By Dave Babbitt – Special to the Sydenham Current
Anyone who’s ever attended a concert or speaking engagement in the Wallaceburg area has no doubt experienced Paul Vannatto’s art. Paul is a sound engineer of the highest calibre.
For those who may feel that sound engineering is nothing more than technical knowledge, I will vehemently disagree. Yes, it requires a great deal of technical knowledge, but it also involves a great deal of “art” to craft the perfect sonic experience.
Paul and I go all the way back to when he first arrived in Wallaceburg at the age of eight in 1965. His father worked for Quaker Oats in Omemee, Ontario, and transferred to Wallaceburg to work in their Greenmelk division. Paul and I were in the same grade, attended the same schools, both started in music with Bob Jacks, both played in the Kiltie Band, and attended the same church.
I’ve previously written about my love of providing sound reinforcement for events, but Paul leaves me in the dust in terms of his understanding and technical abilities in providing quality sonic experiences for all kinds of events.
Interestingly, Paul and I started our journeys in the very same way, at the same time, in the same place. Like many armchair sound techs, we both started by operating the soundboard at church—in our case, First Baptist Church in Wallaceburg. That experience whetted our appetites for the art of sound engineering.
Paul’s family eventually started a Gospel music group called “The Master’s Team” and hit the road. Paul dabbled in helping with the sound for the team. After graduating from high school, Paul attended LeTourneau College in Longview, Texas, to prepare for work on the Mission Field, which he and his wife, June, were involved with in West Africa for nine years.
While at LeTourneau, Paul became involved with a rather large Southern Baptist church where he gained a good deal of experience both installing and running their sound equipment.
After Paul and June returned from the Mission Field, he once again became involved with sound reinforcement in a few different local churches and made it a goal to start building his own collection of sound equipment. This allowed him to help churches when they wanted to do something somewhere other than in their sanctuary, as the sound equipment is typically fixed in place.
In time, he was approached by a fellow parishioner who was a member of the once very popular “Weekenders” pop/rock band, based in Wallaceburg, and was asked if he would be willing to be their Sound Tech for a concert. After agreeing to take on the challenge, a successful concert, and a happy band, Paul has never looked back.
He continued to invest in his own sound gear, as renting involves a lot of extra effort in planning, picking up gear, and returning it. Having his own gear allowed him to be independent and much more flexible in his availability.
Along his self-taught journey, Paul was honing his craft and started working with other bands, including professional touring tribute bands. As he explained to me, he was learning as he worked, and bands were essentially paying for his education in the field.
He worked a New Year’s Eve gig for Bill Wolsing’s band one year, and after Bill took over as Chair of the WAMBO Organizing Committee, Bill contracted Paul to look after all sound for acts gracing the WAMBO Main Stage as well as for the WAMBO Church Service, which he continues to do to this day.
In 2013, Paul was instrumental in upgrading the sound equipment at Bethel Pentecostal Church as they migrated from analogue equipment to an all-digital system made by the Austrian firm, Behringer. He told me that at that point, he realized, “I was in over my head,” as the technology was all new and required a different knowledge base. This required him to make many inquiries on the Behringer forum to get answers to his many questions.
In time, he became one of the top posters on the forum, and after amassing a wealth of knowledge, was asked by the Vice President of the company to not only be one of the forum’s Moderators but was also asked to be a beta tester for new equipment they were developing. The forum had over 80,000 members, and he began answering questions for users worldwide. While he no longer performs that role, his knowledge base is incredibly extensive.
I’ve worked with other professional Sound Techs, and none of them are Paul’s equal in my books. Working as a Sound Tech is often lonely work, pressure-filled, and requires long hours. The Sound Tech is the first in and the last out of any situation, and there is zero time to relax during a performance. The Sound Tech must always be “on.”
In almost every situation, after a show, the band has gone home, the custodians have finished cleaning, and Paul is still wrapping up cords and lugging and loading heavy gear. As Paul is mixing sound for a gig, he must be ready to pounce on any problem that pops up and fix it promptly. If something goes south, the entire audience is usually rubbernecking toward the Sound Tech to see what has gone wrong. If everything goes smoothly, an audience will acknowledge the performers with wild applause, while the Sound Tech is left to find intrinsic satisfaction for a job well done. It’s the nature of the job.
About a year ago, Paul indicated a desire to help with our Wallaceburg Concert Band performances—an over-the-top kind offer—and we jumped at the opportunity to work with him. Since then, he has elevated our performances to a new level of professional presentation. The House Techs at the Capitol Theatre were raving about the quality of his work after our Christmas show in Chatham.
It must be acknowledged, though, that Paul’s main supporter and assistant is his wife, June. Much like I could not lead the Wallaceburg Concert Band without my wife, Clare, June has amassed her own knowledge of Paul’s work, and he depends on her support and assistance.
The next time you attend a concert, take a quick look to see if Paul is at the controls, and may I suggest that you take a moment on your way out the door just to say, “thank you.”
