October 8, 2025 • 53 mins
Curiosity built our careers long before we had the job titles to match. We trace three winding routes into pro audio, video, and system integration—through tape machines and DAWs, car audio and DJ gigs, retail aisles and distribution counters—and unpack how those hands‑on reps turned into real judgment. No straight lines here; just a lot of doing, failing, and learning until the signal path made sense and the room sounded right.
We compare the power of analog habits in a digital world, why Pro Tools HD once cost as much as a car, and how native processing and Intel Macs reshaped post‑production workflows. We break down what a distributor actually does in the AV supply chain, the leap from sales to system design, and the everyday math of impedance, gain staging, codecs, frame rates, and sync. Along the way, we talk brand management, entrepreneurship, and the reality of building a career that mixes weekday corporate work with weekend shows—plus the mentors and 4 a.m. cable calls that quietly change everything.
The heart of it is skill stacking and translation. Audio literacy elevates camera and streaming results. Video fluency prevents downstream headaches. Networking basics—DHCP, VLANs, and sensible IoT isolation—turn DIY rigs into stable systems. System design rarely has one “right” answer; it’s about trading constraints with clients in clear language and hitting the brief without overcomplicating the rack. The spark for this show came from a lunch that spiraled into CCTV and routers, and we realized our best conversations happen where specialties overlap and it’s safe to ask “obvious” questions.
If you’re AV‑curious or already knee‑deep in cables, this origin story sets the tone: honest, practical, and focused on the work. Hit follow, share with a teammate who loves good signal flow, and drop your biggest early lesson—we’ll feature listener questions in future episodes.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
The views and opinions expressed in this
(00:02):
podcast are those of the hostsand guests and do not
necessarily reflect the officialpolicy or position of SFM.
SPEAKER_02 (00:10):
Welcome to Behind the Rack, the podcast where we,
Hugo Chavet, Franco Caruso, andmyself, Vincent Semeno, pull
back the curtain on the AVindustry.
Now, this isn't your typicalpolished panel.
It's a casual real-world chatwhere we just talk about the
gear we love and sometimes loveto complain about, the trends
(00:31):
shaping pro audio, lifestyle,broadcast, and system
integration, and the lessonswe're learning along the way.
Now think of it as three AV prossharing stories, swapping rants,
and diving into topics thatmatter, not just to help
listeners get smarter abouttech, but to keep ourselves
learning too.
So whether you're in the booth,the boardroom, A V curious, or
(00:54):
behind the rack, there'ssomething here for you.
So grab your headphones, pull upa chair, and join us for some
honest, sometimes nerdy, alwaysfun conversations.
All happening in the rack.
SPEAKER_01 (01:19):
That was a great intro.
Yeah.
That was the first intro to ourfirst podcast of Behind the
Rack.
Well, thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (01:26):
You know, it felt good.
It felt good, anyways.
Well done.
To many more.
Too many more.
Too more.
Yes.
To many more.
That's a good, that's a goodstart.
SPEAKER_01 (01:36):
That's an excellent start.
How did you start in thisindustry?
SPEAKER_02 (01:39):
That's the question that I get asked a lot.
I think you do too.
SPEAKER_01 (01:42):
I get asked a lot.
Yeah, and I think we all havesome really interesting stories.
And that's what's cool about theAV industry.
There's no singular path to gethere.
Everyone has a different storyand a different uh way of how
they got into this incrediblyfun industry.
SPEAKER_00 (01:58):
Yeah.
And what's even cooler is I Idon't I don't know Franco a lot.
I Vince, we spent uh a lot oftime together shooting like
promotional material and andclips and movies, but uh but I
don't know Franco that much, soI I I suspect I'm gonna learn
something new from him today.
SPEAKER_03 (02:16):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (02:16):
Uh which which is great.
I mean, yep.
And admittedly, we work in areally cool industry.
SPEAKER_02 (02:22):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (02:22):
I have to say the coolest industry in the world.
Yeah.
I'll say it.
SPEAKER_02 (02:26):
Yeah.
And I think that's where we getasked a lot.
It's like, you know, how did youget in and what what what does
it take to get in?
And surprisingly enough, you'lllearn probably that uh just just
a little bit of work, but uh andsometimes things happen for a
reason.
Yeah.
Yep.
That's exactly it.
That's exactly it.
Let's start with it, like let'sstart maybe with the like
(02:47):
education and school and stufflike that.
How did did that have an effectin terms of the career path or
how you got here?
What why don't you kind of takeit take it off?
SPEAKER_01 (02:57):
Yeah, in terms of schooling specifically, uh no, I
had no idea I was gonna end upin the A V industry.
And there's a couple things thathappened along the way that just
kind of made it happennaturally.
Uh, I actually wanted to go intosciences, uh, was in sciences in
high school, and then quicklyrealized after my very first
chemistry class, there's no wayI'm spending the rest of my life
(03:19):
doing this.
Um, so didn't do that.
Went into marketing in CJEP.
Loved it, had a great time.
Uh always had kind of this innerentrepreneurship spirit, and you
wanted to do something withbusiness.
Um after CJEP went into financeuh at John Melson School of
Business, Concordia.
SPEAKER_02 (03:40):
That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (03:41):
And just like my chemistry class after the very
first FINA class, finance class,I was like, I am not doing this
for the rest of my life.
And switched back into marketingand really enjoyed my time in
university and and the wholebusiness.
SPEAKER_00 (03:54):
You managed like you literally after a week or two,
you said no.
Oh, same, yeah, same day.
SPEAKER_01 (04:00):
First after the first class of that FINA, which
is the finance core classes, Iwas like, I'm not doing this.
Yeah.
So I I actually I think thathappened after a semester or two
because you had to do your yourbase courses or whatever.
My first core finance class, Iwas like, I'm not doing this.
This is not this is not for me,which is fine, and that's what
schooling is for, right?
(04:20):
It's for realizing what you likeand what you don't like.
So I ended up finishing uh witha bachelor of uh of marketing,
uh, like I said, from JohnMolson School of Business.
And uh I think I'm gonna savehow I got into the AV industry
for a little later into thepodcast, but a lot of different
even signals I'll say that kindof just made me realize okay,
(04:42):
you're going into AV.
You love this.
So no specific AV curriculum orno, no technical training, none
like that, which I think is verydifferent from you two.
I I learned the old school way.
Uh just by learning, by making alot of mistakes, unfortunately.
Learning by myself and uheventually leaning on some pros
(05:03):
in the industry, using them asmentors, and here I am.
SPEAKER_02 (05:07):
I'm not gonna lie, we still make mistakes, and we
still make lots of mistakes.
I'm one who still makes a lot ofmistakes.
SPEAKER_01 (05:15):
Like not pressing record on the podcast?
SPEAKER_02 (05:17):
That that too.
This is about the third time weshoot this this version.
So I hope you guys enjoy thisversion.
It's the more polished one.
It's the more I guess you cantell it's the more polished one.
SPEAKER_01 (05:28):
This is gonna be a lot of fun though, boys.
I'm excited to be here with youand be talking about this and
learning more about you guys.
SPEAKER_00 (05:33):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (05:34):
What about you, Hugo?
Yeah, schooling-wise.
SPEAKER_00 (05:36):
Uh schooling-wise, I I did my CJEP, uh, sorry, I did
my secondary school, veryinvolved in sports and
journalism.
Like um and then I went intoCJEP in in journalism, as a
matter of fact.
Uh didn't finish my uh collegialdiploma.
(05:56):
Uh for unfortunately, I onlyhave like uh English and
philosophy that I didn't finish,so I only missed two courses to
get my full diploma.
But as as you guys know,sometimes in this in this
industry, they're not evenlooking at diploma.
I mean, so why?
But um after in the meantime, Istarted to be very interested
(06:21):
into electronic music andstarted to play around with
softwares like uh and it's backin 2003, probably.
I had my first desk.
Actually, I was making music onone of my friends, PC, uh, with
softwares like uh Fruity Loop.
I remember Fruity Loops Acid.
(06:41):
Uh Acid was the name of thesoftware, not what we were
taking before.
Uh allegedly.
And propeller adds reason.
And reason is a for those whowho know, it's it's a software
that it's probably 20 years oldor at least 15 years old, and
it's a virtual modular, virtualmodular soft synth.
(07:02):
Uh so it's a rack that you canturn around to see behind the
rack.
I like what you did there.
There's gonna be a lot of these.
SPEAKER_01 (07:10):
Smooth, yeah, smooth, smooth.
SPEAKER_00 (07:12):
By pressing tab, you could turn a rack and you see
all these wires.
And those are real virtualwires, so those are real wires
that you would see on asynthesizer.
And I asked myself, I scratchedmy head and I said, Yeah, I want
to know what these wires arefor.
And and and I looked online andthere was one school that that
(07:33):
was prominent in terms of uh uhproduction, music production,
computer, uh, sound design.
It was it was it's calledMusitechnique, it still exists
in 2025.
And and funny enough, a lot ofpeople in the industry went
through that school.
So it's as as I mentioned, ithas a good reputation.
(07:55):
So I started uh that coursewhich was uh essay, so it's uh
uh basically a specificspecialized course uh for a
specific topic, which wascomputer assisted sound design.
Uh so basically I was teachedhow to use uh real uh
(08:16):
synthesizer hardware.
There was a lab with real synthslike Roland GP 8000, uh Akai
S1000 uh sampler.
We were using Cubase as a uh uhfor for programming MIDI.
We were using Pro Tools torecord audio, and funny enough,
um I I was one of the I was thelast um year uh at that specific
(08:43):
school who was who werefortunate enough to record on
analog tape.
So our final project wasrecording on a real console 24
tracks into a tape machine, andso we record and we mix live on
the console.
So I was fortunate enough tohave the a true hybrid uh class
(09:06):
basically recording with uh uhcomputers, recording with tape,
playing with real hardware,playing with virtual sense.
So it was pretty cool.
And um I to this day, I thinkthis is really what got me into
that business.
This is where I learned aboutmicrophone polar uh polar
(09:29):
pattern.
This is why where I learnedabout XLR cables.
So this is where I got my coreknowledge for that call it A V
or audio business, pro audiobusiness.
This is really the the thefundamentals and the where I
learned and when I got even morepassionate about it.
Wow.
And when I start, and I'm gonnakeep also the story on what got
(09:52):
me like my first gig andeverything, but this is where I
did study a computer assistedsound design.
SPEAKER_02 (09:58):
That's amazing.
Yep, especially touching theanalog and digital right before
it kind of changed.
I think today we're getting backinto the analog stuff.
Yep, so getting taught, butgetting taught, it's one thing
like you know, a lot of analogstuff comes back nowadays, like
you know, like the whole vinyland stuff like that.
Um, but getting taught it uh,you know, back in the day, I
(10:20):
think is is really incredible.
Because I don't think you getmuch of that today.
SPEAKER_01 (10:23):
No, and having all those toys in that one room just
to play with is incredible.
SPEAKER_00 (10:27):
Like compressing a drum with a real compressor
plugged and insert on a console.
I mean, you don't see thisnowadays.
I mean, except in IN studio,which which uh still have like a
an SSL or an Eve console withhardware, but those are
expensive toys these days.
SPEAKER_01 (10:44):
Yeah, but it was out of necessity because that was
the only way to actually dothese things.
That's right.
SPEAKER_02 (10:49):
Wow, that's incredible.
What about you, Vince?
You Vince?
Yep.
Uh yeah, it's uh a little bitlike Franco, where I started off
into something that I thought Iwas gonna be interested in,
which was computer science, andI quickly realized, yeah, that's
that's not really what I wantedto get into.
Um, I think it was it was alittle bit fun at first, and
(11:10):
then I got into really obviouslymathematical, technical, and
stuff like that.
I'm like, yeah, that's notexactly where I wanted to, what
I wanted to do.
And then I ended up gettingkicked out of college for a
year, which led me to kind of uhponder in terms of what I wanted
to do with my life, my career.
And at the time, uh it just sohappened that uh first I always
(11:33):
had a passion for for film andstuff like that, but at the time
there was a huge demand um forfilm filming in Montreal.
So there was a huge demand forit, and I said, why not uh like
the X-Men series or shot ear?
Early, yeah, early.
I'm talking about early uh late1990s, early 2000s.
SPEAKER_01 (11:52):
There was a lot of every summer there was something
happening.
That's exactly it.
You would remember, hey, did youhear this?
They're filming this in the oldport or they're doing that.
