh, my gosh.

Bill

In this townhouse. Because I mean the housing was so expensive out there and, yeah you know, at the time um so I was living with these guys and my rent was insane. It was like 400 bucks a month, which is like I actually was living next door to them, renting a room with another guy paying like twice as much. And they were like, “hey, this guy just moved out. Do you want to take his spot?” So I went in like as soon as my lease ended, I moved in with the grad students. So there was a there was a point where I was like, “I know, you think I could make enough money working at like In-N-Out Burger, to pay, you know, 400 bucks a month to live with some UCSB grad students and hang out and, I don't know, go to the parties and have a good time.” But then my brother called, I was talking to my brother and he had just started a company in Chicago. I put two and two together and I thought about it a little bit more. And I was like, “you know what?” This was maybe an opportunity for me to go back to Chicago and be closer to my family. And because I've been gone for a couple of years at that point. And I ended up having a printing and mailing company with my brother. So it was a good time. There's nothing like running a business. I'm sure you can attest to the complex nature of managing multiple employees. Not that employees are bad, but everyone's got a personality. And then you've got worse, like which is the customers, not worse. Customers are great.

Clinton

Yeah, well, no, it's a challenging gig, right? It's a challenge. It can be rewarding, but it can also be draining, right?

Bill

It can be draining. And we had an amazing group of people that were part of it. And it was awesome working with my brother. But eventually, after a few years, we were working our asses off. And at some point, we kind of looked at each other. We had to come to Jesus talk. And it's like, you know what? I don't think this is not going well for any one of us because we were all working so hard and we were growing the company exponentially. It was going great, but it was just burning us out. So at that time, my friend Jeff from RDL gave me a call and said, “hey, you know, I'd love to have you back.” And so that was just perfect timing.

Clinton

But you didn't have to move to California that time.

Bill

That time, I did not. Right.

Clinton

So you had to stay in Chicago and work for RDL?

Bill

Yeah. So I could work out of Chicago because I was traveling all the time anyway. Yeah. So yeah, exactly.

Clinton

So it's quite common.

Bill

It just made more sense for them and for me. And although I wouldn't have, if they told me I had to go move back to Santa Barbara, I probably would have been fine with that. You know, so I went back to work for RDL and worked there for about a year and a half. And then someone tipped me off that Shure was looking so... Threw my hat in the ring.

Clinton

Yeah. Hometown.

Bill

Yeah. And, you know, everyone from Chicago is like, you know, that's, if you're in audio...

Clinton

That's the company.

Bill

That's the company you want to work for, right? And I've been totally blessed and lucky up to this point. Us too. There's lucky and blessed. I don't know which one comes first. It's been a tremendously rewarding…uh, ride at this point, you know, up to this point.

Clinton

So I'm curious, two things, but we'll start with the first. So if we go way back, why audio? Like, so many people in our industry are musicians. Are you? Aren't you?

Bill

I've got a family of musicians. Okay. For the most part.

Clinton

Like that gypsy band you were talking about?

Bill

Not quite a gypsy band. So I'm the youngest of five and I've got four older siblings and all of them, except for one, my oldest brother didn't play any instruments. I don't think. But he was, he definitely was, you know, in choir and stuff like that. So he was, he sang, but my sister played piano and timpani and percussion. And my brother Jim played the drums and my brother Pat, he played the bass guitar. There was always music at the house.

Clinton

So I like the music outside right now. You hear the car. It's like a car.

Bill

So I'm a drummer and I can't hear anything. Okay. Everything like 4k and above. It's just all right.

Clinton

Well, this is low. This is low. Like, okay.

Bill

Well, I guess everything below 4k is also.

Clinton

So anyway, so you had this family, your brothers and your sister.

Bill

Yeah. Yeah. You know, so we had, there was always, always music at our house and my brother went away to college and he said, you know, so I'm, I'm the youngest of five, but there's like a seven year gap between me and the next oldest brother. I was the, I guess, oops, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. My mom always said I was intended. I'm like, yeah, whatever.

Clinton

Yeah. That's what she tells you.

Bill

Yeah, exactly. So when my brother Jim went away to college, he was like, he couldn't bring his drums to college. So I just, I just commandeered him. And so I started playing when I was about five, when he came back from college, you know, this is the story you always tell us. Like I was, apparently I was like, “can you do this? Can you do this?” And I just kept like, you know, cause he was my older brother. I wanted to be better than him. Right. Eventually he just looked at me and was like, just keep the drums.

