SBD: How long have you been working at Production Plus?

Rick: Two years tomorrow.

SBD: What do you do at Production Plus?

Rick: I oversee all operations in The Clean Room, where sensitive electronic equipment is repaired, modified and otherwise prepared for our shows. It's the place where we do a lot of repairs as well as audio / visual equipment tweeking, meaning, that if anything fails, it's on me. I also assist in the research and development of a lot of cool, seemingly ground breaking gear. A lot of equipment here is customized, coming straight out of the original factory box and into the grinder, which is a motto here in The Clean Room (shouts) STRAIGHT TO THE GRINDER! Meaning that we take factory equipment and modify it to better fill the needs of our customers.

SBD: What are some of the custom projects you've worked on?

Rick: We have fabricated a custom 60 channel rack who's main purpose was to feed audio and video lines to 60 different locations for the U.S. Department Of Defense at the now infamous DARPA show. This rack contained 60 DVD players, 60 compressors, and 60 mixing channels of audio fed to speakers with technology more akin to "aiming" the sound than reproducing it in a traditional way. More recently we put a PA system on a golf cart, which is a self powered system, no power cables or wired microphones involved. It housed 3 channels of wireless audio and a full range speaker system, all custom mounted to the outside of a traditional golf cart, complete with "Astroturf" covering. It looked like a moving 19th Hole. That project was for The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). We also do wacky fun techno projects like making a modern style jukebox out of an Apple iPod docking station as we did for a local restaurant.

SBD: What brought you here?

Rick: They did..Oh my God help me (laughs)! I met someone who worked here and he had heard that this spot opened up and he brought me in for an interview. Pro Plus was in need of some technical assistance in the repair room (AKA the Clean Room) and I was hired as someone to build what is now called "The Breakout Systems". Breakout Systems was a project we put together to fill a niche that we had. We were being asked to provide equipment for break out sessions for our various clients so we built a completely integrated system that was all self contained, the entire system installs in 15 minutes. It was actually pretty complicated and took up a lot of time, so I was brought in to assist with that and ended up never leaving. Watch for a future issue of SBD featuring: The Breakout Systems.

SBD: How long have you been doing electronics?

Rick: Prior to working at Production Plus I was repairing equipment for recording studios at various locations around the Chicagoland area . I was doing that for about 12 years. I did a lot of repairs at music stores too, mainly fixing guitar amps, but really all types of gear used in the music industry. I also started a guitar amp manufacturing company 3 years ago, I was (and still am) manufacturing my own line of tube guitar amplifiers.

SBD: Where did you learn electronics?

Rick: I have a degree in sound engineering and electronics .

SBD: What got you interested in electronics in the first place?

Rick: Basically part of it was being a musician for years and breaking a lot of my equpiment and getting tired of people that didn't know how to fix it. So I decided to start opening up all the gizmos myself and figured out how they're made and that's how I learned how to fix stuff. I took a lot of practical knowledge that I learned from opening things up and blended it with the knowledge I was taught in school.

SBD: Is there anything that you've learned that comes up over and over again?

Rick: Do it right the first time. Then you don't have to worry about it again. I'd much rather make sure I get things done right the first time so that the client is happy and I can focus more on the next project.

SBD: What was the most challenging thing for you to learn at Production Plus?

Rick: The logistics of a show. When I first started here, I didn't know much about how the gear I worked with was applied outside the clean room. As I worked here I gained confidence and asked questions. The great thing about working here is that everyone is really knowledgable and willing to share what they know. Everyone here is learning and teaching at the same time, even me.

SBD: What do you like most about your job?

Rick: I enjoy the challenges of not knowing what is going to happen on a day to day basis. Under this roof are many diffrent departments and I'm fascinated by all of them and want to learn a little bit about each of them. So that's what I look forward to everyday. I don't think that there is a dull job in this building. Coming in to learn more and more each day  is what's important to me. One day I may be dangerous...

SBD: What is the most challenging aspect of your job?

Rick: Putting up with my boss Frank Weber...(laughs). Challenges come on a daily basis here and you never know what is going to happen. You have to take your past experiences and apply them to what's going on here to form an amalgamation of USEFUL knowledge.

SBD: Where would you like to see things go from here?

Rick: I would love to see myself doing a lot more R&D, eventually leading to something ground breaking in the industry, or in any of the Production Plus Technologies departments. I could be described as a sponge; everything I'm exposed to I absorb a little of it and I use it toward doing stuff like....(pause)....this (points at a project he's currently working on), which is essentially a power distribution system that we use on the road. We have just purchased an Adamson line array system which is a amazing system and this is specifically designed to power it. It has 3 separate circuits, and it will safely power the 60,000 watts we're going to carry around . It will also power the motor controllers, which will raise and lower the speaker arrays. It's stuff like this that excites me about the company. We are always innovating things and I'm always seeing and doing things I wouldn't with any other company.

SBD: Is this what you would say  you love most about your job?

Rick: I can safely say that's one of the reasons I wake up and go to work every day...