SPEAKER_02 (11:59):
Yeah, chances are you'd be walking somewhere in
Montreal and there's somethingthat's happened, you'd see a
line of trailers somewhere.
So I figure, you know what?
I I think this is a a goodcareer path.
I I think it's a very difficultone.
I wasn't naive in terms ofthinking that it was gonna be
easy to get into, but I said,Let me let me give it a shot.
And uh a little bit like you,once I got into the program, you
(12:22):
got to learn about radio andvideo production, the film side,
um, you know, animation and evenphotography were we're you know
uh exposing and you know justtaking care of all the film like
the film aspects, the chemicalsand chemical reactions and
stuff.
Yeah, the dark room and all thatstuff, which was so much fun.
And a little bit like you, Ikind of um kind of the the the
(12:46):
passion kind of kind of bloomed,yeah, sparked and kind of
bloomed from there becausethat's when it I really got
into.
I think it I think it's thatcreative side that really like
it gives you that opportunity tocreate something from nothing.
SPEAKER_00 (13:00):
And no, when the the ISO was something that's written
on a film and you you have tobuy a 200 ISO or a 800 ISO
exactly, depending on where youstays, is it's more like I can
change the setting on my digitalcamera, but at the time you
needed to choose the proper filmto film that.
Absolutely, and if you miss,it's gonna look like you know,
(13:22):
bad.
SPEAKER_02 (13:23):
Not only not only did you're absolutely right, I
completely forgot about aboutthat, but not only is your film
important, but then how youexpose it and then how you
develop everything is like uheverything can be tweaked, and
nowadays with the new iPhones,you just cycle through your your
filters and then you can do ablack and white or a sepia or
(13:44):
whatever, you know.
So it was uh even creatingeffects was was uh on the analog
world.
SPEAKER_01 (13:49):
I think we're aging ourselves for the viewers.
We're actually all in our 20s.
We're all very, very young.
Yeah, back in my day, you know.
SPEAKER_02 (13:57):
Um yeah, so that's what uh that really that really
helped bloom myself into that.
And I'll I'll again I'll I'llalso keep my uh my my story.
But what what got you was thereanything in the in your
childhood that kind of got youthere where you are today?
SPEAKER_01 (14:17):
Um started playing piano.
I was about four years old.
Uh so I was always into music.
Uh as I grew you know into myearly teens, computers obviously
became more popular.
And uh I had a naturalfascination for computers, and I
quickly became the family ITguy, right?
Every time something wouldhappen, you know, someone would
call me, Franco, how do you dothis?
(14:38):
How do you do that?
And and the truth is I had noidea what I was doing, but I
wasn't scared to experiment andtry different things.
And as long as it wasn't yourstuff, as long as it wasn't my
stuff, yeah.
And you'll see that theme iskind of reoccurring uh
throughout my journey.
But um was super fascinating tocomputers.
Uh, I always loved music, andobviously with the computers
came digital music.
(14:58):
Um, was ripping my dad's CDsonto the computer, so I had
quite a nice collection going.
And um as I grew older into myyou know mid-teens, I was always
the guy playing the music orresponsible for music, whether
it be a party, whether it bewe're going in a car or
something, uh I would literallycarry around with me a cassette
(15:19):
to one-eighth inch auxiliaryadapter.
Remember with the cord put itin?
And the problem with that is alot of cars, the cassette player
didn't work eventually.
Uh, so then I upgraded to the FMtransmitter.
Remember those days with thecigar uh with the cigarette
lighter and you put it in the 12volt?
Never had any good uh neverreally worked properly.
SPEAKER_00 (15:40):
Um lots of interference.
SPEAKER_01 (15:42):
Yeah, so then I was like, How do we like we used to
go in the car a lot andwhatever?
And I was like, Okay, there hasto be a better way of playing
music in a car.
And uh quickly dove into caraudio.
Just by accident, a buddy ofmine was like, Hey, I want to
put a cool radio in my car, andI was like, Yeah, I can figure
that out.
Can't be too hard, right?
Take out the dash, rip out theold radio, quickly realizing I
(16:05):
don't know what I'm doing.
A bit of research, you know,internet back then, dial up and
start figuring out okay, youjust gotta match the colors on
the new wiring kit, no YouTube,barely any YouTube.
That's right.
And so um I figured out how toreplace radios in cars, started
doing that, which led to likesubwoofer installations and
again not knowing what the hellI was doing.
(16:27):
The difference between wiringtwo subwoofers in series or
parallel and how to pair themwith an amp.
So, yes, we blew some amps andhad a lot of fun doing that.
SPEAKER_00 (16:35):
Probably a couple of eardrums at the same time.
SPEAKER_01 (16:37):
A couple of eardrums as well.
I mean, my poor parentsliterally like three in the
morning, we'd finally figure outwhich wire we didn't wire
correctly, and all of a suddenyou start hearing the sub, and
we're like, we're having a greatold time at three in the
morning, right?
So did the the whole car audiothing, and like it got to the
point where it became a lot offun.
We were experimenting.
Uh little radios turned intoremember the DVD players in the
(17:00):
car, but you could only play theDVDs if you were in park, right?
And you had the park signal wireto say, okay, you're allowed to
safely play the DVD.
Um, don't do this at home, kids.
But we uh we figured out againthrough the internet how to
build like a relay bypass.
So it would it we would trickthe car into thinking it was in
(17:20):
park when it really wasn't, sowe were able to play the DVD.
A video and multiple, or youcould have played the DVD while
driving if you wanted to dothat.
Of course, we we never everlisten, listen to the DVD.
SPEAKER_02 (17:31):
We listen to the DVD, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (17:33):
You're not watching the DVD, we wouldn't do that,
never listen to Tomorrowland,you know.
And it was uh it was a lot offun doing that.
Uh, but it was more of a sidegig, you know.
Again, the entrepreneurshipspirit was always in me, always
had little side gigs going.
Uh car audio eventually led intoinstalling some home theater,
you know.
I could hang a TV, oh, I couldwire a speaker, I could figure
(17:54):
out a receiver and whatever.
So I always did those things onthe side.
Um, but pairing the wholedigital music thing, you know,
at one point, and I was alwaysproviding the music, literally
DJing without even realizing it.
My dad was like, hey, like, whydon't you think about DJing and
doing this, you know, on theside.
It's like, okay, I got thecomputer, I've got the music
(18:14):
library, I've I love thetechnology behind it, right?
Literally everything from asubwoofer in a trunk to the
actual computer, kind of put itall together and started DJing
and uh did my first wedding whenI was 17 years old.
Wow.
I didn't sleep for three daysbefore that because I was so
nervous.
I I it's somebody's special day.
Someone's special day.
(18:34):
I never really did it before.
Uh, and and after that gig,which went well, I have to say,
um, I learned from a lot ofmentors in the industry.
I was literally cabling wiresfor free at four in the morning
at a hall in the east end, youknow, like just to learn the way
how do you coil an XLR cable?
You know, how do you organizeyour cases?
How do you do that?
And literally all for free.
(18:56):
Uh, and eventually started myown entertainment company, which
is still running today.
Super proud of that.
But um at the at that time, youknow, my parents wanted me to
complete schooling and all that,and they they put a lot of
pressure on me.
And I'm not gonna lie, at onepoint, you know, I was DJing so
much, it was very lucrative.
So I don't need school, youknow, that's it's not important.
(19:16):
But I needed the family van totransport all my equipment.
And when I say all my equipment,I didn't have a production
grade, you know, inventory list.
I was using old Nico hometheater speakers that my uncle
had given me for you know Suite16s in a basement.
Like it was it was reallyrudimentary, but it worked,
(19:36):
right?
It was it was a lot of fun, anduh and so they told me you're
only allowed to use the familyvan if you stay in school and if
you focus on events.
Because I I was starting to getinto the club scene and it was
cool, right?
The girls, the drinking, thewhatever.
And um, my dad kind of motivatedme to stay in the event scene by
saying, Hey, you know, you canactually make more money doing
(19:58):
events.
I don't know if he actually knewthat back in the day.
But I was like, okay, let me,you know, let me let me go down
that path.
And and that's what led toCaruso Entertainment and uh
working as a DJ for the last 17years of my life.
Yeah, all founded by theminivan, all founded by the
minivan and the pressure from myparents, and uh, and yeah, and
(20:20):
that's what happened.
And how I found myself to be atSFM is is a funny story too.
I brought my CDJ 200s.
Remember that Pioneer DJ, CDJ200s?
The gray ones, my cue button,just like every DJ goes through
this.
The Q button eventually failsafter a million presses, which
is completely normal.
And uh and I had to get themrepaired for my next gig.
Didn't know what to do.
(20:41):
I had bought them used, so Inever really walked into a store
and spoke to an actualauthorized dealer.
And uh someone had told methere's a company called SFM,
Indoor Val.
Go there, there's a littlewindow in the back, just drop
off your stuff and it'll getrepaired.
So I show up and uh shout out toWayne, who's still here.
Um I I dropped off my CDJ 200s,did not know what an RMA was.
(21:05):
I had no paperwork, I don't eventhink I had a credit card back
then.
Dropped them off, he's like, Oh,you need to fill this out,
whatever.
Dropped them off, got themrepaired.
And when I came back, I waslike, okay, I'm doing
university.
I don't know what my future isgonna look like, but it'd be
really cool to stay in the DJindustry, but more at a nine to
(21:26):
five level, corporate levelduring the week.
And so I asked him if there wasany openings, and he's like,
hey, this is the website, checkit out.
I don't know what's open, what'snot.
Knew someone who knew someone,referral, did a couple
interviews, and I started off asan assistant brand manager in
the MI division.
Nice, and now I'm here, categorymanager for Pro and Live.
(21:49):
So I I stayed in the MIdivision, became brand manager,
went to the pro audio side,brand manager there, and now I'm
managing the the category, whichis a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_02 (21:57):
And specifically uh even Pioneer.
SPEAKER_01 (22:00):
Yeah, and what's crazy is like you know, the
dream was to work for PioneerDJ, and this is the closest
thing possible in Canada, andnow I get to manage Pioneer DJ
Alpha Theta, QSC, Electro Voice,and have a lot of fun with all
these brands.
So it's uh it's crazy howdifferent things happen and get
you to where you are.
Did you know this even existed?
Like the I had when I dropped itoff, I swear I thought it was a
(22:23):
huge building just for repairs.
Like I had no idea what adistributor was, what the role
was in the supply chain of abusiness or a brand in Canada.
I had no idea what exclusivedistribution was, like I really
had no clue.
Um even applying for the job.
Like I was naive about it, youknow, like I didn't know what I
was gonna be doing, what uh typeof brands the company was
(22:48):
dealing with at the time.
Uh and everything just workedout.
Yeah.
And here I am, nine years later.
So it's a lot of fun, it's cool,and I and I love what I did.
I have no regrets.
Made a lot of mistakes.
I'm so sorry to all the people Iinstalled.
Bad car audio in.
But it worked, it worked, it didwork.
Um, but that's how you learn,and I think that's what's so
(23:09):
cool about the AV industry isthat it's it's tactile, it's
physical, to your point.
You got to play with all thoseamazing instruments in person.
I got to play with speaker cableand subwoofers and amps and you
know, positive, negative, asrudimentary and as basic as that
is.
If I wouldn't have gone throughall those steps, I I would have
I wouldn't know what I'd bedoing today, you know, and even
(23:31):
playing with different cables,going to those companies at four
in the morning, saying, Hey, Iwant to learn.
I want to learn how to run a DJcompany.
Yeah, um, I wouldn't know thedifference between you know
different types of audio cablesor video cables, how to organize
them, the cases, the sellingprocess.
So, you know, always very like Isaid, entrepreneurship.
(23:51):
Yeah, always had that in me.
And I'm happy that I was able tomarry with a more corporate side
of things.
And I still get to have fun onthe weekends and please lots of
crowds and and I enjoy everysingle minute of it.
That's amazing.
And I'm lucky for that.
SPEAKER_02 (24:04):
And it's and it's something that they don't always
teach you in school that youknow, there's if you have a
passion for something, there'sother avenues except for going
directly into that specificthing.
Um like, you know, you didn'teven know besides uh outside of
the DJ world that you canactually rep a brand.
You can be an ambassador, youcan do you know, all kinds of
(24:25):
stuff.
And sadly, they don't I don'tthink I mean from the little bit
I was was paying attention inschool, they weren't really
telling you those differentavenues to kind of branch out,
saying there are other thingsthat tie into that industry
without having to be directly.