Clinton

Keep the drums. Yeah. Nice.

Bill

We always had amplifiers and, you know, PA, and we had pretty funny. We had this, um, sudden, have you ever seen those custom, like the vinyl covered column loudspeakers with custom amplifiers? We had one of those. It was like, nice. It was…

Clinton

So how'd your parents feel about all this? Like all you loud.

Bill

They loved it.

Clinton

They were cool.

Bill

They were cool. Yeah.

Clinton

What about your neighbors? They're cool.

Bill

I think they, I think in general, I mean, we had a really, really tight block where I grew up and a lot of the neighbors thought it was awesome. Yeah.

Clinton

So cool. Yeah. You must've been talented. Otherwise they might've had something to say.

Bill

You know, I would love to say that I was talented, but, um, I think my parents probably deserve an award like any other parent of a percussionist.

Clinton

Yeah. Yeah. We had another drummer here on the podcast and similar. Yeah. Just parents were very patient. Yeah.

Bill

Yeah. I don't know. Uh, I don't know how they did it. Maybe they, maybe when I wasn't looking, they were actually out of the house cause I was playing at, I just put on my pants and just started playing.

Clinton

So you go from, you know, starting drums at five playing, and you play in high school, like did you, were you in band or, or in a band?

Bill

I was in a couple of bands in high school. So I was in the school band. Well, first couple of years in high school, I was into sports. Then I blew out my knee. So I joined the marching band and also the jazz band and orchestra, I think. Eventually, I joined the marching band and actually became a music major in college. So eventually I moved into that. But through high school I was in, I was in, you know, garage band, a garage band, I guess, a couple of them. And we used to play these awesome Epic shows. I mean, they were, they were pretty fun because we were totally mischievous, but we'd take over someone's house and we'd probably have like between a hundred, two hundred people at these houses.

Clinton

Oh wow.

Bill

And there was, there was our band and then there was another one or two other bands that we were all just, we were all just totally having fun.

Clinton

Uh, nice.

Bill

We, the shows were pretty awesome. We had a lot of fun doing that. One of the bands, I still love the name of it. So we only played one show because we got asked to play this show at the school outdoors during lunch. Uh, but we decided to put together this band. It was called Hooked on Skonix. I still love the name.

Clinton

That's a great, great man. Yeah.

Bill

Played one show and you know, the bass player broke a string in the middle of it and we got like four songs and then we stopped. We never played again.

Clinton

Oh my gosh. That's a shame.

Bill

But uh, yeah. And then, you know, like college was, uh.

Clinton

But how did you get from drummer to like acoustics? I mean, very like, I don't know many people that purposely go to college for acoustics. So how'd you figure that out?

Bill

So acoustics was the, uh, I don't know, the seventh major that I had.

Clinton

Okay.

Bill

So I started off, it's funny enough, like this is, it's going to go crazy. So I went to SIU originally for aviation, uh, because I wanted to go be a pilot. Um, and I got there and I was like, eh, uh, and so what am I going to do?

Clinton

What was it you didn't like about that? I was just curious.

Bill

I just, you know, I, I think I thought about it more and I was like, that's not really,

Clinton

Yeah. Your heart wasn't in it.

Bill

It'd be, it'd be like fun to get a private pilot's license and maybe fly, you know,

Clinton

But not doing commercial.

Bill

Yeah. Not, yeah. Yeah. That doesn't, that didn't really seem that appealing to me after a while. I think I didn't really have a plan.

Clinton

Right.

Bill

It's probably the reality. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, but so I picked aviation and SIU is like one of the best schools to do that. So that's where I went. Um, one of my brother's friend, uh, friends went there, uh, for aviation. He did really well. So I was like, I'll just go there. Uh, and it's also one of the only schools that accepted me. I wasn't exactly the best student, uh, in, uh.

Clinton

High school.

Bill

High school. I was a B, I was a B student at the time. So I got to SIU, I was like, okay, I'm going to go to a music school. Um, or I might as well just get my, my gen eds out of the way. And then I was like, well, they've got marching band, they've got orchestra. And I, I joined it and then I realized like, this is really what I wanted to do. So I decided to become a music major and studied the marimba. That was my instrument of choice.

Clinton

That's not something here every day.

