Bill Hanley: the Father of Festival Sound

- Woodstock - Newport Jazz - Fillmore East - Vietnam - South Africa -

Bill tours and speaks

Bill speaking at the Audio Engineering Society, NYC

photo: Freeman Z

As Sound Man for the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals, The Fillmore East, Woodstock, and The Bitter End, and in his innumerable projects, Bill Hanley has always been committed to making a better world through sound.

In an era when concert promoters didn't care about sonic fidelity, Bill revolutionized live sound. He's credited with many innovations, particularly in the outdoor "festival" sound industry. He continues to work in the sound and stage industry with his brother Terry and son Joe. Bill lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Rhoda.

The Beatles Tour: Altec 210's "Rebel" Horn Cabinets

BANDS: The Band, Beatles, Beach Boys, Blood, Sweat & Tears, James Brown, Buffalo Springfield, Joe Cocker, Country Joe MacDonald, Taj Mahal, Duke Ellington, Connie Francis, Miles, Dizzie Gillespie The Grateful Dead, Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Janis, Mormon Tabernacle, Peter. Paul, & Mary, Andy Pratt, Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand, Lawrence Welk, The Who, Neil Young . . .

ARTISTS: Joan Baez, James Brown, Joe Cocker, Miles, Dylan, Ellington, Connie Francis, Dizzy Gillespie, Arlo, Havens, Hendrix, Janis, Country Joe MacDonald, Taj Mahal, Melanie, Andy Pratt, Ravi Shankar, John Sebastian, Santana, Streisand, Lawrence Welk, The Who, Johnny and Edgar Winter, Neil Young . . .

- About Bill -

Video from the Parnelli Awards, presented by Front of House Magazine. Parnelli sponsors include sound industry giants Crown, DBX, JBL, and AKG. Bill received the 1996 Parnelli Audio Innovator Award.
<-- Video from the Parnelli Awards, presented by Front of House Magazine. Parnelli sponsors include sound industry giants Crown, DBX, JBL, and AKG. Bill received the 1996 Parnelli Audio Innovator Award.

 

Bill continues to work with his family in the sound and stage industry. Today, his efforts are focused on machining and improving his hydraulic stage system.

Here's Bill working at an outdoor fund raising event, soldering special fittings needed to supply stage sound to television and radio broadcasters.

Trailer-mounted loudspeakers

 

Joe Hanley

Bill's son Joe Hanley (photo) prepares a forty foot tall trailer-mounted speaker tower for transit to an event.

Joe Hanley is a sound engineer and a certified crane operator. He works with his father and his uncle Terry Hanley, providing sound and stage services.

Letters

Thank You! from a Free South Africa

Context

I'm a Woodstock Sound Crew Veteran. I would like to let BILL HANLEY know how much this country really owes him. There is something I would love to tell Bill & all the crew from Hanley Sound, (Billy, Scott, Sam, David, John etc. and Chip Monck.

You all had an unintentional subliminal hand in the struggle against apartheid - you also started the 'sound and music PA industry' in Africa...see how the Woodstock Philosophy lives on in our President Nelson Mandela - despite the disasters in this country "people are feeding each other..." is this "heaven man!!...?" Not quite!... we're still trying.

I am still actively involved (at 53) producing music and festivals in South Africa, partly due to my Woodstock experience. I am currently producing a series of re-issue tapes & records and a book project through my company 3rd Ear Music (est 1969) titled: THE HIDDEN YEARS.

I also want to contact JOHN BRODIE. (He's got my Woodstock negatives.) and DAVE FREEZE. (I used his camera.)

-DAVID MARKS Durban. kwaZuluNatal, Rep of South Africa. (letter edited)

Marks, with photographer Tony Campbell, devised the Free People's concerts that became regular annual festivals on South African campuses in the 1970s. The first Free People's concert was on the beach in Durban and they had to find ways of circumventing the laws against mixed bands. "This was a Nusas/Third Ear Music concert. I remember seeing a newspaper banner with the headline: 'white boy leads Zulu warriors', which referred to Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu's band and dance group, WaMadlebe."

It was a time when many musicians were hounded by the security establishment and Marks says they tended to target white English-singing musicians more than Afrikaners, while large numbers of talented black musicians, at that time, went into exile.