SPEAKER_01 (24:42):
You're kind of a very straight and narrow path,
and this is how you do it,that's A to Z.
SPEAKER_02 (24:46):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (24:46):
And there's no, hey, you can actually do it this way.
And it's it's you know, it'skind of the same thing in the A
V world when you're building arack or a system design, yeah.
But everyone has a different wayof doing it.
That's right.
Whether you're a DJ and you'remixing two songs, every DJ will
mix those two songs differentlyevery single time.
Yep, whoever's designing a rackor a system design will do it
(25:07):
differently, but at the end ofthe day, it's the result that
matters.
Yeah, you know, so it's yeah,it's yeah, it's it's funny when
you look back at it, again, backin my day, you know, but it's uh
it's fun to think of of allthese little experiences and how
it it brings you to the presentday.
Absolutely.
Yeah, what about yeah, whatabout you, Hugo?
SPEAKER_00 (25:27):
Yeah, back in my day.
SPEAKER_01 (25:30):
We're all in our 20s.
I already warned you.
We're all in our 20s, we'resuper young.
It's okay.
SPEAKER_00 (25:35):
You know what's funny about me is um I've been
uh with SFM, the distributor forfor two years, close to two
years now, actually.
Yeah, two years.
Um but I've been a salespersonfor the past 23 years before
joining SFM.
So looking back at you know, Imentioned Musitechnique, um the
(25:56):
the woman who was uh booking theinternship, she kind of liked
me, uh, but in a good way.
Don't don't don't worry.
I didn't do anything bad.
Um uh so she she I I was verygood at school and that at that
particular school, I was topthree in my class, very involved
(26:17):
in the computer, as I told you,very knowledgeable on all the
new softwares and and stuff likethat.
So she found me uh a job evenbefore I finished my my last
semester.
Lucky you.
So I think the semester wasfinishing in May, and by
mid-April, I was already workingat at a music store called Steve
Music.
You worked at Steve's Music.
(26:38):
Steve's, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (26:39):
I didn't know he worked at Steve's Music.
You know either.
I probably met you at Steve'swithout even knowing.
SPEAKER_00 (26:45):
Probably.
SPEAKER_01 (26:46):
What uh department did you work in?
I I was working in the PA and DJdepartment, so really maybe if
you purchased your pioneeraround the I I couldn't afford
new equipment, so I come in, seewhat's see what's happening, and
look up the and go look used.
SPEAKER_02 (27:01):
What a small world though.
SPEAKER_01 (27:02):
It's scary.
I have another story, it mightsave it for another podcast, but
I met an existing employee who'sstill here today at SFM before
starting at SFM, and then I sawhim at SFM and was like, you
were the guy who sold me myfirst pair of speakers.
I'll save that story for aminute.
Jesus.
I'm an MC, like I'm gonna talkforever.
(27:22):
So we'll let Hugo continue.
SPEAKER_00 (27:24):
So I I worked uh at Steve's Music uh in the PA
department.
This is another place where Ilearned a lot of stuff,
especially around uh wirelessmicrophone.
At the time it was uh uh yeah,it was not digital, it was still
analog.
Um I learned a lot about powerdams, microphones, um basically
(27:45):
did my classes, completed myclasses there, learning how to
sell something to someone.
Um and from there, I was workingin the PA department, but I was
still completely in love withrecording and computer
technology and computertechnology and recording
technology.
So I was spending a lot of timein the pro audio department
(28:06):
where where the the audiointerface were and uh uh all
this shiny gear.
Um and I I was still I startedmixing at the same time, mixing
as a DJ.
So as opposed to you, Franco, uhI did not the the events and
gig.
I went straight to the clubs.
I I worked in clubs, I worked ina I had a gig at a restaurant
(28:29):
for 18 years.
Wow.
Um, so in parallel, I wasworking in the PA department, I
was starting to DJing, DJ at thesame time.
But sorry, was that because ofSteve's that led you to DJing?
I started DJing just beforejoining just before.
Funny enough, another uh littlestory there.
I bought my first kit to NewmarkAccess 8 and a Newmark.
(28:54):
I think it was a TMO3 orsomething like that, uh, from
someone in my class because hedidn't have enough money.
Really?
Yeah, he needed the money to topay for his class, actually.
Anyways, that's a sad story.
I I I bought my DJ equipmentwith my grants.
SPEAKER_03 (29:13):
Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00 (29:14):
You see, you do what you gotta do, which ended up
being a very good move because Idid a lot of money as a DJ.
Yeah.
As you said.
So, anyways, after a year and ahalf at Steve Music, that music
store, um, someone from anotherlocal reseller who were
exclusively selling Pro ToolsHD, like the the large, the big
Pro Tools system, which they useto record bands, mix for TV, mix
(29:39):
for movie.
That guy needed an assistant.
And he kind of heard that I waspretty good with Pro Tools, and
so he basically approached meand asked me if I wanted to be
his uh his assistant, which Idid for a year, another year and
a half before he got fired.
Uh, he got fired for healthreasons, uh, basically lost his
job for a for Health reasons, hehad to leave.
(30:02):
Um, and I basically got his gig.
And at the time, another bigstep in my in my paycheck,
because it was very lucrative.
Uh, at the time back in 2004 orfive, Pro Tools HD was to mix in
5.1.
If you pair it with Gen Elecspeakers and everything, it
could be up to$60,000,$70,000for one workstation.
SPEAKER_01 (30:26):
So that's hardware, software, the complete kit.
SPEAKER_00 (30:28):
And we were integrating everything.
I mean, we were sellingeverything.
Uh, we were actually buying GenElec speakers from SFM at the
time already.
SPEAKER_01 (30:36):
Uh, so Gen Elec or others, I mean so you'd come in
and outfit the studio or thepost-production room.
SPEAKER_00 (30:42):
I could sell the whole studio, including the
acoustic uh treatment andeverything.
Really?
Yeah.
What was that back then?
SPEAKER_02 (30:48):
Or Alex?
SPEAKER_00 (30:50):
Yeah, I was selling Or Alex and um that Canadian
company.
Okay.
Uh I don't remember.
SPEAKER_01 (30:57):
Sorry.
Even though we're in our 20s, weforget things sometimes.
SPEAKER_00 (31:01):
Um but so I worked at that company called C E V uh
for another 17 years.
But at one point uh audio uh gotdemocratized and computer
processors were much morepowerful.
So the technology dropped inprice.
(31:21):
Uh so basically, I wasmentioning at first it was
$70,000 to have a full-blownsystem.
When I five to six, seven, eightyears later, it was around
$12,000 because you could do somuch more with a native system.
When I say native, I mean youcould do so much more with a
processor.
(31:42):
And it was about the time whenMac computers, which are, as you
guys know, are people are usingMac in in that industry,
especially in thepost-production business.
So when Mac transitioned fromPower PC, uh Motorola processors
to Intel, suddenly the powerwent up like this.
Like wow.
(32:03):
So you could do so much morewith a native system.
The reason why these systemswere so expensive is they were
using DSP cards hooked up to thePCIe parts in a Mac.
You could have up to three cardswith 18 processors on it, and
you couldn't run, I don't know,150 plugins on it, no latency,
(32:23):
like literally less than uh afew samples of latency.
It was very, very high on stuff.
But again, the processor, anative processor in the Intel
Mac got so much powerful thatyou could do much more with a
smaller system.
So I was not making enough moneyanymore.
So I was contemplating the ideaof leaving and I don't know,
(32:44):
working for somebody else.
Uh, but the boss told me, youknow, you're very good at what
you're doing in audio, but Ithink you have potential also to
sell video editorial systems.
So this is where I started to beuh um interested in video
because still at the time avideo editorial system was still
(33:06):
very expensive.
SPEAKER_01 (33:07):
Did you have any video editing experience prior
to that?
Or you learn a lot through thejob?
SPEAKER_00 (33:12):
I learned a lot through the job, but the fact
that I was basically selling ProTools system for audio to sound
to picture, I kind of got tolearn a lot about all these
resolutions, frame rates.
Because in post-production, thething you want to do is you want
the audio and the video to besynced.
(33:33):
If not, you're screwed.
So I I got to learn a lot aboutall these different formats.
I'm not specialist aboutcameras, uh, but I'm I'm very
good with codecs in general.
So this is where I learned alot, and I became basically
doing selling audio and video.
So this is where I got a seconduh tool in my toolbox.
(33:56):
Uh, and I did another like 10years there.
So I worked for 17 years at thatspecific reseller.
And start after 17 years in oneplace, you start contemplating
the idea of leaving.
And I got approached by anational reseller who was also
an avid reseller, but they alsowere an Autodesk reseller.
(34:18):
Uh they're they're an expo,they're based in BC, but I was
working off Montreal here.
Uh so this is where I gotanother tool in my toolbox,
which was uh everything VFX andgaming design.
So all the desktop publishingsoftwares like Autodesk, uh 3DS
Max, 3D Max or just Max, uh, andall those pipelines,
(34:41):
understanding about assetmanagement and everything you
need to basically create visualeffects in a movie.
So I I wouldn't say I'm aspecialist about that, but I've
sold many systems also.
So I kind of get the completeworkflow and pipeline.
Everything around a movie, I Ikind of understand the bits and
(35:02):
pieces that go around it.
Nice.
And after five years, Ibasically lost my job.
Uh, and I got approached by SFM,the distributor we're working
for here uh about two years ago.
That's that's about is thereanything Hugo doesn't know?
SPEAKER_02 (35:19):
I know, I was just gonna say after getting into
that journey, did you have apreference in terms of are you
you consider yourself more of anaudio guy or more a video guy?
SPEAKER_00 (35:30):
Or that's really funny because you know I work in
the technical department hereand all these guys are audio
guys.
I mean, I'm the only videoprofessional.
I'm I'm kind of the broadcastspecialist, that's how you call
me here.
But I I still consider myself anaudio guy, but out of the all
the audio guy, I'm the one whoknows the more the video.
(35:51):
Let's put it that way.
Yeah, uh, but I'm more of anaudio person still to that date.
And that's funny because goingfrom 23 years of being a
salesperson or a technicalsalesperson, now I'm I'm still
selling gear.
I mean, I'm still helping thesalesman here or the reps to
sell, but I'm a lot more intotechnical these days, which I
(36:14):
really like because at the endof my career, my my my sales
director was telling me I wastoo technical.
Oh wow, you know, because I wasreally geeking out with the
customers, but I was not talkingthat much about like how much
are you gonna give me?
Right, how do you see like thebusiness and blah blah.
So I was more of a okay, whattools are you using?
(36:34):
What's your workflow?
I want to understand it.
So so basically, I mean the jobI have right now is I really
like it.
Nice.
Yeah, it fits it seems like it'sright up your alley.
SPEAKER_02 (36:44):
Yep, yep.
That's amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (36:46):
You see all this gear on this set here.
We had so much fun buildingthat.
SPEAKER_01 (36:51):
So and no pressure if the video and the audio don't
sync up perfectly, hey?
No pressure.
It's gonna sink, trust me.
I believe it.
SPEAKER_00 (36:56):
I believe it.
SPEAKER_01 (36:59):
Yeah, what about you?
SPEAKER_02 (37:01):
Oh boy.
Um, yeah, I think it was just uma little sequence sequence of
events, a little bit like Francoand even yourself, uh Hugh.
I think it I think it's likethat for a lot of us.
Um, I think it's it stemmed outfrom uh uh started off with a
part-time job uh during CJEP,which a buddy of mine approached
me to work at Future Shop.
(37:21):
I always had a passion for likehome theaters and stuff like
that.
And uh he came to see me.
He's like, hey, they're lookingfor somebody for car audio, and
you'd be uh also selling on thehome theater side.
So I said, I think that's great.
I'm not much of a sales guy, butuh I love being technical and
plugging things in since I was akid.
I always played with like analogold stuff.
(37:42):
We didn't have a ton of cash.
I always had like really oldmixers and stuff that was
sometimes worked, sometimesdidn't.
Just you know, playing aroundwith cables trips not working,
yeah.
Yeah, yeah, stuff like that,tube bamps and stuff like that.
So it was a lot of fun.
Anyway, so starting off atFuture Shop was a lot of fun.
The education was I think backin the day they used to say like
(38:02):
McDonald's was like the firstbest job that you can get.
You'd learn so much, and I don'tknow if it's like that today,
allegedly, but um, future shopwas a great, great um company to
work for.