Bill

No. And I had never played a marimba before in my life. I actually got pretty good at it, you know, but I was nothing amazing. Like, you know, there's prodigies, like how many marimba players do you know? Like, I know obviously—

Clinton

Only one now.

Bill

Obviously there's a theme that I didn't really have a plan here. I was just kind of like, just wing it, you know, I really just wanted to go to college and hang out and drink some beers and eat burritos, you know, at midnight with my friends and party and, you know, music was, uh, was great because it actually kept me, I learned a lot being in marching band and, and, uh, um, so I was in the pep band, I was played the drums for the, for the pep band, which was, which was a lot of fun. All the basketball games that was, I use a big basketball school. So I can actually say I've played the drums in an arena, not like in a rock and roll setting, but it was in a pep band. Yeah. It was, there was lots of fun. I, you know, but at a certain point you kind of got to come to reality. It's like the hell am I going to do with a marimba? Like performance degree, you know, it's like, so I didn't want to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches the rest of my life. Not that if you do eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, that's totally fine.

Clinton

It's fine.

Bill

That's something I want to do. So I was like, how can I make money in audio?

Clinton

Like you start to grow up a little bit here. So you're going in college and you're growing up a little bit, starting to think about longer term.

Bill

And of course I was like, well, how do you make money in music? You go into recording cause you can make tons of money in recording, right? Yeah. Lots of money. So, you know, I finished up my two years at, uh, at SIU and, you know, I realized it's like, I'm just going to go back. I remember seeing the literature from Columbia college and I went in and applied and, uh—

Clinton

They have a recording program I assume.

Bill

They have a, they have, um, an audio, audio arts program at the time. They didn't actually really have a full fledged acoustics. It wasn't called the audio. Now it's called audio arts and acoustics, I believe. At that point it was just part of the audio division.

Clinton

Right.

Bill

But then I got there and you know, the very first day in orientation to like, you get the whole auditorium was full of like, it's probably a couple hundred kids in there, right? Cause they're all going to be like recording engineers. We're all going to be famous. We're going to make money. And I'll never forget that the person walked on the stage and said, “who's here to become a recording engineer?” Uh, and everyone put their hands up. “I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that.” And they looked and said, “none of you are going to be recording engineers, but we're going to show you how to make money in audio,” you know? And, then they did follow it up and say, “if you really, really want to learn recording, we will set you on the right path to do that.” But, uh, it was kind of an eye opener. I was like, okay, well then I realized, well, they've got live audio. So yeah, that's, that's the path I went down. I was starting to study live audio, got to, um, learn from, uh, feedback, Jack, Jack Alexander, who was one of the main, um, uh, live sound guys there. I had a chance to take a few classes with him, but then I realized quickly that there was this audio systems, uh, designing systems. And I didn't even know that that was a thing at the time. So I started studying that. And then as I was into that, they were talking about how acoustics were so important. So then I took a couple of acoustics classes. I was like, this is really what I like. So I don't know how many, if you keep track of how many times I changed my major in like a three year period, but, uh, eventually I landed in the acoustics program and, uh, I got to study all aspects of acoustics, mostly room acoustics and, and vibration control. And, uh, it was awesome. It gave me a great, uh, foundation to launch my career off of. But the other thing that was really important is that they focused on making sure that you did internships. And that was probably the best, uh, one of the best things that I ever did was the internships just because you, you don't know what you're doing until you actually go out and do the work. And I'll never forget, you know, my first internship they were paying me. I mean, it was ridiculous. I mean, they're not in business anymore. So I can say it was like five—

Clinton

On my first internship, I didn't get paid.

Bill

It gave me, I think, five bucks a day. And it was like five bucks. Like a mile commute to it from my house. So like I spent, you know, gas is a little less expensive. So I remember that every day this is, this is—I was so broke and in college, I would bring a sleeve of saltines and I would go to the, this is funny, a sleeve of saltines. And I would go to the Wendy's, which was right next door to the place I was working. And I would get like their $1 chili. And I would eat that whole thing of saltines with chili. That was my lunch. That's like, that was my food. So all this time, I mean, I was, I was doing…

Clinton

The chili is pretty good though.

Bill

What's that?

Clinton

Wendy's chili. I mean, it used to be, I haven't had it in years.

Bill

I haven't had any. Yeah. I'm kind of done with it. I think I, you, I might, maybe I'll try it.

