Best Sound Guy

Since taking over Johnny Rhum’s role as production manager at the Earl in August 2016, guitarist and noise specialist ANDREW WIGGINS (Caesium Mine, ex-HAWKS) has brought his high level of expertise and professionalism to sound quality and production show after show. A tech at Acorn Amplifiers by day, Wiggins’ sound production stands out due to his personal touches to the Earl’s sound setup, such as his mid-1970s Echoplex EP-3 he sometimes chooses to run through vocals. Having learned under Rhum and Curt Wells in his earlier days as sound guy around town, Wiggins maintains the reputation the two established at the Earl, continuously braving the impairments of tinnitus and bringing his insight and meticulousness of sound to bands’ performances. His expertise and service of producing consistently impeccable-sounding shows with the attention and care he takes to make artists sound their best make him a standout favorite among Best local and touring bands and an asset in the Atlanta music scene. less...

JONNY RHUM truly sees the potential a band brings to the stage. A belief that good sound fosters good community made him the Earl’s go-to sound engineer and philosopher in residence for six years, deploying a mix of the Socratic method, yogic meditation principles, and an easy smile to help musicians relax and play. Rhum’s ability to listen to and meet the needs of bands, audiences, and his own instincts developed into an artistic touch with sound. Rhum retired from his post at the Earl for a new life in Asheville, North Carolina, but the good vibrations Rhum created in making something beautiful each time he twisted the knobs, along with his skill for deep conversation and-pitch perfect sound, will always be music to ours ears. less...

The synth-laden soundscapes of heRobust have given Atlanta an earful in 2012. The young electronic producer Hayden Kramer merged his soulful glitch with jazzy melodies and warbling bass lines on his two-part February release Late Night and Morning After. Then, after bathing listeners in celestial sounds, he switched up the vibe in June with a 10-track avalanche of trapstep remixes titled Busted - the best of which featured a haunted mashup of Ludacris’ and Field Mob’s “Georgia” with Ray Charles’ “Georgia on My Mind.” But the icing on heRobust’s multilayered cake came a couple of months later when he dropped the 5-track goonstep EP Rob & Hood with song titles like “Beanie Babymama” and “Malt Flickr.” On “Dirty South,” the last track on the EP, he takes the 1995 classic of the same name back to the future with enough trippy bleeps, pulses, and digital fuzz to make an old Georgia bulldog wonder if, in some alternate universe, ATLiens really do exist. www.soundcloud.com/herobust. less...

A good soundman is hard to find. So when Curt Wells, the Earl’s in-house man behind the board since 2007, decided it was time to move on, he left a pretty big hole to fill. While no one was looking, former Earthshaking Music salesman JONATHAN RHUM stepped in and started running sound in one seamless motion. Like Wells before him, Rhum possesses a keen ear and a guitar-playing past that gives him an ability to work the club’s sound system in inventive ways. With a down-to-earth disposition, Rhum rises above the stereotype of the grumpy sound guy. And in just a few months, he’s already earned a sound reputation. 488 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-522-3950. www.badearl.com. less...