They learned a lot on the salesside, a lot on the technical
side, and uh got to learn a lot,a little bit like you on the car
(38:23):
audio side, just learning aboutimpedances and stuff like that,
and on the home theater side aswell.
SPEAKER_01 (38:28):
Were you installing car audio or just single?
SPEAKER_02 (38:30):
No, just selling, just selling, and on the home
theater side, yeah.
I would dabble into some side uhinstallations for customers.
Sometimes they didn't want to gowith their uh back then was like
the it wasn't Geek SWAT, it wassomething else with Future Shop,
but um yeah, just getting apulse too.
I love getting a pulse with thecustomers saying, you know, like
what what type of applicationsthey were getting into, some of
the challenges like wiring,pre-wiring.
(38:53):
Like I even back then I wasdoing like you know, wiring
after the fact.
So it was very challenging andsurface mount wiring.
Yeah, I would I I wouldn't gosurface mount wiring, but you
know, like okay, let's gothrough the basement and you
know all kinds of stuff.
It was it was quite challenging,but at a young age I got to kind
of kind of matured me, I wouldsay.
(39:14):
And that was a good thing.
SPEAKER_01 (39:15):
Putting cable through a house that's already
built will will humble you realquick.
SPEAKER_02 (39:19):
Yeah, really quick, yeah, really, really quick.
So that was a lot of fun, and Ithink um, and then right after
that, the same friend who workedat a feed shop left um and Brick
started expanding across Canadaand uh came pulling me in when
they started building the uhKirkland uh center in the West
Island in Montreal, and I helpedopen the store again working in
(39:41):
the the home theater department.
That was a lot of fun.
Still doing some installs on theside too, and I think why I
enjoyed it so much as well is umit it I kind of maybe it was an
excuse I was creating formyself, but it kind of still
tied a little bit of the filmside where I was recreating the
(40:02):
theater experience inside ahome.
Uh, and that always appealed tome.
And um, I I there's there's somany people that work um behind
the screen, behind the camera ona film production, uh, from
lighting to costume design toset design to everything.
And recreating that in the home,I think was super important for
(40:23):
me.
That's why I'm a little bitsaddened today.
Everybody's going for soundbars, but uh but I think it's
it's really cool.
Do a full podcast on sound barson just sound bars.
SPEAKER_01 (40:34):
Just sound bars.
SPEAKER_02 (40:35):
That's coming up.
SPEAKER_01 (40:36):
Um theater system at home.
SPEAKER_02 (40:39):
Yeah, many.
SPEAKER_01 (40:42):
Again, another episode just home theaters.
SPEAKER_02 (40:45):
Another episode.
And even just the um I I I wrotea white paper um back in the day
on just the the psychologicalaspect of having a home theater,
a dedicated home theater spacein the room, how it changes
things, even just like thedynamic and stuff.
But again, that's anotherpodcast.
SPEAKER_00 (41:02):
Does your white paper talk about the wife
acceptance factor?
SPEAKER_02 (41:06):
Yes, yes, the family acceptance, the family
acceptance.
Yeah, but that's a huge that's ahuge part of it.
Uh, but so, anyways, after afterthe brick, uh basically um I
went to a little bit outside theindustry in the telecom
industry.
And uh as soon as I actuallyleft the telecom industry uh as
(41:28):
a part-time job, obviously, andthen I got kicked out a second
time in college, and I reallydidn't know uh what I was gonna
do.
And and the timing was wasreally good because it wasn't
like months off, it wasliterally like a week off, and
then I get a call.
And to this day, no joke, I haveno idea how I came across this
(41:51):
company because and I'll get tothat.
They call me up and they'relike, hey, with all your
experience uh on the hometheater side, specifically
Future Shop and the Brick, theysaw that.
They're like, We really want acounter guy in uh in in
distribution for um A V.
I'm like, fantastic.
So I got the job, went for theinterview, got the job, and I
(42:11):
remember the first week they'rejust like, okay, I want you to.
SPEAKER_00 (42:14):
What is that company?
SPEAKER_02 (42:15):
Like that was what were they specialized in in?
So they're a low voltagedistributor.
SPEAKER_00 (42:20):
And can you define low voltage?
SPEAKER_02 (42:22):
Because I'm I'm I'm not sure anything that's not
electrical, so anything that's12 volts, 24 volts, and all that
stuff.
Like doorbells, doorbells,networking, yeah, doorbells,
networking, monitoring, securitycameras, access control, fire,
uh, and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01 (42:38):
Intrusion, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (42:39):
Intrusion exactly, intrusion, uh, CCTV and AV,
especially on the 70 volt sideand all that stuff.
Uh, and I remember the firstweek, they're like, okay, I want
you to just clean the shelves.
I want you to remove theproducts off the shelves, clean
the shelves, and as you'recleaning the shelves, open up
the boxes and learn theproducts.
And I think that was fantastic.
And I still remember after thefirst week, I'm like, what the
(43:01):
hell do these guys do?
I didn't know what a distributorwas, and I was like, I still
don't know what the hierarchywas, what the process was, like,
what's a dealer?
I don't know what a dealer is, Idon't know what an end user was,
I didn't know what a distributoror what the role of a
distributor was.
And uh that too got me to learna lot throughout the years, and
even there I started doinghelping dealers do installs that
(43:24):
are like had a little bit moredifficulty on the A V space, so
they'd they'd they'd uh they'dask me to come on site, and I
love that because again, I likehaving a pulse to the industry
and see what was working, whatwas not working, yeah, and
seeing firsthand what thechallenges are, and you
basically helped low voltageresellers or like a company
specialized in security camerasor integration, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (43:49):
Yeah, uh selling A V products.
SPEAKER_02 (43:51):
Yeah, it was more like guys who were already
getting into the home and weregetting asked to expand on some
of their solution.
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (43:59):
Okay, you're doing my speakers.
SPEAKER_02 (44:00):
Can you also do my CC TV or the home theater or
exactly so that was fantastic,and I would kind of uh educate
them and kind of help expandtheir business.
So that was a littleentrepreneur uh in me as well
that I loved um kind of helpinggrow people's businesses into
areas where they're like, whyare you putting yourself, giving
(44:22):
yourself limits?
And even back then, back thenthe AV industry, you're making a
lot more money, a lot moremargin just in cables.
I mean, we're looking talkingback into analog cables because
components when we're gettinginto HD, you're selling separate
uh video cables, separate audiocables, and uh just on cables,
you're making pretty good money.
Yep, so that was a lot of fun,which could be another topic
(44:45):
too.
SPEAKER_00 (44:46):
That too, just cables, the hype about the
cables, that they're expensivecables.
SPEAKER_01 (44:50):
And what could you do over CATSIX?
SPEAKER_02 (44:53):
Even just HDMI cables, yeah.
That's a whole other so anyway.
So I I started off from countersales all the way up to inside
sales into system design becauseI was a lot less salesy, like
you, and uh a lot moretechnical, but um, and then
later on became um managingmanaging the team, leading the
(45:15):
team in Canada for the systemdesign team, which was a a ton
of fun.
And then SFM was looking forsomebody who was like a bit of a
hybrid technical marketing andkind of help take uh more
technical terms and convert intoeasy digestible type of
marketable marketableapplications and stuff like
that, which is so much fun.
(45:35):
So did you apply for the job ordid they called you?
Funny enough, I think it was alittle bit of both, from what I
understood.
Um actually I I first appliedfor a brand management position.
Oh yeah, didn't get it.
So Franco said no.
Franco said no.
SPEAKER_01 (45:53):
It was not me, just kidding, it was not me.
SPEAKER_02 (45:58):
At first I think they were looking for somebody a
little less technical.
I maybe I was a little bit tootechnical, but uh because of my
history in in making actuallyrewinding, I actually started uh
my video production company in2013 on the side, which I
actually closed very recently,but I actually had a film
(46:19):
production company because I hadsome older friends that were
still in the film business thatare like, hey, would you mind
producing and and directing somefilms for me?
And I'm like, that'd befantastic.
And that was a lot of fun andvery humbling as well.
Yeah, because in the micro notthe indie or the low budget, but
(46:42):
when we're talking about microbudget type of productions where
you're basically wearingmultiple hats, you get to learn
a lot of roles.
You see everything, you seeeverything, and you're doing
hands-on.
Again, we're we're talking aboutexperience, doing is the most
important thing.
Planning is also great, butdoing and getting your hands
dirty, making mistakes, makingthose mistakes are important,
(47:04):
not pressing record.
That that all makes that allmakes a huge difference.
And I learned, and then as theyears were going on and the
projects were getting a littlebit bigger, I actually started
building up a team.
That too was very important forme to start learning how to uh
have confidence in otherindividuals, their creativity,
(47:24):
learning how those guys who arespecialists and cra like you
know professionals in theircraft, how they think what they
can bring to the table.
And that applied a lot to systemdesign, working with dealers.
And again, you brought it upbefore, you know, like there's
never especially when you'redoing a design, there's never
(47:46):
one perfect design.
You can take that one um problemand give it to all three of us,
and we come up with threedifferent solutions.
At the end, the customer isalways happy, but there's always
three different ways of doingit.
And I always say two plus twoequals four, but so is three
plus one.
You're always getting to the endof it.
(48:08):
So uh that's basically it.
So I think I think SFM, I think,from what I understand, is they
kind of like that the videoaspect and then the technical
side and merging both together.
SPEAKER_01 (48:20):
So here we are today.
SPEAKER_02 (48:23):
Here we are today today.
Do we sing our first podcast?
SPEAKER_00 (48:27):
Maybe we should.
I I mean I I know uh I don'tknow how long we've been
talking, but maybe we shouldjust talk about the inception of
this podcast, like how would wegot the idea and all that
correct me if I'm wrong, but Ithink we had gone for lunch.
SPEAKER_01 (48:41):
It was probably the first lunch us three had ever
gone on just.
We were with a reseller too, andum again, all different parts of
the business, right?
The marketing side, the brandmanagement side, the technical
side.
And we were talking at lunch,and we started talking about
correct me if I'm wrong again, Idon't know if it was CCTV,
(49:01):
security camera.
Yes.
Then we started talking aboutrouters and access points, and I
mean you guys, your networkingDHCP VLAN.
Yeah, exactly.
And your networking shops aredefinitely better than mine.
I mean, I have some basicknowledge.
SPEAKER_00 (49:15):
Vince was saying that he has a dedicated VLAN
just for Chinese stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (49:19):
Yeah, IoT stuff.
And yeah, I was like, what isthat?
You know, we're learning fromeach other, and uh I think by
the end of that conversation,people must have been looking at
us.
It was a small restaurant, like,what are these guys talking
about?
And we're just going on and onand on, and I think at the end
of the conversation, that's whenwe realized, hey, this is a
really good content.
Like we were just talking, we'relearning from each other, yeah,
(49:41):
and most importantly, it was asafe space, and I think that's
what this podcast needs to be.
It's being vulnerable and okay,Franco doesn't know a lot about
video or networking, but heknows a hell of a lot about the
DJ product, the consumer side ofthings, the entrepreneurship
side, supply chain side ofrunning that type of business in
(50:01):
Canada.
And I want to learn fromgentlemen like you two, you
know, that have more of thosetechnical uh abilities compared
to myself.
And I and I think it's gonna bea lot of fun going back and
forth and uh benefiting from ourour strengths and weaknesses.
SPEAKER_02 (50:15):
Well, don't sell yourself short, because I think
I think I found that lunch superinsightful because even though I
mean you you know quite a bit innetworking as well, but what I
what I found really interestingis that all three of us I think
we knew a lot about the topic,but even even so, I still
learned stuff that I didn't knowyou and and yourself, and we're
(50:40):
always learning that we'reconstantly, constantly evolving,
and it's a very fast-pacedindustry, everything is
constantly moving, so you know,from our stories, we all made
mistakes, we all got here at theend of the day, and that's what
these conversations are going tobe about is let's ask those
questions.
SPEAKER_01 (50:58):
Let's not be scared to make mistakes.
And hopefully the viewers aswell will be asking lots of
questions and we'll we'll jumpinto it.
And we're not scared to lookinto it and uh and learn from
each other.
SPEAKER_02 (51:08):
Yeah, if you have anything that you guys want us
to talk about specifically, feelfree to uh drop that in the
comments uh below, and we'll bemore than happy to uh to look at
it and explore all those thesetopics.
We really, really, really wantto hear from everybody out
there.
