Kevin Glendinning on his Live Sound Career and JH Audio

Accomplished monitor engineer Kevin Glendinning has worked with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Maroon 5, and many more big musical acts during his two decade-spanning career, as well as being an artist consultant for live sound specialist JH audio. Here he catches up with Headliner to reflect on his time behind the mixing desk, and reveals how the company is getting back on track as live events make a return.

“I know it sounds hokey, but it feels so good to be back,” says Glendinning when questioned about the return of live shows post-pandemic. At the time of interview, he’s underway doing rehearsals with Miley Cyrus in Southern California before heading further south for the Latin American leg of her tour.

Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Glendinning started out touring locally in a punk band, and quickly developed an obsession with pro audio gear.

“Growing up, I was a big Metallica fan and I wore out their VHS tape A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica, which was a tour documentary,” Glendinning recalls. “At the very end, it said ‘concert sound provided by DB Sound, Des Plaines, Illinois’ – literally down the road from where I grew up and about five or six doors down from where my dad worked at United Airlines.

“I figured out how to contact them and long story short, I ended up sweeping the floor at DB sound. It was like walking into the hall of fame for the first time and I helped out in any way that I possibly could.”

A number of months later, Metallica themselves had put out a substantially-sized A and B leapfrog rig system, meaning they needed two lots of crew, two lots of cabinets – two of everything. Glendinning ended up being selected as the final crew member; he found himself out on the road for the first time working with the likes of Big Mick Hughes and Paul Owen, who are “still dear friends to this day,” he says. After three tours with the band, he went on to work with AC/DC and then The Rolling Stones. Talk about baptism by fire.

After a couple of years as the number one mix engineer for Deftones, Glendinning decided it was time to go independent, moving to California where he met the likes of Dave Rat of Rat Sound, and Dave Shadoan of Sound Image.

His time as an independent sound mixer subsequently saw him land tours with No Doubt and Gwen Stefani, Weezer, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, following which he received what he describes as a “covert phone call” about another gig... it turned out to be a call up for newly-turned solo artist Justin Timberlake.

“Justin was terrific and we had an awesome run,” he remembers fondly. “It was challenging, it was loud, it was in the round. It was my first gig of a non-rock genre in the pop world, and that opened a lot of doors for me. I met Alicia Keys and Adam Levine at one of Justin's benefit concerts in Vegas, which led into a long run with Maroon 5, right into Alicia and Lenny Kravitz.

“Being back at it post-pandemic, it’s really been about re-evaluating and falling in love with our craft again,” he says. “It's kind of kicked it up a notch: the attitude, the overall vibe of the crews, the management has all improved. I think we’ve all realised that while we sacrifice a lot of hours away from home and everything, it really is something that we should all be pleased and proud of.”

Over at JH Audio, the company was feeling the industry rev up before sound rental companies and venues felt the buzz.

“Musicians were rehearsing at home, engineers were taking online courses and everyone was still using our stuff, or they sat dormant in a road case for 18 months and needed fixing or cleaning,” says Glendinning. “So our repair tech division got hit hard and fast last spring, I guess almost a year ago now. That being said, it's been a constant tempo of business.

“There’s also been some changes in the roster. I've been with the company a long time, a little over 10 years, and I've been with Jerry for over 20 as a customer, and I honestly think this is the best staff he's ever assembled in terms of management, sales staff, boots on the ground, repair techs, shipping, receiving – I really do. We're an IEM company built by people that use IEMs, and we’ve been able to kick things up a notch because of our industry awareness.

“We're very excited about everything. These days, we've been able to open up new branches in Austin, Texas, as well as London. Atlanta's growing; Vegas seems to be getting a lot of traction as well. The new branch openings have really been something we've been aiming at for a long, long time, so it's great to see them actually come full circle and be up and running now.

“Again, without being hokey about it, I feel like we've come out stronger on the other end, and like any other good company, large and small, in and out of the industry, it all starts at the top. We all know that and are very, very grateful for who we work for, and the company we keep at Jerry Harvey Audio.”