608 Sound and Light

06/01/2021

Long time no talk! And speaking of talking, we are eliminating our phone number so the only way to contact us going forward is through email.

Between the pandemic and our shift in business focus, the only phone calls we receive are Robo Calls from scam businesses, with fake phone numbers. We’ve been averaging 10-12 robocalls per day, and enough is enough.

So... reach out via email, and stay safe everyone. Thanks as always.

09/07/2019

This looks like a pretty nice little package!

It's time to give away 4 Lucky Buckets full of gaff tape, batteries, bongo ties, board tape, and sharpies! Getting entered is super easy (takes literally 10 seconds). Click here to get started:

https://mailchi.mp/050cf9b4697f/theluckybucket

28/04/2019

Soooooo close to writing a book titled, "What NOT to do: An idiot's guide to hosting live music performances."

06/02/2019

The past weekend was definitely bittersweet. We produced our final two large format shows, but had an absolutely wonderful time because they were with some of our favorite people around.

The weekend kicked-off early Saturday morning. The incredible Tony Anderson arrived to the warehouse at 7:45am and we began loading the van. We drove to Wisconsin Rapids for a wedding gig with our pals in Detour.

The guys kicked some serious butt at their show, as usual. They are definitely one of the most fun bands around - the banter, the stage presence, the music - it's always a party with Jeremy Brinker, Matt Gundersen, Matt Schoen, Dan Pipkorn, Joel Pipkorn, and Austin.

We left Rapids at around 2:00am and fought the lovely fog and freezing drizzle for nearly three hours before arriving back to Madison.

Sunday morning saw us driving out to Stoughton, so that we could attend rehearsals for the SHS Pops talent show.

On Monday morning, we changed out equipment in the van - out with all of the sound equipment and in with more lighting and trussing equipment.

We spent the day at Stoughton High School, setting-up, focusing, and programming a light show for the evening's talent show.

If you've never been to the SHS Vocal Performance Fans POPS show, you're really missing out.

26 very talented musical performances by SHS students, accompanied by an incredible band that consists of: Ryan Casey, Kenny Leiser, Mark Noxon, and Paul Metz. They provide all of the music for the evening, while various soloists, duos/trios, and choir groups sing, play, and perform along with them.

The amount of work that goes into that show is humbling. The guys rehearse, Ryan plans, preps, coordinates, and executes everything, and the school does an amazing job of supporting the entire event.

When I look back on all of the things I've done with 608 Sound and Light, the SHS show stands out as one of the most rewarding and fun events, primarily because of the people involved with it.

We tore down on Tuesday, and now begins the slow downsizing of the business. Gear is being sold and I'm going through boxes and finding all sorts of fun stuff.

I'll probably make a final post or two here in the near future, but until then, thank you again for all of the support, kind words, and for following this page. I'll see you around soon.

28/01/2019

Hi Folks. It's with a heavy heart and very mixed emotions that I announce that 608 Sound and Light will be drastically downsizing, effective 2/10/2019. I'll be selling some assets in the near future so that I can spend more time at home and focusing on taking better care of myself.

I've had such a good time working with so many wonderful people that it was not easy to make this decision. I've made a lot of awesome friends as a result of owning 608 Sound and Light and I hope to stay friends (or be an even better friend, as I'll have time to do things other than focus on the company) with all of you.

I need to thank a bunch of people for their support, trust, and friendship throughout 608's adventures. I started it with absolutely nothing and watched as it grew into a major production company. I couldn't have done any of it without the help of the following people:

- Jenny Jaeger for tolerating the countless hours of work I spent on 608, whether it was working every single weekend for the last 2.5 years, or spending crazy amounts of time cleaning gear, maintaining equipment, testing gear, updating social media, and everything else.

- Tony Anderson for selflessly giving so much of his time and effort to 608. It never mattered where the show was, or how long the day(s) were, Tony was always ready to help and always did it with complete professionalism and with a smile.

- Jerry R Kempfer and Robin L Kempfer for becoming good friends and for hiring 608 for your productions. I'm so excited for your new acquisition and I'm confident it's going to do great things, because both of you are great people. It'll be nice to hang out and relax, rather than talking business and events.

- Chameleon-Nation for believing in 608 and trusting 608 with so many of your shows. I *truly* enjoy everyone in the band, and it was always fun to work with you guys. You're one of the best bands around, and you're some of the best people on earth. I can't wait to attend your shows as a fan!!! I really appreciate Tom Ellis, Jon Mork, Ken Strand, Paul Fotes, Ted, Guy, and Craig - you guys are just the best.

- Caleb Hopwood and Jay Marietta for providing the best service around, bar none. I can't even begin to count the number of e-mails, phone calls, and trips I've made to Full Compass Systems over the past few years, but the two of you are simply the best. Completely professional, super helpful, and genuinely enjoyable.