SPEAKER_00 (51:24):
And I I gotta say that.
SPEAKER_01 (51:25):
I mean, like and subscribe, you guys.
I mean, this is this is wealmost forgot the most important
part.
Yeah.
This is what will be drivingthis podcast going forward.
SPEAKER_02 (51:36):
Well, thanks for hanging out with us on Behind
the Rack.
We hope you picked up somethingnew, maybe had a laugh, or at
least nodded along with one ofour rants.
If you enjoyed today's episode,again, hit that follow, share it
with a colleague or a fellow AVguy, um, and help us spread the
word.
Um, we'll be back with morestories, insights, and
conversations from uh the worldsof pro audio, broadcast, live
(51:59):
sound, and systems.
So until then, keep thecuriosity alive and we'll catch
you the next time behind theroad.
The views and opinions expressed in this
(00:02):
podcast are those of the hostsand guests and do not
necessarily reflect the officialpolicy or position of SFM.
SPEAKER_02 (00:10):
Welcome to Behind the Rack, the podcast where we,
Hugo Chavet, Franco Caruso, andmyself, Vincent Semeno, pull
back the curtain on the AVindustry.
Now, this isn't your typicalpolished panel.
It's a casual real-world chatwhere we just talk about the
gear we love and sometimes loveto complain about, the trends
(00:31):
shaping pro audio, lifestyle,broadcast, and system
integration, and the lessonswe're learning along the way.
Now think of it as three AV prossharing stories, swapping rants,
and diving into topics thatmatter, not just to help
listeners get smarter abouttech, but to keep ourselves
learning too.
So whether you're in the booth,the boardroom, A V curious, or
(00:54):
behind the rack, there'ssomething here for you.
So grab your headphones, pull upa chair, and join us for some
honest, sometimes nerdy, alwaysfun conversations.
All happening in the rack.
SPEAKER_01 (01:19):
That was a great intro.
Yeah.
That was the first intro to ourfirst podcast of Behind the
Rack.
Well, thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (01:26):
You know, it felt good.
It felt good, anyways.
Well done.
To many more.
Too many more.
Too more.
Yes.
To many more.
That's a good, that's a goodstart.
SPEAKER_01 (01:36):
That's an excellent start.
How did you start in thisindustry?
SPEAKER_02 (01:39):
That's the question that I get asked a lot.
I think you do too.
SPEAKER_01 (01:42):
I get asked a lot.
Yeah, and I think we all havesome really interesting stories.
And that's what's cool about theAV industry.
There's no singular path to gethere.
Everyone has a different storyand a different uh way of how
they got into this incrediblyfun industry.
SPEAKER_00 (01:58):
Yeah.
And what's even cooler is I Idon't I don't know Franco a lot.
I Vince, we spent uh a lot oftime together shooting like
promotional material and andclips and movies, but uh but I
don't know Franco that much, soI I I suspect I'm gonna learn
something new from him today.
SPEAKER_03 (02:16):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (02:16):
Uh which which is great.
I mean, yep.
And admittedly, we work in areally cool industry.
SPEAKER_02 (02:22):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (02:22):
I have to say the coolest industry in the world.
Yeah.
I'll say it.
SPEAKER_02 (02:26):
Yeah.
And I think that's where we getasked a lot.
It's like, you know, how did youget in and what what what does
it take to get in?
And surprisingly enough, you'lllearn probably that uh just just
a little bit of work, but uh andsometimes things happen for a
reason.
Yeah.
Yep.
That's exactly it.
That's exactly it.
Let's start with it, like let'sstart maybe with the like
(02:47):
education and school and stufflike that.
How did did that have an effectin terms of the career path or
how you got here?
What why don't you kind of takeit take it off?
SPEAKER_01 (02:57):
Yeah, in terms of schooling specifically, uh no, I
had no idea I was gonna end upin the A V industry.
And there's a couple things thathappened along the way that just
kind of made it happennaturally.
Uh, I actually wanted to go intosciences, uh, was in sciences in
high school, and then quicklyrealized after my very first
chemistry class, there's no wayI'm spending the rest of my life
(03:19):
doing this.
Um, so didn't do that.
Went into marketing in CJEP.
Loved it, had a great time.
Uh always had kind of this innerentrepreneurship spirit, and you
wanted to do something withbusiness.
Um after CJEP went into financeuh at John Melson School of
Business, Concordia.
SPEAKER_02 (03:40):
That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (03:41):
And just like my chemistry class after the very
first FINA class, finance class,I was like, I am not doing this
for the rest of my life.
And switched back into marketingand really enjoyed my time in
university and and the wholebusiness.
SPEAKER_00 (03:54):
You managed like you literally after a week or two,
you said no.
Oh, same, yeah, same day.
SPEAKER_01 (04:00):
First after the first class of that FINA, which
is the finance core classes, Iwas like, I'm not doing this.
Yeah.
So I I actually I think thathappened after a semester or two
because you had to do your yourbase courses or whatever.
My first core finance class, Iwas like, I'm not doing this.
This is not this is not for me,which is fine, and that's what
schooling is for, right?
(04:20):
It's for realizing what you likeand what you don't like.
So I ended up finishing uh witha bachelor of uh of marketing,
uh, like I said, from JohnMolson School of Business.
And uh I think I'm gonna savehow I got into the AV industry
for a little later into thepodcast, but a lot of different
even signals I'll say that kindof just made me realize okay,
(04:42):
you're going into AV.
You love this.
So no specific AV curriculum orno, no technical training, none
like that, which I think is verydifferent from you two.
I I learned the old school way.
Uh just by learning, by making alot of mistakes, unfortunately.
Learning by myself and uheventually leaning on some pros
(05:03):
in the industry, using them asmentors, and here I am.
SPEAKER_02 (05:07):
I'm not gonna lie, we still make mistakes, and we
still make lots of mistakes.
I'm one who still makes a lot ofmistakes.
SPEAKER_01 (05:15):
Like not pressing record on the podcast?
SPEAKER_02 (05:17):
That that too.
This is about the third time weshoot this this version.
So I hope you guys enjoy thisversion.
It's the more polished one.
It's the more I guess you cantell it's the more polished one.
SPEAKER_01 (05:28):
This is gonna be a lot of fun though, boys.
I'm excited to be here with youand be talking about this and
learning more about you guys.
SPEAKER_00 (05:33):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (05:34):
What about you, Hugo?
Yeah, schooling-wise.
SPEAKER_00 (05:36):
Uh schooling-wise, I I did my CJEP, uh, sorry, I did
my secondary school, veryinvolved in sports and
journalism.
Like um and then I went intoCJEP in in journalism, as a
matter of fact.
Uh didn't finish my uh collegialdiploma.
(05:56):
Uh for unfortunately, I onlyhave like uh English and
philosophy that I didn't finish,so I only missed two courses to
get my full diploma.
But as as you guys know,sometimes in this in this
industry, they're not evenlooking at diploma.
I mean, so why?
But um after in the meantime, Istarted to be very interested
(06:21):
into electronic music andstarted to play around with
softwares like uh and it's backin 2003, probably.
I had my first desk.
Actually, I was making music onone of my friends, PC, uh, with
softwares like uh Fruity Loop.
I remember Fruity Loops Acid.
(06:41):
Uh Acid was the name of thesoftware, not what we were
taking before.
Uh allegedly.
And propeller adds reason.
And reason is a for those whowho know, it's it's a software
that it's probably 20 years oldor at least 15 years old, and
it's a virtual modular, virtualmodular soft synth.
(07:02):
Uh so it's a rack that you canturn around to see behind the
rack.
I like what you did there.
There's gonna be a lot of these.
SPEAKER_01 (07:10):
Smooth, yeah, smooth, smooth.
SPEAKER_00 (07:12):
By pressing tab, you could turn a rack and you see
all these wires.
And those are real virtualwires, so those are real wires
that you would see on asynthesizer.
And I asked myself, I scratchedmy head and I said, Yeah, I want
to know what these wires arefor.
And and and I looked online andthere was one school that that
(07:33):
was prominent in terms of uh uhproduction, music production,
computer, uh, sound design.
It was it was it's calledMusitechnique, it still exists
in 2025.
And and funny enough, a lot ofpeople in the industry went
through that school.
So it's as as I mentioned, ithas a good reputation.
(07:55):
So I started uh that coursewhich was uh essay, so it's uh
uh basically a specificspecialized course uh for a
specific topic, which wascomputer assisted sound design.
Uh so basically I was teachedhow to use uh real uh
(08:16):
synthesizer hardware.
There was a lab with real synthslike Roland GP 8000, uh Akai
S1000 uh sampler.
We were using Cubase as a uh uhfor for programming MIDI.
We were using Pro Tools torecord audio, and funny enough,
um I I was one of the I was thelast um year uh at that specific
(08:43):
school who was who werefortunate enough to record on
analog tape.
So our final project wasrecording on a real console 24
tracks into a tape machine, andso we record and we mix live on
the console.
So I was fortunate enough tohave the a true hybrid uh class
(09:06):
basically recording with uh uhcomputers, recording with tape,
playing with real hardware,playing with virtual sense.
So it was pretty cool.
And um I to this day, I thinkthis is really what got me into
that business.
This is where I learned aboutmicrophone polar uh polar
(09:29):
pattern.
This is why where I learnedabout XLR cables.
So this is where I got my coreknowledge for that call it A V
or audio business, pro audiobusiness.
This is really the the thefundamentals and the where I
learned and when I got even morepassionate about it.
Wow.
And when I start, and I'm gonnakeep also the story on what got
(09:52):
me like my first gig andeverything, but this is where I
did study a computer assistedsound design.
SPEAKER_02 (09:58):
That's amazing.
Yep, especially touching theanalog and digital right before
it kind of changed.
I think today we're getting backinto the analog stuff.
Yep, so getting taught, butgetting taught, it's one thing
like you know, a lot of analogstuff comes back nowadays, like
you know, like the whole vinyland stuff like that.
Um, but getting taught it uh,you know, back in the day, I
(10:20):
think is is really incredible.
Because I don't think you getmuch of that today.
SPEAKER_01 (10:23):
No, and having all those toys in that one room just
to play with is incredible.
SPEAKER_00 (10:27):
Like compressing a drum with a real compressor
plugged and insert on a console.
I mean, you don't see thisnowadays.
I mean, except in IN studio,which which uh still have like a
an SSL or an Eve console withhardware, but those are
expensive toys these days.
SPEAKER_01 (10:44):
Yeah, but it was out of necessity because that was
the only way to actually dothese things.
That's right.
SPEAKER_02 (10:49):
Wow, that's incredible.
What about you, Vince?
You Vince?
Yep.
Uh yeah, it's uh a little bitlike Franco, where I started off
into something that I thought Iwas gonna be interested in,
which was computer science, andI quickly realized, yeah, that's
that's not really what I wantedto get into.
Um, I think it was it was alittle bit fun at first, and
(11:10):
then I got into really obviouslymathematical, technical, and
stuff like that.
I'm like, yeah, that's notexactly where I wanted to, what
I wanted to do.
And then I ended up gettingkicked out of college for a
year, which led me to kind of uhponder in terms of what I wanted
to do with my life, my career.
And at the time, uh it just sohappened that uh first I always
(11:33):
had a passion for for film andstuff like that, but at the time
there was a huge demand um forfilm filming in Montreal.
So there was a huge demand forit, and I said, why not uh like
the X-Men series or shot ear?
Early, yeah, early.
I'm talking about early uh late1990s, early 2000s.
SPEAKER_01 (11:52):
There was a lot of every summer there was something
happening.
That's exactly it.
You would remember, hey, did youhear this?
They're filming this in the oldport or they're doing that.
SPEAKER_02 (11:59):
Yeah, chances are you'd be walking somewhere in
Montreal and there's somethingthat's happened, you'd see a
line of trailers somewhere.
So I figure, you know what?
I I think this is a a goodcareer path.
I I think it's a very difficultone.
I wasn't naive in terms ofthinking that it was gonna be
easy to get into, but I said,Let me let me give it a shot.
And uh a little bit like you,once I got into the program, you
(12:22):
got to learn about radio andvideo production, the film side,
um, you know, animation and evenphotography were we're you know
uh exposing and you know justtaking care of all the film like
the film aspects, the chemicalsand chemical reactions and
stuff.
Yeah, the dark room and all thatstuff, which was so much fun.
