Mixmaster makes sure you hear it well

BUSINESS PROFILE

By MELISSA MARTIN

APPLEGATE -- When country-western headliner Chris LeDoux rode across a Klamath Falls stage on a mechanical bull and played a fast-paced concert with flames and explosions, it was a local sound man who created the perfect mix for the audience to hear.

But when the music and pyrotechnics at the Ross Ragland Theater ended, Garon Wells of Garon Lee Sound discovered he had something in common with LeDoux. They both like to escape to the great outdoors, LeDoux to his Wyoming ranch and Wells to his Applegate farm.

Garon Wells has chatted with headline musicians and mixed sound for the likes of Jay Leno, Bob Dole, Martina McBride and Audio Adrenaline. But he's also the man behind the sound at the Bear Creek Park summer concert series, Medford Jazz Jubilee and the Harvest Fair.

"It's my part of the whole production, that everybody hears it clearly and well," Wells says.

"You try to tune the system the way the artist wants it, yet you put a little bit of the way you like to hear music into it. So when it comes out, it does have your personality."

It's the job of the sound man to meld technology with human voice or instruments so the audience can clearly hear the presentation.

"Choosing a sound company is the most important decision to make after selecting the artist," says Tom Olbrich, who hires Garon Lee Sound for half of the shows at Southern Oregon University.

"Sound is the important link between the artist and the audience," says Olbrich, consulting producer of SOU's Program Board.

Wells' sound business takes him as far away as Connecticut, Fort Worth, Texas, and West Palm Beach, Fla.

"Garon has a work ethic, and it's refreshing to find somebody like that," says Marty O'Conner, a technical producer from Michigan who hires Wells for Amber Rose, a traveling Christian conference series.

"With this guy, there's not even a hiccup, no problems, whatsoever. When you find people like Garon, people you can trust, work with, do a good job at a good price, you don't want to lose them.

"With Garon, I don't hear, `Things are busted. There's not enough power. The show runs too long.' Instead, I hear, `It's done, finished, my invoice is in the mail."'

Wells' work at a conference at a five-star hotel on a Florida beach impressed the promoters so much they hired him for other gigs.

"He knows what he's doing," says Patti Bills, president of Medford's Jazz Jubilee, a 10-year-old musical festival.

"The musicians loved him, and if the musicians are happy, then everybody's happy," Bills says.

Mixing sound is only part of Wells' business. He installs custom music systems in homes, theaters and churches. He hung the theater curtain at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in Medford. And he free-climbed the 100-foot walls in Compton Arena at the Jackson County Expo Park to hang rigging for a rock concert.

"It's not that expensive to install a custom system in your home, especially if you have it done when the house is in studs," Wells says.

For example, a homeowner can have three rooms wired and flush speakers and volume controls installed in the walls for $2,000, he says.

Wells is somewhat of a jack-of-all-trades. He maintains and repairs his electronic equipment as well as the 18-wheeler that he drives cross country.

Wells carries his tool box, spare parts and extra consoles to each show. He recalls a quick change during a concert at Southern Oregon University.

"One time, right before intermission, I hit a mute button and got a hum in the system. It's the worst nightmare to have to think when everybody's looking at you. But in 15 minutes, we changed the console with another one we brought and we had the whole thing ready to go when intermission was over."

It takes Wells about two hours to prepare for a concert. He sets up cables -- nearly two miles' worth -- 20 to 30 microphones and two dozen monitors. Then he does a sound check, creating a personalized mix for each artist.

And when the concert begins, Wells operates a stage console, mixing sometimes as many as 40 vocals and instruments to create a sound that pleases the audience.

"I try to make eye contact with the artists. I have to be able to read them and know if they want more vocal or more guitar, whatever it may be."

He's also learned to tune out unsolicited advice from audience members who think they are sound experts.

"I like it when people let me do my job," Wells says.

Wells got his start in the business at an early age.

"My mom put me on the television program `Romper Room' when I was a kid. I've been involved in entertainment ever since," he says.

During his teen years, Wells was an audiophile, buying and selling speakers and equipment to get a sound that was "bigger, louder and faster," he says.

His job experience includes working at Channel 10 running television cameras and at South Medford High School as the technical director.

But when the stage pressures and the decibel levels get to him, Wells retreats to his 50-acre farm outside of Jacksonville, where he and his wife, Sara, have a garden, raise cattle and where Wells plays guitar, including a 1953 Guild.

"That's one thing I love about being in the country. It's totally opposite from what I do for a living. You're around these huge crowds. So in the off-time, I like to be out gardening, away from people and away from the phones."