Clinton

Might've gone off it now. Right.

Bill

You know, I'm getting kind of hungry. Maybe we'll go for some Wendy's after this.

Clinton

Yeah. Let's go for, let's go to Wendy's.

Bill

How about it? Double stack and some, uh.

Clinton

I have another friend that loves Taco Bell. I haven't been to a Taco Bell in 20 years either. Yeah. I just, yeah, I feel like I have to try it.

Bill

It just built one not too far from my house in Oak park. I'm, I don't know. I might expose the daughters to it, but I don't know. I've, I keep wanting to do it, but I just—

Clinton

I think the chili is safe though. You can try that.

Bill

Yeah. Anyway. So I don't know where I just kind of know where just some of your care. So you went, yeah.

Clinton

So I was just curious how, you know, somebody, you know, some people I think are, I dunno, I don't even want to say lucky, but just some people have it all figured out really young and know exactly what they're going to do and they go and do it and they enjoy it, and love it. And other people have to, you know, like you have to kind of figure it out along the way. But that, that, that's why I was curious because acoustics, I don't, you know, it's not often I run into somebody that sort of early on their career decided, yeah, I'm going to study acoustics. And then ends up, you know.

Bill

It's just the path just kind of winding through the program at Columbia. It's just, this is the case in any aspect of any industry. There's just parts of the industry that you don't even realize exists until you're exposed to it. And that was kind of the best thing about that program.

Clinton

So do you ever go back to these schools and talk to some of these students?

Bill

I actually did, um, guest appear.

Clinton

Yeah?

Bill

I thought I didn't teach. I, they had me come in, as a, um, um, sort of ask someone that worked at Shure.

Clinton

Like to talk about Q and A type.

Bill

Yeah. Q and A, like how we progressed through the program. And while I was doing all this other stuff, by the way, I was working actually a couple of full-time jobs. I was, I was driving a moving truck at the time through a good chunk of college. And then I was also, uh, working construction. So it's, all these things that I was just doing and I was playing a lot of gigs and I was doing actually live sound. I had a lot of things going on. A lot of people, you know, there's, there's a bit of luck. There's no doubt about it, but there's also working your ass off. I worked my ass off. I've got no qualms.

Clinton

I would say that all the time. Like, so when I go and talk to people at school and some people might say I'm lucky, but the luck or opportunity or blessings, whatever they are, only come if you, you know, the people around you see that you're, you deserve it. Right. So you work hard, you deserve it. And then opportunity will come. Right. So, and.

Bill

You know, um, you know, audio is funny because there are a lot of musicians that there's a lot of people that go into audio and then they just totally, they totally screw it. Like they screw it up because they don't even show up.

Clinton

Well, do you know what? And that's like, that's the, that's, I think that's cause what we're exposed to. So I know people that went to law school that screw it up, and they spend all that money and time going through law school and they don't become lawyers. Um, or they become really bad lawyers. Right. I think it's the same for many professions, but you know, because that's what we're exposed to, I think we can relate to it and like, well, you know, why'd you do, you know, do all that work and, and then just throw it away. Right. Uh, or, or give up or, you know, whatever the case may be.

Bill

But it's funny. Like, I mean, it's, it's amazing that people, people are given an opportunity and they, they, I don't think they realize that. Um, I mean, literally just literally not showing up. Yeah. Especially for live audio. So I filled in for this guy once this is, I'm going to date myself here, but, um.

Clinton

I think you've done that a few times.

Bill

Yeah, probably. So I think it was, like, I don't know, 98 or 99 and one of the guys in one of my live audio classes, like, “dude, I got, I got whatever I got to do.” It was something stupid. He's like, “you gotta, I need someone to go do this show for me at a place called record.” I believe it was called record breakers in Arlington Heights, Illinois. And, uh, I was like, “what's going to pay.” He's like, “eh, you might get like 50 bucks or something like that.” So I had no idea what I was, you know, what I was getting into. So I show up and, you know, I got everything tuned up and rang out the system and this band came out and they just, they kicked ass. They were awesome. And I was like, these guys are, these guys are fucking awesome. Sorry. Am I allowed to swear?

Clinton

Yeah.