And a little bit like you, Ikind of um kind of the the the
(12:46):
passion kind of kind of bloomed,yeah, sparked and kind of
bloomed from there becausethat's when it I really got
into.
I think it I think it's thatcreative side that really like
it gives you that opportunity tocreate something from nothing.
SPEAKER_00 (13:00):
And no, when the the ISO was something that's written
on a film and you you have tobuy a 200 ISO or a 800 ISO
exactly, depending on where youstays, is it's more like I can
change the setting on my digitalcamera, but at the time you
needed to choose the proper filmto film that.
Absolutely, and if you miss,it's gonna look like you know,
(13:22):
bad.
SPEAKER_02 (13:23):
Not only not only did you're absolutely right, I
completely forgot about aboutthat, but not only is your film
important, but then how youexpose it and then how you
develop everything is like uheverything can be tweaked, and
nowadays with the new iPhones,you just cycle through your your
filters and then you can do ablack and white or a sepia or
(13:44):
whatever, you know.
So it was uh even creatingeffects was was uh on the analog
world.
SPEAKER_01 (13:49):
I think we're aging ourselves for the viewers.
We're actually all in our 20s.
We're all very, very young.
Yeah, back in my day, you know.
SPEAKER_02 (13:57):
Um yeah, so that's what uh that really that really
helped bloom myself into that.
And I'll I'll again I'll I'llalso keep my uh my my story.
But what what got you was thereanything in the in your
childhood that kind of got youthere where you are today?
SPEAKER_01 (14:17):
Um started playing piano.
I was about four years old.
Uh so I was always into music.
Uh as I grew you know into myearly teens, computers obviously
became more popular.
And uh I had a naturalfascination for computers, and I
quickly became the family ITguy, right?
Every time something wouldhappen, you know, someone would
call me, Franco, how do you dothis?
(14:38):
How do you do that?
And and the truth is I had noidea what I was doing, but I
wasn't scared to experiment andtry different things.
And as long as it wasn't yourstuff, as long as it wasn't my
stuff, yeah.
And you'll see that theme iskind of reoccurring uh
throughout my journey.
But um was super fascinating tocomputers.
Uh, I always loved music, andobviously with the computers
came digital music.
(14:58):
Um, was ripping my dad's CDsonto the computer, so I had
quite a nice collection going.
And um as I grew older into myyou know mid-teens, I was always
the guy playing the music orresponsible for music, whether
it be a party, whether it bewe're going in a car or
something, uh I would literallycarry around with me a cassette
(15:19):
to one-eighth inch auxiliaryadapter.
Remember with the cord put itin?
And the problem with that is alot of cars, the cassette player
didn't work eventually.
Uh, so then I upgraded to the FMtransmitter.
Remember those days with thecigar uh with the cigarette
lighter and you put it in the 12volt?
Never had any good uh neverreally worked properly.
SPEAKER_00 (15:40):
Um lots of interference.
SPEAKER_01 (15:42):
Yeah, so then I was like, How do we like we used to
go in the car a lot andwhatever?
And I was like, Okay, there hasto be a better way of playing
music in a car.
And uh quickly dove into caraudio.
Just by accident, a buddy ofmine was like, Hey, I want to
put a cool radio in my car, andI was like, Yeah, I can figure
that out.
Can't be too hard, right?
Take out the dash, rip out theold radio, quickly realizing I
(16:05):
don't know what I'm doing.
A bit of research, you know,internet back then, dial up and
start figuring out okay, youjust gotta match the colors on
the new wiring kit, no YouTube,barely any YouTube.
That's right.
And so um I figured out how toreplace radios in cars, started
doing that, which led to likesubwoofer installations and
again not knowing what the hellI was doing.
(16:27):
The difference between wiringtwo subwoofers in series or
parallel and how to pair themwith an amp.
So, yes, we blew some amps andhad a lot of fun doing that.
SPEAKER_00 (16:35):
Probably a couple of eardrums at the same time.
SPEAKER_01 (16:37):
A couple of eardrums as well.
I mean, my poor parentsliterally like three in the
morning, we'd finally figure outwhich wire we didn't wire
correctly, and all of a suddenyou start hearing the sub, and
we're like, we're having a greatold time at three in the
morning, right?
So did the the whole car audiothing, and like it got to the
point where it became a lot offun.
We were experimenting.
Uh little radios turned intoremember the DVD players in the
(17:00):
car, but you could only play theDVDs if you were in park, right?
And you had the park signal wireto say, okay, you're allowed to
safely play the DVD.
Um, don't do this at home, kids.
But we uh we figured out againthrough the internet how to
build like a relay bypass.
So it would it we would trickthe car into thinking it was in
(17:20):
park when it really wasn't, sowe were able to play the DVD.
A video and multiple, or youcould have played the DVD while
driving if you wanted to dothat.
Of course, we we never everlisten, listen to the DVD.
SPEAKER_02 (17:31):
We listen to the DVD, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (17:33):
You're not watching the DVD, we wouldn't do that,
never listen to Tomorrowland,you know.
And it was uh it was a lot offun doing that.
Uh, but it was more of a sidegig, you know.
Again, the entrepreneurshipspirit was always in me, always
had little side gigs going.
Uh car audio eventually led intoinstalling some home theater,
you know.
I could hang a TV, oh, I couldwire a speaker, I could figure
(17:54):
out a receiver and whatever.
So I always did those things onthe side.
Um, but pairing the wholedigital music thing, you know,
at one point, and I was alwaysproviding the music, literally
DJing without even realizing it.
My dad was like, hey, like, whydon't you think about DJing and
doing this, you know, on theside.
It's like, okay, I got thecomputer, I've got the music
(18:14):
library, I've I love thetechnology behind it, right?
Literally everything from asubwoofer in a trunk to the
actual computer, kind of put itall together and started DJing
and uh did my first wedding whenI was 17 years old.
Wow.
I didn't sleep for three daysbefore that because I was so
nervous.
I I it's somebody's special day.
Someone's special day.
(18:34):
I never really did it before.
Uh, and and after that gig,which went well, I have to say,
um, I learned from a lot ofmentors in the industry.
I was literally cabling wiresfor free at four in the morning
at a hall in the east end, youknow, like just to learn the way
how do you coil an XLR cable?
You know, how do you organizeyour cases?
How do you do that?
And literally all for free.
(18:56):
Uh, and eventually started myown entertainment company, which
is still running today.
Super proud of that.
But um at the at that time, youknow, my parents wanted me to
complete schooling and all that,and they they put a lot of
pressure on me.
And I'm not gonna lie, at onepoint, you know, I was DJing so
much, it was very lucrative.
So I don't need school, youknow, that's it's not important.
(19:16):
But I needed the family van totransport all my equipment.
And when I say all my equipment,I didn't have a production
grade, you know, inventory list.
I was using old Nico hometheater speakers that my uncle
had given me for you know Suite16s in a basement.
Like it was it was reallyrudimentary, but it worked,
(19:36):
right?
It was it was a lot of fun, anduh and so they told me you're
only allowed to use the familyvan if you stay in school and if
you focus on events.
Because I I was starting to getinto the club scene and it was
cool, right?
The girls, the drinking, thewhatever.
And um, my dad kind of motivatedme to stay in the event scene by
saying, Hey, you know, you canactually make more money doing
(19:58):
events.
I don't know if he actually knewthat back in the day.
But I was like, okay, let me,you know, let me let me go down
that path.
And and that's what led toCaruso Entertainment and uh
working as a DJ for the last 17years of my life.
Yeah, all founded by theminivan, all founded by the
minivan and the pressure from myparents, and uh, and yeah, and
(20:20):
that's what happened.
And how I found myself to be atSFM is is a funny story too.
I brought my CDJ 200s.
Remember that Pioneer DJ, CDJ200s?
The gray ones, my cue button,just like every DJ goes through
this.
The Q button eventually failsafter a million presses, which
is completely normal.
And uh and I had to get themrepaired for my next gig.
Didn't know what to do.
(20:41):
I had bought them used, so Inever really walked into a store
and spoke to an actualauthorized dealer.
And uh someone had told methere's a company called SFM,
Indoor Val.
Go there, there's a littlewindow in the back, just drop
off your stuff and it'll getrepaired.
So I show up and uh shout out toWayne, who's still here.
Um I I dropped off my CDJ 200s,did not know what an RMA was.
(21:05):
I had no paperwork, I don't eventhink I had a credit card back
then.
Dropped them off, he's like, Oh,you need to fill this out,
whatever.
Dropped them off, got themrepaired.
And when I came back, I waslike, okay, I'm doing
university.
I don't know what my future isgonna look like, but it'd be
really cool to stay in the DJindustry, but more at a nine to
(21:26):
five level, corporate levelduring the week.
And so I asked him if there wasany openings, and he's like,
hey, this is the website, checkit out.
I don't know what's open, what'snot.
Knew someone who knew someone,referral, did a couple
interviews, and I started off asan assistant brand manager in
the MI division.
Nice, and now I'm here, categorymanager for Pro and Live.
(21:49):
So I I stayed in the MIdivision, became brand manager,
went to the pro audio side,brand manager there, and now I'm
managing the the category, whichis a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_02 (21:57):
And specifically uh even Pioneer.
SPEAKER_01 (22:00):
Yeah, and what's crazy is like you know, the
dream was to work for PioneerDJ, and this is the closest
thing possible in Canada, andnow I get to manage Pioneer DJ
Alpha Theta, QSC, Electro Voice,and have a lot of fun with all
these brands.
So it's uh it's crazy howdifferent things happen and get
you to where you are.
Did you know this even existed?
Like the I had when I dropped itoff, I swear I thought it was a
(22:23):
huge building just for repairs.
Like I had no idea what adistributor was, what the role
was in the supply chain of abusiness or a brand in Canada.
I had no idea what exclusivedistribution was, like I really
had no clue.
Um even applying for the job.
Like I was naive about it, youknow, like I didn't know what I
was gonna be doing, what uh typeof brands the company was
(22:48):
dealing with at the time.
Uh and everything just workedout.
Yeah.
And here I am, nine years later.
So it's a lot of fun, it's cool,and I and I love what I did.
I have no regrets.
Made a lot of mistakes.
I'm so sorry to all the people Iinstalled.
Bad car audio in.
But it worked, it worked, it didwork.
Um, but that's how you learn,and I think that's what's so
(23:09):
cool about the AV industry isthat it's it's tactile, it's
physical, to your point.
You got to play with all thoseamazing instruments in person.
I got to play with speaker cableand subwoofers and amps and you
know, positive, negative, asrudimentary and as basic as that
is.
If I wouldn't have gone throughall those steps, I I would have
I wouldn't know what I'd bedoing today, you know, and even
(23:31):
playing with different cables,going to those companies at four
in the morning, saying, Hey, Iwant to learn.
I want to learn how to run a DJcompany.
Yeah, um, I wouldn't know thedifference between you know
different types of audio cablesor video cables, how to organize
them, the cases, the sellingprocess.
So, you know, always very like Isaid, entrepreneurship.
(23:51):
Yeah, always had that in me.
And I'm happy that I was able tomarry with a more corporate side
of things.
And I still get to have fun onthe weekends and please lots of
crowds and and I enjoy everysingle minute of it.
That's amazing.
And I'm lucky for that.
SPEAKER_02 (24:04):
And it's and it's something that they don't always
teach you in school that youknow, there's if you have a
passion for something, there'sother avenues except for going
directly into that specificthing.
Um like, you know, you didn'teven know besides uh outside of
the DJ world that you canactually rep a brand.
You can be an ambassador, youcan do you know, all kinds of
(24:25):
stuff.
And sadly, they don't I don'tthink I mean from the little bit
I was was paying attention inschool, they weren't really
telling you those differentavenues to kind of branch out,
saying there are other thingsthat tie into that industry
without having to be directly.
SPEAKER_01 (24:42):
You're kind of a very straight and narrow path,
and this is how you do it,that's A to Z.
SPEAKER_02 (24:46):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (24:46):
And there's no, hey, you can actually do it this way.
And it's it's you know, it'skind of the same thing in the A
V world when you're building arack or a system design, yeah.
But everyone has a different wayof doing it.
That's right.
Whether you're a DJ and you'remixing two songs, every DJ will
mix those two songs differentlyevery single time.
Yep, whoever's designing a rackor a system design will do it
(25:07):
differently, but at the end ofthe day, it's the result that
matters.
Yeah, you know, so it's yeah,it's yeah, it's it's funny when
you look back at it, again, backin my day, you know, but it's uh
it's fun to think of of allthese little experiences and how
it it brings you to the presentday.