- Detour for trusting 608 with your shows over the past few years. I'm convinced you guys are going to be one of the biggest festival bands in the area - keep doing what you're doing, and maybe throw my name on the guest list from time to time? Seriously, though - Matt Gundersen, Matt Schoen, Jeremy Brinker, Dan Pipkorn, Joel Pipkorn - you're all good friends. Thank you so much.

- Jeremy Wisdom for helping 608 when it was just getting started and for providing so many laughs along the way. I'm thrilled for you and Kenna and Memphis - one of the things I enjoyed most was your huge heart, it's no wonder you're doing so great as a new dad. Keep on doin' what you're doin, Goat!

- Glenn Ottenbacher for teaching me (and Tony) more about lighting controls and systems than I ever thought I could learn. You're also a cool guy and I really enjoy eating Mexican food whenever we meet to trade gear and whatnot.

And there are countless other people to thank as well - Jacob Vance, Mark D. Fairchild, Kirstie Lee, Andy Kelly, Bob Hoot, Ryan Casey, Tara Topel... You all helped (and help) in so many awesome ways. Thank you all!!! For anyone that I didn't list here, I apologize... there's a lot of stuff going through my head right now, and I'm sorry if I missed someone in the list above. I'm sure that as things calm down, I'll provide some additional updates and rounds of thanks.

So... what's going to happen in the future?

I'm going to have a lot more free time available. I need to decompress for a while, sell some equipment, and wind down operations.

I plan to continue to provide sound services at Kiki's House of Righteous Music, so I won't be "leaving the biz," but I will be able to enjoy it a lot more. I'm also hoping to eventually do some "walk-on" gigs with people, but for the moment, I really need to step away and take a break.

At some point, I'll share stories about my experiences with the southern Wisconsin live sound production business. It's definitely a challenging environment, and I honestly don't believe that bands, performers, or artists around here get the respect (or pay) that they truly deserve. Anyone who's busting their butts to put on quality shows is definitely doing it as a labor of love these days.

Until then, take care, thank you everyone, and I'll be in touch.

11/01/2019

Just completed our third day of Rational Acoustics LLC training. Had lots of fun configuring subwoofer arrays, fill and delay speakers.

Smaart is an amazing tool - we’ve been using it for the past 18 months...yet we continually learn new things from (and with) it. The class helped reinforce some important theories and we managed to learn a bunch of new things as well.

Tools like Smaart are yet another item we have and can use to take your event to the next level. Come check out one of our upcoming shows, or give us a shout and let’s do some work together!

08/01/2019

Its back to school for us this week. Attending Rational Acoustics LLC Smaart training, presented by the outstanding Chris Tsanjoures. Picking up lots of great info!!

05/01/2019

Thanks to the awesome folks at JTR Speakers and AXPONA Audio Expo North America, we will once again be providing live sound and lighting production for this event. Come on down and experience it firsthand - you won’t regret it!!

04/01/2019

2018 was absolutely amazing - thank you for all of the trust, support, and friendship! We hope to see you at a show in 2019.

For those contemplating production services in 2019, we're already more than 60% booked for 2019. Don't delay - we'd love to work with you!! Give us a call or send a message and let's chat!

02/01/2019

Huge thanks to John Janzen for taking and sharing these with us.

01/01/2019

We ended 2018 on a very high note, thanks to the awesome guys in Divided Highway. Last night’s show at O’Leary’s was absolutely unbelievable. Thank you to everyone who came out and enjoyed the music and production with us.

Our good friend John Janzen sat in on drums for a few songs - it was great to see him on stage with Mike Shuttleworth - they haven’t played together in over 20 years (and we haven’t done sound with them together for more than 25 years). A fun reunion for sure!!

Thanks as always to our incredible partners:
ALLEN & HEATH and their consoles
Lake Processing and their processor
JTR Speakers and their amazing speakers
Shure and their and systems
RCF and their speakers
Blizzard Lighting and their fixtures
Elation Professional and their

Thanks to Tony Anderson for the three nights of awesome work, and big thanks again to the guys in Divided Highway - Mike, Jeff, Chris, and Mike - you’re all the best, and we truly enjoyed working with you guys. Let’s do it again in 2019!!

#2018

30/12/2018

Ok, Eau Claire... y’all know how to party, and y’all definitely know good music - last night was pretty crazy, and we loved every minute!

Mike Shuttleworth returned with Divided Highway for their second night (of three) at O’Leary’s Pub, and wow... so fun. Things sounded and looked great, and we had a real blast.

Tons of compliments from everyone (THANK YOU!!!!); what can we say - we love working with good bands. Definitely makes for a special evening.

Same rig as the night before: ALLEN & HEATH, Lake Processing, JTR Speakers, Shure, RCF, Blizzard Lighting, and Elation Professional.

Tony Anderson did a great job on lights; we spent the day at the venue cleaning up some programming and dialing-in a few other things.

Don’t miss out on New Year’s Eve!!! It’s going to be epic!! We’ll see you in about 36 hours!!