Bill

So I'll try not to drop any more F bombs. These guys, these guys were just awesome. And I was into like, I was totally into punk at the time. And, uh, it turns out, you know, so the, the show ended the guys like, I've never had monitors that sounded good like this, like ever, like all the been doing tours, like run on the road for the last like couple of years, and we've never had monitors like this. And I was like, you know, at the time I was doing, I was doing audio for a 14 piece orchestra. So I got used to ringing out systems and getting it sounding good. And the guys like, do you want to go on tour with us? Uh, I'm like, like, I'm kind of in this, this other program. Like I can't, I can't really give that up cause I'm so far along. So I passed out. It turns out it was Alkaline Trio.

Clinton

Oh my gosh.

Bill

Like it's kind of funny. Yeah. You know, it's, I mean, those guys that they heard this, they would be like, I don't remember that. Yeah. And you know, it was, but it's just like, I mean, they were just getting going at the time. Like they'd been out for a couple of years, but they weren't huge. I mean, they were playing this record show, like this show at this record shop.

Clinton

Like you still made the right choice though.

Bill

Yeah. You know, it's amazing. You're, you're presented with opportunities. You just, yeah, just go with the flow. But, uh, it's just funny. You know, I remember the guys from that band just being super nice, by the way, you know, I guess that goes for anything, you know, like the people that do well are the ones that have a good attitude and treat other people with respect. And you know, you see that with, with, uh, musicians treating like any, any live audio front of house or monitor engineer knows that the minute that the band starts giving any one of them shit, they have complete control to make that band sound like ass. And they will because, you know, I mean, why not? I mean, obviously people on a major tour are not going to do that. I would never do that.

Clinton

You would never do that. Cause again, there's still, you do the right thing even when somebody's not right. So I think that, you know.

Bill

People are more likely to go out of their way to help you if you treat them with respect. Yeah. And that's a really, that's a really important thing.

Clinton

Yeah. I agree.

Bill

Are you a musician?

Clinton

No.

Bill

I swear, I did see a guitar.

Clinton

Yeah, there's a guitar and I, I, uh, took up the guitar. I was around music my whole life. Um, but I took up guitar and then I got into this industry and worked so hard that I just gave up all my hobbies.

Bill

You gave them all up.

Clinton

Yeah. And, but however, I did get a new guitar recently because I plan on taking it back up. Really? Yeah. So I'm trying this online thing. We'll see how it works.

Bill

But so how long did you play guitar before?

Clinton

Didn't only like a year and a half.

Bill

Oh really?

Clinton

Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's going to be a struggle, but the last time I did it, I picked it up really quickly. So I had a great teacher picked it up really quickly. So, uh, I think just cause I've got a, an ear for it or, uh, or a aptitude for it. So I'm hoping that, uh, if I put in some effort, I'll pick it up quickly.

Bill

So how many people, uh, on your team are musicians?

Clinton

Uh, a lot of them, all of them.

Bill

Do you have a bass player? Is there a bass player in the team?

Clinton

Do we have a bass player at Mainline? I don't, uh, I don't know that we have a bass player. You don't. Hey, Neil could play bass. He plays guitar. Craig plays guitar. Cooley plays drums.

Bill

What the hell is an experience? You gotta have, you need…

Clinton

Marco plays the marimba.

Bill

You need, I'm just, oh, that's awesome. Uh, yeah. You need a backline here. So next time I'm down here, in a year, like we'll plan for a year from now. I just have a follow up podcast and you're going to play, you're going to play guitar and we'll Neil around the bass, snap into bass.

Clinton

So you see, we've got that little bit of truss up there. You know, it's for like, uh, we have like a little mobile stage in here. So the experience center, we're going to have like little, little things from time to time. So by then we'll have like a little stage that we can bring in and some lights. We can't do the, uh, the hazer smoke cause it sets off the sprinklers apparently. And you need to have the fire department come in.

Bill

I mean the sprinklers can be part of the show too.

Clinton

It could be, it could be. I mean, yeah, it could go wrong. That'd be like totally eighties, right? Like everybody's wet.

Bill

Oh yeah.

Clinton

Yeah. Well I don't know. Dancing in puddles and stuff. I don't know. That sounds like an eighties music video.

Bill

Yeah. That sounds like a bad nightmare in some ways.

Clinton

Yeah. So we'll come back to Shure now, I guess. So now you're, you're managing a region sales. So you've gone, you went from market development to, to, to which is sales, but, you know, supporting the sales department. So how, how are you liking it?

Bill

It's been interesting because—

Clinton

Oh, that's right.