Absolutely.
Yeah, what about yeah, whatabout you, Hugo?
SPEAKER_00 (25:27):
Yeah, back in my day.
SPEAKER_01 (25:30):
We're all in our 20s.
I already warned you.
We're all in our 20s, we'resuper young.
It's okay.
SPEAKER_00 (25:35):
You know what's funny about me is um I've been
uh with SFM, the distributor forfor two years, close to two
years now, actually.
Yeah, two years.
Um but I've been a salespersonfor the past 23 years before
joining SFM.
So looking back at you know, Imentioned Musitechnique, um the
(25:56):
the woman who was uh booking theinternship, she kind of liked
me, uh, but in a good way.
Don't don't don't worry.
I didn't do anything bad.
Um uh so she she I I was verygood at school and that at that
particular school, I was topthree in my class, very involved
(26:17):
in the computer, as I told you,very knowledgeable on all the
new softwares and and stuff likethat.
So she found me uh a job evenbefore I finished my my last
semester.
Lucky you.
So I think the semester wasfinishing in May, and by
mid-April, I was already workingat at a music store called Steve
Music.
You worked at Steve's Music.
(26:38):
Steve's, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (26:39):
I didn't know he worked at Steve's Music.
You know either.
I probably met you at Steve'swithout even knowing.
SPEAKER_00 (26:45):
Probably.
SPEAKER_01 (26:46):
What uh department did you work in?
I I was working in the PA and DJdepartment, so really maybe if
you purchased your pioneeraround the I I couldn't afford
new equipment, so I come in, seewhat's see what's happening, and
look up the and go look used.
SPEAKER_02 (27:01):
What a small world though.
SPEAKER_01 (27:02):
It's scary.
I have another story, it mightsave it for another podcast, but
I met an existing employee who'sstill here today at SFM before
starting at SFM, and then I sawhim at SFM and was like, you
were the guy who sold me myfirst pair of speakers.
I'll save that story for aminute.
Jesus.
I'm an MC, like I'm gonna talkforever.
(27:22):
So we'll let Hugo continue.
SPEAKER_00 (27:24):
So I I worked uh at Steve's Music uh in the PA
department.
This is another place where Ilearned a lot of stuff,
especially around uh wirelessmicrophone.
At the time it was uh uh yeah,it was not digital, it was still
analog.
Um I learned a lot about powerdams, microphones, um basically
(27:45):
did my classes, completed myclasses there, learning how to
sell something to someone.
Um and from there, I was workingin the PA department, but I was
still completely in love withrecording and computer
technology and computertechnology and recording
technology.
So I was spending a lot of timein the pro audio department
(28:06):
where where the the audiointerface were and uh uh all
this shiny gear.
Um and I I was still I startedmixing at the same time, mixing
as a DJ.
So as opposed to you, Franco, uhI did not the the events and
gig.
I went straight to the clubs.
I I worked in clubs, I worked ina I had a gig at a restaurant
(28:29):
for 18 years.
Wow.
Um, so in parallel, I wasworking in the PA department, I
was starting to DJing, DJ at thesame time.
But sorry, was that because ofSteve's that led you to DJing?
I started DJing just beforejoining just before.
Funny enough, another uh littlestory there.
I bought my first kit to NewmarkAccess 8 and a Newmark.
(28:54):
I think it was a TMO3 orsomething like that, uh, from
someone in my class because hedidn't have enough money.
Really?
Yeah, he needed the money to topay for his class, actually.
Anyways, that's a sad story.
I I I bought my DJ equipmentwith my grants.
SPEAKER_03 (29:13):
Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00 (29:14):
You see, you do what you gotta do, which ended up
being a very good move because Idid a lot of money as a DJ.
Yeah.
As you said.
So, anyways, after a year and ahalf at Steve Music, that music
store, um, someone from anotherlocal reseller who were
exclusively selling Pro ToolsHD, like the the large, the big
Pro Tools system, which they useto record bands, mix for TV, mix
(29:39):
for movie.
That guy needed an assistant.
And he kind of heard that I waspretty good with Pro Tools, and
so he basically approached meand asked me if I wanted to be
his uh his assistant, which Idid for a year, another year and
a half before he got fired.
Uh, he got fired for healthreasons, uh, basically lost his
job for a for Health reasons, hehad to leave.
(30:02):
Um, and I basically got his gig.
And at the time, another bigstep in my in my paycheck,
because it was very lucrative.
Uh, at the time back in 2004 orfive, Pro Tools HD was to mix in
5.1.
If you pair it with Gen Elecspeakers and everything, it
could be up to$60,000,$70,000for one workstation.
SPEAKER_01 (30:26):
So that's hardware, software, the complete kit.
SPEAKER_00 (30:28):
And we were integrating everything.
I mean, we were sellingeverything.
Uh, we were actually buying GenElec speakers from SFM at the
time already.
SPEAKER_01 (30:36):
Uh, so Gen Elec or others, I mean so you'd come in
and outfit the studio or thepost-production room.
SPEAKER_00 (30:42):
I could sell the whole studio, including the
acoustic uh treatment andeverything.
Really?
Yeah.
What was that back then?
SPEAKER_02 (30:48):
Or Alex?
SPEAKER_00 (30:50):
Yeah, I was selling Or Alex and um that Canadian
company.
Okay.
Uh I don't remember.
SPEAKER_01 (30:57):
Sorry.
Even though we're in our 20s, weforget things sometimes.
SPEAKER_00 (31:01):
Um but so I worked at that company called C E V uh
for another 17 years.
But at one point uh audio uh gotdemocratized and computer
processors were much morepowerful.
So the technology dropped inprice.
(31:21):
Uh so basically, I wasmentioning at first it was
$70,000 to have a full-blownsystem.
When I five to six, seven, eightyears later, it was around
$12,000 because you could do somuch more with a native system.
When I say native, I mean youcould do so much more with a
processor.
(31:42):
And it was about the time whenMac computers, which are, as you
guys know, are people are usingMac in in that industry,
especially in thepost-production business.
So when Mac transitioned fromPower PC, uh Motorola processors
to Intel, suddenly the powerwent up like this.
Like wow.
(32:03):
So you could do so much morewith a native system.
The reason why these systemswere so expensive is they were
using DSP cards hooked up to thePCIe parts in a Mac.
You could have up to three cardswith 18 processors on it, and
you couldn't run, I don't know,150 plugins on it, no latency,
(32:23):
like literally less than uh afew samples of latency.
It was very, very high on stuff.
But again, the processor, anative processor in the Intel
Mac got so much powerful thatyou could do much more with a
smaller system.
So I was not making enough moneyanymore.
So I was contemplating the ideaof leaving and I don't know,
(32:44):
working for somebody else.
Uh, but the boss told me, youknow, you're very good at what
you're doing in audio, but Ithink you have potential also to
sell video editorial systems.
So this is where I started to beuh um interested in video
because still at the time avideo editorial system was still
(33:06):
very expensive.
SPEAKER_01 (33:07):
Did you have any video editing experience prior
to that?
Or you learn a lot through thejob?
SPEAKER_00 (33:12):
I learned a lot through the job, but the fact
that I was basically selling ProTools system for audio to sound
to picture, I kind of got tolearn a lot about all these
resolutions, frame rates.
Because in post-production, thething you want to do is you want
the audio and the video to besynced.
(33:33):
If not, you're screwed.
So I I got to learn a lot aboutall these different formats.
I'm not specialist aboutcameras, uh, but I'm I'm very
good with codecs in general.
So this is where I learned alot, and I became basically
doing selling audio and video.
So this is where I got a seconduh tool in my toolbox.
(33:56):
Uh, and I did another like 10years there.
So I worked for 17 years at thatspecific reseller.
And start after 17 years in oneplace, you start contemplating
the idea of leaving.
And I got approached by anational reseller who was also
an avid reseller, but they alsowere an Autodesk reseller.
(34:18):
Uh they're they're an expo,they're based in BC, but I was
working off Montreal here.
Uh so this is where I gotanother tool in my toolbox,
which was uh everything VFX andgaming design.
So all the desktop publishingsoftwares like Autodesk, uh 3DS
Max, 3D Max or just Max, uh, andall those pipelines,
(34:41):
understanding about assetmanagement and everything you
need to basically create visualeffects in a movie.
So I I wouldn't say I'm aspecialist about that, but I've
sold many systems also.
So I kind of get the completeworkflow and pipeline.
Everything around a movie, I Ikind of understand the bits and
(35:02):
pieces that go around it.
Nice.
And after five years, Ibasically lost my job.
Uh, and I got approached by SFM,the distributor we're working
for here uh about two years ago.
That's that's about is thereanything Hugo doesn't know?
SPEAKER_02 (35:19):
I know, I was just gonna say after getting into
that journey, did you have apreference in terms of are you
you consider yourself more of anaudio guy or more a video guy?
SPEAKER_00 (35:30):
Or that's really funny because you know I work in
the technical department hereand all these guys are audio
guys.
I mean, I'm the only videoprofessional.
I'm I'm kind of the broadcastspecialist, that's how you call
me here.
But I I still consider myself anaudio guy, but out of the all
the audio guy, I'm the one whoknows the more the video.
(35:51):
Let's put it that way.
Yeah, uh, but I'm more of anaudio person still to that date.
And that's funny because goingfrom 23 years of being a
salesperson or a technicalsalesperson, now I'm I'm still
selling gear.
I mean, I'm still helping thesalesman here or the reps to
sell, but I'm a lot more intotechnical these days, which I
(36:14):
really like because at the endof my career, my my my sales
director was telling me I wastoo technical.
Oh wow, you know, because I wasreally geeking out with the
customers, but I was not talkingthat much about like how much
are you gonna give me?
Right, how do you see like thebusiness and blah blah.
So I was more of a okay, whattools are you using?
(36:34):
What's your workflow?
I want to understand it.
So so basically, I mean the jobI have right now is I really
like it.
Nice.
Yeah, it fits it seems like it'sright up your alley.
SPEAKER_02 (36:44):
Yep, yep.
That's amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (36:46):
You see all this gear on this set here.
We had so much fun buildingthat.
SPEAKER_01 (36:51):
So and no pressure if the video and the audio don't
sync up perfectly, hey?
No pressure.
It's gonna sink, trust me.
I believe it.
SPEAKER_00 (36:56):
I believe it.
SPEAKER_01 (36:59):
Yeah, what about you?
SPEAKER_02 (37:01):
Oh boy.
Um, yeah, I think it was just uma little sequence sequence of
events, a little bit like Francoand even yourself, uh Hugh.
I think it I think it's likethat for a lot of us.
Um, I think it's it stemmed outfrom uh uh started off with a
part-time job uh during CJEP,which a buddy of mine approached
me to work at Future Shop.
(37:21):
I always had a passion for likehome theaters and stuff like
that.
And uh he came to see me.
He's like, hey, they're lookingfor somebody for car audio, and
you'd be uh also selling on thehome theater side.
So I said, I think that's great.
I'm not much of a sales guy, butuh I love being technical and
plugging things in since I was akid.
I always played with like analogold stuff.
(37:42):
We didn't have a ton of cash.
I always had like really oldmixers and stuff that was
sometimes worked, sometimesdidn't.
Just you know, playing aroundwith cables trips not working,
yeah.
Yeah, yeah, stuff like that,tube bamps and stuff like that.
So it was a lot of fun.
Anyway, so starting off atFuture Shop was a lot of fun.
The education was I think backin the day they used to say like
(38:02):
McDonald's was like the firstbest job that you can get.
You'd learn so much, and I don'tknow if it's like that today,
allegedly, but um, future shopwas a great, great um company to
work for.
They learned a lot on the salesside, a lot on the technical
side, and uh got to learn a lot,a little bit like you on the car
(38:23):
audio side, just learning aboutimpedances and stuff like that,
and on the home theater side aswell.
SPEAKER_01 (38:28):
Were you installing car audio or just single?
SPEAKER_02 (38:30):
No, just selling, just selling, and on the home
theater side, yeah.
I would dabble into some side uhinstallations for customers.
Sometimes they didn't want to gowith their uh back then was like
the it wasn't Geek SWAT, it wassomething else with Future Shop,
but um yeah, just getting apulse too.
I love getting a pulse with thecustomers saying, you know, like
what what type of applicationsthey were getting into, some of
the challenges like wiring,pre-wiring.
