Ed Hope knows a thing or two about setting up monitors, wireless mics, and laser projectors for corporations and music venues. He’s the owner of Audio Visual Service in Wichita, which he started in 2003. For this edition of In The Mix, Carla Eckels caught up with Ed at the Wichita Hyatt Regency.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
What are you up to today?
We're in the Hyatt Hotel, upstairs in the Cypress Ballroom, 209 A and B, and we are doing [the] Kansas Municipal Utilities Conference, and we're setting up two 7x11 screens. They want confidence monitors, a bunch of wireless mics, music, sound, and laser projectors. That's what we're doing today. And tomorrow morning, we'll be setting up for the same conference again downstairs, and it'll be just a little bit larger event set up than in all the Eagle Ballrooms.
How has the business changed over the years? You started in 2003, and you're now working with streaming.
Yes, like this event here, we're going to be streaming live. They’ve got a bunch of people. They're streaming all over the country, too. That's something that we do a lot. A lot of groups do Zoom or Teams, mostly [the latter], and do streaming. But, yes, that's the main thing. I think this change, other than the technology of the projectors — going from just analog to digital projectors to laser projectors and so on, you just have to stay on top of the technology, kind of like the mixers. Like, this is a Midas. We use the M32 digital console. But I used to use the old analog boards, but the new consoles, once I set them up — like this whole event, I'll save it. So when I come back next year to do it, guess what I do? I push one button. Bam, everything's set up already.
We do a lot of church design installations. In a lot of churches, we use these digital mixers. I'm gonna say 100% of all the church installs I've done in the last five to seven years have been digital consoles. We did Dellrose United Methodist. That was a really good one. They got digital cameras, digital console sound systems. They did big screens and laser projectors. We put in a large 100-inch screen for the choir to see. I mean, it's a really good installation. I'm pretty happy.
I did the Textron control center. We did everything — put in the digital console, digital everything, and that whole deal. That was a pretty big job. It was pretty elaborate, and it was fun.
We did the design installation for Senior Services Downtown as part of a major renovation project. We went in there and put in all new stuff … and it's a really nice system.
Tell us about why you decided to go into this particular area of audio visual.
We've been in business since 2003. Before that, I've had a couple of recording studios, and I did a bunch of R&B, rap and gospel groups. We used to record a bunch of groups and release them, and do videos. It was a way to continue to stay in that field. So it was a natural transition over to audio and concerts, and then it went into digital with the projectors and screens and TVs and all that. So it was pretty much a natural progression. I was already into that when I was very young, like 13, I was doing parties. My uncle, radio personality AJ Jones, was taking me to the parties and showing me how to do things. And I just naturally took to it after that.
So, AJ got you interested in this field?
AJ, being my older uncle, and you know he was on the radio [KBUZ]. He was doing parties before he was on the radio, like at the Armory at WSU. And hanging with him, I was his little sidekick. From that point, I started building my own thing and doing parties, me and a friend of mine named Curtis Green, and it just went from there. I've always had a recording studio. Just built one now, recently. We're producing my daughter's album, Kaylee Hope. It’s really, really nice. I just enjoy creating things, making things, making music.
I was also into manufacturing. We had a company called TACKO BOX, LLC. We were one of the only African American fishing manufacturers in the world. And we were in Walmart, and we were national. We did direct import, and that deal went bad. That's another story, but it's kind of like the music: creating products, creating technology, creating patents, doing copyrights on songs, creating music and words and songs. So I'm just a creative person. I like creating new things.
One of the largest events that we do every year is the Kansas Rural Water Association Conference. It's usually between 3000 and 3500 people. We've been doing that event for about 20 years. It's all at Century II, Exhibition Hall, Concert Hall, and all of the Hyatt ballrooms. That's a really big event. You know, I've had to use a diesel one year to get all our stuff here, but typically now we just use two or three vans.
How do you go about finding your clients?
I've got my clients, believe it or not, just by word of mouth. Since 2003, I’ve ended up landing the Drury Hotel. I got the Holiday Inn Select, it was called at the time. And we do a lot of stuff at the Hyatt and the Marriott. We do Cargill, Koch Industries, we do a lot of corporate events. We do Flight Safety too.
So what trends do you think will shape the industry?
Right now, we're looking at LED displays, but I'm just waiting for the price to come down.
And for them to get a little bit more lightweight and easier to manage before we move in that direction. Like right now, if you look at the screen, those are 11-foot-wide screens. We do these screens bigger and smaller. Just imagine a giant TV that's 15-feet wide, 20-feet wide, but right now it's really heavy, so I'm just waiting for the technology to catch up, where it gets a little lighter and easier to manage, before we start doing that.
What skills are most important to be successful?
I think if you really like to do it, if you just enjoy doing it. Like I said, I just built a studio. We just put a new SSL console in there. To me, that's a big deal.
What's an SSL console?
Solid State Logic. It's a digital console. When I was younger, I always dreamed about getting one. I finally got one. Anyway, I just enjoy making music, whether I'm making money or not. It's just something I like doing in my free time. So this AV stuff is work. It is work because you have to move all the equipment. But I enjoy it, and I'm free, you know. As long as the client's happy and I get the stuff done. Typically, we always set up the day before, when possible, so the client has an opportunity to make sure everything's exactly like they want it. Which is why I'd say we still have that AAA star rating, because all our clients stick with us, because we just… [put] clients first. That's it.
You keep them happy.
I keep them happy.
What's the best part of this job?
The freedom. I like the freedom of not doing the same thing. I'm a Gemini. I like to move. I like to do different things, and not just do the same thing every day. I like solving problems and creating something new that didn't exist before. I just enjoy doing that.
