Betty Bennett of Apogee Talks Pro Audio Career Opportunities

Betty Bennett, president, CEO and one of the founders of Apogee Electronics, joins Bonzai Beat for a look into the world of pro audio. With 30 employees and a 40-year history of being in business, Apogee develops professional audio devices, from mics to audio interfaces. For young professionals who are interested in exploring the field, she offers insights into the types of roles that she values at her company, shares an intern success story, and pinpoints some of the things that make a great team.

▸▸▸

MrB: Betty is the president and CEO and one of the three founders of Apogee Electronics in Santa Monica, California. But before she founded Apogee in 1985, she was the president of Soundcraft USA, which is a pioneering British audio console company, founded in 1973. How did you first step into this fascinating world of audio? 

Betty Bennett: It was really by accident. I was a realtor at the time. And the president of Soundcraft USA, he was looking for a house and I just happened to be on the front desk that day. And so I picked up his call, and he wanted a house in a specific area because of school systems. And there weren't any available. I said I'd look into it.

I went into what they called at the time a criss-cross directory, which you could use to find the phone numbers of everyone on the street. I called everyone on those streets in that specific development. And I happened to find somebody; he was wanting to sell his home because he was going into foreclosure. But he didn't want his neighbors to know that he was selling his house. So he said, If you really have a buyer, you can list it. So I happened to bring him in, the buyer, and introduce him and we sold the house.

After that, Greg was so impressed. It was then he offered me a position at Soundcraft. And it was during the late 1970s. So I know you can remember that time, but most of your listeners probably won't. There was a major recession going on. And interest rates were between 13 and 14%. If we think they're bad now, they were terrible back then.

The position he offered me was general office manager. I did everything from answering the phones to accounting, to buying the product and importing it and getting it out to the dealers.

I always had an interest in audio. As a little girl, I always wondered how it all was done. I'd love the behind the scenes, not in front of the camera or singing. But I always wanted to know more about how they did it. And so this was my opportunity. I learned everything possible about the products, I learned how to solder even and make them because we used to import the kits, the 1S which was the console that was most popular for Soundcraft at the time came in kits to avoid so much duty and then we put them together at Soundcraft. I would help build them.

I read every manual and I stayed on the line when some people called in for tech support so I could understand what the question was and what the answer was. And I just loved it. And I have to say the customers and the dealers at the time were incredibly helpful. They answered all my questions and they were really patient with me like a newbie.

MrB: Let's help the audience figure out what they might find interesting in the way of a career and audio through your perspective with Apogee. Can you describe what your products are and who your customers are?

Betty Bennett: We have a wide range of customers all the way from USB microphones for content creators, or for podcasters, all the way up to the symphony series, which is for film recording, audio for film, or orchestras or studio sessions with large amounts of microphones, because we have one format is 32 channels. And then we have the interfaces that are for the content creators, or the home musician, home recording artists, engineer producer, which are two channels, or four channels, or the duet, the boom, which is our entry level piece.

We are not the cheapest brand, but what we strive for is to be the best in class. So if that's what you want, and you want something that you can hang on to for 10 years, or 20 years, I'm trying to rip some of these things out of people's hands at 30 years, because some of the parts to fix them are not existent anymore. So I have to try to upgrade people from some of our earlier products, and they just won't let go of them. But we're managing, we try to make everybody as happy as we can.

We distribute all over the world. Europe is a big market, Asia is a big market, India is a growing market. Some things are a little stagnant. But there's a lot of political stuff going on around the world. And we're just going to weather through some of that stuff.

MrB: For viewers interested in a career in pro audio, can you pick out two positions that they can imagine themselves in that job scene? How do those positions contribute to product success?

Betty Bennett: Two positions that are not as widely known or thought about, besides the normal ones of firmware engineer, software engineer, sales and marketing, one’s a GUI engineer. And that's where the talents of both understanding the technology, but also being a user also being the customer, because what they're doing is the interface between the technology and the person using it. So it's an incredibly creative position. And one that's really valuable.