(38:53):
Like I even back then I wasdoing like you know, wiring
after the fact.
So it was very challenging andsurface mount wiring.
Yeah, I would I I wouldn't gosurface mount wiring, but you
know, like okay, let's gothrough the basement and you
know all kinds of stuff.
It was it was quite challenging,but at a young age I got to kind
of kind of matured me, I wouldsay.
(39:14):
And that was a good thing.
SPEAKER_01 (39:15):
Putting cable through a house that's already
built will will humble you realquick.
SPEAKER_02 (39:19):
Yeah, really quick, yeah, really, really quick.
So that was a lot of fun, and Ithink um, and then right after
that, the same friend who workedat a feed shop left um and Brick
started expanding across Canadaand uh came pulling me in when
they started building the uhKirkland uh center in the West
Island in Montreal, and I helpedopen the store again working in
(39:41):
the the home theater department.
That was a lot of fun.
Still doing some installs on theside too, and I think why I
enjoyed it so much as well is umit it I kind of maybe it was an
excuse I was creating formyself, but it kind of still
tied a little bit of the filmside where I was recreating the
(40:02):
theater experience inside ahome.
Uh, and that always appealed tome.
And um, I I there's there's somany people that work um behind
the screen, behind the camera ona film production, uh, from
lighting to costume design toset design to everything.
And recreating that in the home,I think was super important for
(40:23):
me.
That's why I'm a little bitsaddened today.
Everybody's going for soundbars, but uh but I think it's
it's really cool.
Do a full podcast on sound barson just sound bars.
SPEAKER_01 (40:34):
Just sound bars.
SPEAKER_02 (40:35):
That's coming up.
SPEAKER_01 (40:36):
Um theater system at home.
SPEAKER_02 (40:39):
Yeah, many.
SPEAKER_01 (40:42):
Again, another episode just home theaters.
SPEAKER_02 (40:45):
Another episode.
And even just the um I I I wrotea white paper um back in the day
on just the the psychologicalaspect of having a home theater,
a dedicated home theater spacein the room, how it changes
things, even just like thedynamic and stuff.
But again, that's anotherpodcast.
SPEAKER_00 (41:02):
Does your white paper talk about the wife
acceptance factor?
SPEAKER_02 (41:06):
Yes, yes, the family acceptance, the family
acceptance.
Yeah, but that's a huge that's ahuge part of it.
Uh, but so, anyways, after afterthe brick, uh basically um I
went to a little bit outside theindustry in the telecom
industry.
And uh as soon as I actuallyleft the telecom industry uh as
(41:28):
a part-time job, obviously, andthen I got kicked out a second
time in college, and I reallydidn't know uh what I was gonna
do.
And and the timing was wasreally good because it wasn't
like months off, it wasliterally like a week off, and
then I get a call.
And to this day, no joke, I haveno idea how I came across this
(41:51):
company because and I'll get tothat.
They call me up and they'relike, hey, with all your
experience uh on the hometheater side, specifically
Future Shop and the Brick, theysaw that.
They're like, We really want acounter guy in uh in in
distribution for um A V.
I'm like, fantastic.
So I got the job, went for theinterview, got the job, and I
(42:11):
remember the first week they'rejust like, okay, I want you to.
SPEAKER_00 (42:14):
What is that company?
SPEAKER_02 (42:15):
Like that was what were they specialized in in?
So they're a low voltagedistributor.
SPEAKER_00 (42:20):
And can you define low voltage?
SPEAKER_02 (42:22):
Because I'm I'm I'm not sure anything that's not
electrical, so anything that's12 volts, 24 volts, and all that
stuff.
Like doorbells, doorbells,networking, yeah, doorbells,
networking, monitoring, securitycameras, access control, fire,
uh, and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01 (42:38):
Intrusion, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (42:39):
Intrusion exactly, intrusion, uh, CCTV and AV,
especially on the 70 volt sideand all that stuff.
Uh, and I remember the firstweek, they're like, okay, I want
you to just clean the shelves.
I want you to remove theproducts off the shelves, clean
the shelves, and as you'recleaning the shelves, open up
the boxes and learn theproducts.
And I think that was fantastic.
And I still remember after thefirst week, I'm like, what the
(43:01):
hell do these guys do?
I didn't know what a distributorwas, and I was like, I still
don't know what the hierarchywas, what the process was, like,
what's a dealer?
I don't know what a dealer is, Idon't know what an end user was,
I didn't know what a distributoror what the role of a
distributor was.
And uh that too got me to learna lot throughout the years, and
even there I started doinghelping dealers do installs that
(43:24):
are like had a little bit moredifficulty on the A V space, so
they'd they'd they'd uh they'dask me to come on site, and I
love that because again, I likehaving a pulse to the industry
and see what was working, whatwas not working, yeah, and
seeing firsthand what thechallenges are, and you
basically helped low voltageresellers or like a company
specialized in security camerasor integration, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (43:49):
Yeah, uh selling A V products.
SPEAKER_02 (43:51):
Yeah, it was more like guys who were already
getting into the home and weregetting asked to expand on some
of their solution.
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (43:59):
Okay, you're doing my speakers.
SPEAKER_02 (44:00):
Can you also do my CC TV or the home theater or
exactly so that was fantastic,and I would kind of uh educate
them and kind of help expandtheir business.
So that was a littleentrepreneur uh in me as well
that I loved um kind of helpinggrow people's businesses into
areas where they're like, whyare you putting yourself, giving
(44:22):
yourself limits?
And even back then, back thenthe AV industry, you're making a
lot more money, a lot moremargin just in cables.
I mean, we're looking talkingback into analog cables because
components when we're gettinginto HD, you're selling separate
uh video cables, separate audiocables, and uh just on cables,
you're making pretty good money.
Yep, so that was a lot of fun,which could be another topic
(44:45):
too.
SPEAKER_00 (44:46):
That too, just cables, the hype about the
cables, that they're expensivecables.
SPEAKER_01 (44:50):
And what could you do over CATSIX?
SPEAKER_02 (44:53):
Even just HDMI cables, yeah.
That's a whole other so anyway.
So I I started off from countersales all the way up to inside
sales into system design becauseI was a lot less salesy, like
you, and uh a lot moretechnical, but um, and then
later on became um managingmanaging the team, leading the
(45:15):
team in Canada for the systemdesign team, which was a a ton
of fun.
And then SFM was looking forsomebody who was like a bit of a
hybrid technical marketing andkind of help take uh more
technical terms and convert intoeasy digestible type of
marketable marketableapplications and stuff like
that, which is so much fun.
(45:35):
So did you apply for the job ordid they called you?
Funny enough, I think it was alittle bit of both, from what I
understood.
Um actually I I first appliedfor a brand management position.
Oh yeah, didn't get it.
So Franco said no.
Franco said no.
SPEAKER_01 (45:53):
It was not me, just kidding, it was not me.
SPEAKER_02 (45:58):
At first I think they were looking for somebody a
little less technical.
I maybe I was a little bit tootechnical, but uh because of my
history in in making actuallyrewinding, I actually started uh
my video production company in2013 on the side, which I
actually closed very recently,but I actually had a film
(46:19):
production company because I hadsome older friends that were
still in the film business thatare like, hey, would you mind
producing and and directing somefilms for me?
And I'm like, that'd befantastic.
And that was a lot of fun andvery humbling as well.
Yeah, because in the micro notthe indie or the low budget, but
(46:42):
when we're talking about microbudget type of productions where
you're basically wearingmultiple hats, you get to learn
a lot of roles.
You see everything, you seeeverything, and you're doing
hands-on.
Again, we're we're talking aboutexperience, doing is the most
important thing.
Planning is also great, butdoing and getting your hands
dirty, making mistakes, makingthose mistakes are important,
(47:04):
not pressing record.
That that all makes that allmakes a huge difference.
And I learned, and then as theyears were going on and the
projects were getting a littlebit bigger, I actually started
building up a team.
That too was very important forme to start learning how to uh
have confidence in otherindividuals, their creativity,
(47:24):
learning how those guys who arespecialists and cra like you
know professionals in theircraft, how they think what they
can bring to the table.
And that applied a lot to systemdesign, working with dealers.
And again, you brought it upbefore, you know, like there's
never especially when you'redoing a design, there's never
(47:46):
one perfect design.
You can take that one um problemand give it to all three of us,
and we come up with threedifferent solutions.
At the end, the customer isalways happy, but there's always
three different ways of doingit.
And I always say two plus twoequals four, but so is three
plus one.
You're always getting to the endof it.
(48:08):
So uh that's basically it.
So I think I think SFM, I think,from what I understand, is they
kind of like that the videoaspect and then the technical
side and merging both together.
SPEAKER_01 (48:20):
So here we are today.
SPEAKER_02 (48:23):
Here we are today today.
Do we sing our first podcast?
SPEAKER_00 (48:27):
Maybe we should.
I I mean I I know uh I don'tknow how long we've been
talking, but maybe we shouldjust talk about the inception of
this podcast, like how would wegot the idea and all that
correct me if I'm wrong, but Ithink we had gone for lunch.
SPEAKER_01 (48:41):
It was probably the first lunch us three had ever
gone on just.
We were with a reseller too, andum again, all different parts of
the business, right?
The marketing side, the brandmanagement side, the technical
side.
And we were talking at lunch,and we started talking about
correct me if I'm wrong again, Idon't know if it was CCTV,
(49:01):
security camera.
Yes.
Then we started talking aboutrouters and access points, and I
mean you guys, your networkingDHCP VLAN.
Yeah, exactly.
And your networking shops aredefinitely better than mine.
I mean, I have some basicknowledge.
SPEAKER_00 (49:15):
Vince was saying that he has a dedicated VLAN
just for Chinese stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (49:19):
Yeah, IoT stuff.
And yeah, I was like, what isthat?
You know, we're learning fromeach other, and uh I think by
the end of that conversation,people must have been looking at
us.
It was a small restaurant, like,what are these guys talking
about?
And we're just going on and onand on, and I think at the end
of the conversation, that's whenwe realized, hey, this is a
really good content.
Like we were just talking, we'relearning from each other, yeah,
(49:41):
and most importantly, it was asafe space, and I think that's
what this podcast needs to be.
It's being vulnerable and okay,Franco doesn't know a lot about
video or networking, but heknows a hell of a lot about the
DJ product, the consumer side ofthings, the entrepreneurship
side, supply chain side ofrunning that type of business in
(50:01):
Canada.
And I want to learn fromgentlemen like you two, you
know, that have more of thosetechnical uh abilities compared
to myself.
And I and I think it's gonna bea lot of fun going back and
forth and uh benefiting from ourour strengths and weaknesses.
SPEAKER_02 (50:15):
Well, don't sell yourself short, because I think
I think I found that lunch superinsightful because even though I
mean you you know quite a bit innetworking as well, but what I
what I found really interestingis that all three of us I think
we knew a lot about the topic,but even even so, I still
learned stuff that I didn't knowyou and and yourself, and we're
(50:40):
always learning that we'reconstantly, constantly evolving,
and it's a very fast-pacedindustry, everything is
constantly moving, so you know,from our stories, we all made
mistakes, we all got here at theend of the day, and that's what
these conversations are going tobe about is let's ask those
questions.
SPEAKER_01 (50:58):
Let's not be scared to make mistakes.
And hopefully the viewers aswell will be asking lots of
questions and we'll we'll jumpinto it.
And we're not scared to lookinto it and uh and learn from
each other.
SPEAKER_02 (51:08):
Yeah, if you have anything that you guys want us
to talk about specifically, feelfree to uh drop that in the
comments uh below, and we'll bemore than happy to uh to look at
it and explore all those thesetopics.
We really, really, really wantto hear from everybody out
there.
SPEAKER_00 (51:24):
And I I gotta say that.
SPEAKER_01 (51:25):
I mean, like and subscribe, you guys.
I mean, this is this is wealmost forgot the most important
part.
Yeah.
This is what will be drivingthis podcast going forward.
SPEAKER_02 (51:36):
Well, thanks for hanging out with us on Behind
the Rack.
We hope you picked up somethingnew, maybe had a laugh, or at
least nodded along with one ofour rants.
If you enjoyed today's episode,again, hit that follow, share it
with a colleague or a fellow AVguy, um, and help us spread the
word.
Um, we'll be back with morestories, insights, and
conversations from uh the worldsof pro audio, broadcast, live
(51:59):
sound, and systems.
So until then, keep thecuriosity alive and we'll catch
you the next time behind theroad.
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