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In this episode of Sound Design Live, I talk with Mike Rauchfleisch, the owner of Audio Studio Nord in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, about how he built a thriving audio business by working all-night techno parties that no one else wanted. We also discuss:
- How to survive long events
- How to differentiate yourself as an audio provider
- How to offer complete event packages including staging, lighting, and video with strategic partnerships
- How to promote your AV company through Facebook
When you start off, you need to get the message across that you are different. We concentrated on stuff [our competitors] didn’t like, so we started off doing techno events.
Show notes:
All music in this episode by The Tet Holiday- Audio Studio Nord on Facebook and Twitter
All music in this episode by 
I’ve worked 12 to 14 hours in my venue when having 3 or 4 bands in a single night. Early load-in, sound check the bands, show starts, band change-over, until the end of the night. I’m the last person to leave the room. I lock the venue room down at the end of the night after the band(s) have left.
I am the only person doing all of this during the shows at our venue Friday and Saturday nights. Some weekends it’s 20+ hours in a couple of days and I do not get paid by the hour, so that is a bit trying when so many bands have been booked in a single night.
Our venue tries to get a different mix of bands than the rest of the area. It’s been successful so far, but not every night is as good as it could be. We are still building our venue into something special in our area.
I have a goal to learn as much as possible while building a brand image of myself and our venue. To make our venue THE place to be in our area of operation. And I really do not care what other people have to say, or what they think, as I have only been doing live sound engineering since April of this year, but I have learned a lot and have improved the sound, and relations with the local musicians. I have been mentioned in many posts in the area now when people talk about the music scene here and that let’s me know I’m doing a good job.
Way to go Jason. Sounds like you are getting some good returns from all of your hard work.