Bill

I started right. I took over the position or took this position up right before the pandemic hit. So it's been great though. You know, part of the benefit of my position is that I was actually able to hire, you know, someone to take over my old position, and the people I worked with are all awesome. Like the other market development, you know, Ben and Jen, and we hired Jason, who was actually on one of your other podcasts. We've got an amazing team. We really do.

Clinton

And an amazing boss, Mr. Rick Renner.

Bill

Yes. And Mr. Rick Renner. Like I can't, I can't not acknowledge Mr. Rick. I did talk about him earlier. Yeah.

Clinton

Yeah. I've worked with Renner for a long time. So a great guy.

Bill

He's my favorite person in the world.

Clinton

Yes. He's my favorite, but now if I say that, then like Kevin Smith's going to be like, why, why am I not your favorite or Joe DeFalco or, or, you know, one of the others, Raleigh Bowman. I've got a, I've got a lot of, you've got the one to please, you know, yeah. We've got bunches. We've got bunches. So I love them all. I love them.

Bill

They're all amazing in their own ways.

Clinton

Well, I think Shure’s got a talent for hiring amazing people. They've got a great team actually. Yeah. We're probably the best we've worked with.

Bill

It's, it's a, it's a great group of people and truly 100% fortunate that I get to work with a lot. Most, most of them. And on a daily basis. Yeah.

Clinton

And you know, a lot of people may not know, especially, you know, people that aren't connected directly to Shure, but it's a lot of fun to work there. So we're talking about having like a little stage here, but you guys do that somewhat regularly where you've got music going on and people playing music at lunchtime and—

Bill

Yeah

Clinton

You know.

Bill

We, we, we actually don't have any offices, just stages. And we just go and play music all day long. Yeah.

Clinton

That's great. That's what it should be.

Bill

No, but it's seriously, we have, uh, when things are normal, uh, and we're not in a pandemic, that's true. We've got, um, in Niles where the headquarters is, uh, just outside of Chicago, we do, uh, what's called eat to the beat. So all these little mini bands will form within the company and, uh, they'll work together over a few weeks and come up with a few songs to play during lunch. Uh, and then the company brings a, you know, an ice cream cart out and they're just giving people ice cream.

Clinton

That's nice.

Bill

And you know, three or four bands will get up and play a few songs. They put a big PA up and it's a lot of fun. It really is a hoot just because you end up playing with people. You didn't even know. I mean, I've turned around and said, “I didn't know that person even sang,” and they're up there, you know, dressed, uh, the part of whatever they're, you know, recreating up on stage and, uh, uh, you know, just singing away. And it's like, “wow, I had no idea.” So it's, it's a lot of fun. It really is.

Clinton

Well, I, uh, if I ever retire from mainline or sell Mainline, I'm going to come and work, but for sure, but I'm not going to live in Chicago though. I like the idea of Chicago. I like the idea of living in a big city. I love big cities, but, uh, as long as it just in the summer only

Bill

In summer only?

Clinton

Yeah.

Bill

Yeah. Well, you can, well, you can keep your place here and get a place in Chicago and you just go back and forth, back and forth.

Clinton

That's yeah. Maybe you can talk to the higher ups. Yeah. Just see if they can make that work for me.

Bill

Let me know when you want to throw your hat in the rain.

Clinton

Good deal. I think that's cool. Thanks for coming.

Bill

Thanks for having me.

Clinton

Yeah. I think it was a great conversation. I think, uh, hopefully.

Bill

Somebody talked a lot. I was there really? I mean, the real conversation was only been like towards the end there. It's like, I think I talked to you.

Clinton

We can keep, keep talking if you want. I've got all night.

Bill

I feel like I just talk too much.

Clinton

No, no, that's what it is. It's like, that's why the microphone's in front of you. Yeah. Yeah. So no, it's all great. It's good. It was really good. So, uh, I enjoyed it. So now we're gonna, um, you know, we might have another beverage here and then, and then pop off to dinner. We might even get some chili at the Wendy's or that could be an appetizer. So we get, cause I don't think it's a dollar anymore, by the way, probably think it's like five. I don't know. I don't think they have a dollar menu anymore. Well, thanks again for coming.

Bill

Thanks for having.

Clinton

Enjoyed having you here and, uh, hope you all join us on the next Sound Connections podcast. Thanks for listening.

Bill

Thanks everyone.