Bill Hanley

Bill Hanley is known as the Father of Festival Sound and for a very good reason. Beginning in the 1950s Bill and his brother Terry provided sound equipment for outdoor events and as the rock-and-roll era boomed, they found themselves inventing and innovating new ways to address the needs of different spaces and larger audiences. Bill was on hand at Woodstock providing sound in addition to working thousands of other events including the Beatles at Shea Stadium and the Newport Folk and Jazz festivals. Hanley Sound became a powerhouse for the industry for decades and launched the careers of many engineers who would go on to achieve notable contributions within the industry.