Bill Hanley

The Father of Festival Sound

"...Hanley taught the industry what a sound man is."
- David Scheirman, JBL

"He's the father of festival sound"
-Michael Lang
 

- Woodstock / Powder Ridge - Newport - Fillmore E. - The Bitter End - Vietnam Protests - South Afrika -

Are you looking for Terry Hanley Audio Systems ?
 

Latest News

"Woodstock: 40 Years After"
Elmore magazine retells Woodstock using new interviews with sound engineer Bill Hanley, Richie Havens, Jorma Kaukonen, Michael Lang and... (Elmore)

When you’re starting
something on this scale,
the critical thing
is the people.

- Woodstock Producer Michael Lang (Elmore)

 
 

- About Bill -

- Audio History -

Links Page

 

Bill at the Audio Engineering Society's 125th convention in New York, 2008
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. These include the modern wedge monitor and the multicore "snake" connecting stages to consoles. 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 Hanley Brothers w/modified "Rebels"
 
 

Featured Hanley Sound Job

1965
- Shea Stadium, NY -

Bill Hanley setting up for the June 25 Batman Show, featuring Adam West and Frank Gorshin.

 

Acts

The Band, Joan Baez, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Blood, Sweat & Tears, James Brown, Buffalo Springfield, Joe Cocker, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Duke Ellington, Connie Francis, Country Joe MacDonald, Taj Mahal, Dizzie Gillespie The Grateful Dead, Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin , Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Peter. Paul, & Mary, Andy Pratt, Rolling Stones, Melanie, Andy Pratt, Ravi Shankar, John Sebastian, Santana, Barbra Streisand, Lawrence Welk, The Who, Johnny and Edgar Winter, Neil Young . . .
 

Where's Bill?

Bill continues to work in the sound and stage industry.

His efforts are focused on improving his own hydraulic stage system in his workshop.

Joe Hanley

Bill's son Joe Hanley is a pro sound engineer and a certified crane operator. He runs his own small business and works with his father and his uncle Terry Hanley, providing sound and stage services in New England.
Here Joe Hanley prepares one of Hanley Audio's forty foot tall trailer-mounted hydraulic speaker towers for transit to a half-million dollar fund-raising festival. New Yorkers might recognize these from their role in the Metropolitan Opera's acoustic arsenal. You can see them in place on the job here.
 

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, including Hugh Masekela (Grazin' in the Grass,) went into exile.