I think we've all experienced technology, where we, you know, why did they do that? And how come I can't get to that key or whatever it is, it's a soft key, where it's frustrating. So it's so much better. You're someone that has used the product, and you know which thing that you need a physical knob or fader for and which one you can do with a mouse. And I think that's really important.

MrB: Okay, that's an interesting one. Number two please.

Betty Bennett: I don't know if people realize how important tech support is. You're the first interface with people when they're unhappy, or there's something wrong or they're frustrated. You have to be patient and articulate and understanding of their frustration, and sometimes it's as simple as they forgot to plug it in, or you spent hours on the phone and they had a bad cable. But people need that support.

We've had good support forever, it's something that I'm really focused on is because I always put myself in that position. And I've been in that position with other companies where I'm constantly just trying to get a hold of someone to help me and it's super frustrating. We have a VIP line for those folks that are going to get caught in a session where they've got an orchestra and it's thousands of dollars ticking away. For the customer who is a novice, we've moved to live chat and to some Knowledge Base articles.

We're interfacing some of the AI stuff, because even myself, if I go on a website for information, I don't mind typing in my question, and an answer pops up, I'm perfectly happy with the answer and moving on, I don't need somebody to talk to me and ask my name and my email address. I just want the answer. We have bots and live chat. We have real people. And it's all done here. And we have a guy on the East Coast and here.

MrB: What's going to happen in the next five years with pro audio, what's your visionary look into that future?

Betty Bennett: It's something I think about daily. Immersive audio is really important. We have to take in what the effect of AI is going to have on our industry. I think it's like playing chess. How do I plan my moves in advance? Is there more of a melting from what you're doing in the studio to what you're doing live because of AI and people are going to want to see physical artists more than ever before? I think that might be where we're going. People are going to want real experiences, whether that's a small club, or an arena.

I also think the way in which people create will be different. It's changing so fast. I wish I had all the answers.

MrB: Traditional recording studios here in Hollywood and all over the world, some of those big old rooms are not generating enough income to keep the business operating. Do you see that continuing? Or do you think there will always be an acoustic space where people can perform music together in the same space? Or is it all going to go to cloud collaborations?

Betty Bennett: As I said, I think people are going to want to have live experiences. So they can do all that through AI and get together and play instruments. And I think that's fun. And that'll have its section of the market.

There's almost a wave going on for old analog. People want to touch stuff. They want records. Now they want to have vinyl, right? I see that with the young people. They're looking at all those physical objects now. And I think that's going to move on to studios as well. So I think there will always be room for big studios. And I think what they need to do is get more creative with what they do with the space.

We have four studios here and we don't really rent them. We are starting to a little bit, but they’re more for playback parties. A lot of them are record release parties or events where people want to showcase what they've done, because they've done it kind of in a vacuum without a lot of people knowing. And then if they're not with a major label, how do you market yourself? So it's great to have that playback party and invite a bunch of press, and invite people from the industry and bloggers. We've been doing quite a lot of that. Some of the major rooms could do that too.

MrB: I really like that idea. Maybe some of the studio owners that are watching this program will look into that a little further.

Betty Bennett: I think they should, because there's plenty of people looking for that. So there's an opportunity there.

MrB: How many people are in the building where you are?

Betty Bennett: We have under 30 people here.

MrB: I didn't know it was so huge. What makes a great team? I'm sure it takes years to assemble that number of people. What goes into creating a team that operates effectively and is flexible to change with the times?

Betty Bennett: That's one of the main points I was thinking about is flexibility. It's the knowledge of their craft, but they need to be adaptable as well, because it's still a small company. Under 30 people for what we do is incredible. So they need to be able to move in and out of several different positions and cover for somebody else. It's a small team, and we do everything here because we design here, we do some assembly here we ship from here, all sales and marketing here, ops is here. It's the same thing that Apple would have only in a tiny, tiny, tiny little scale running a small company. So there's lots of positions.

I think that it's important to hire the right people that have that willingness to cooperate with others, and that can hear them, not just have such a fixed opinion of how it should be done, that they will change their mind if they can actually listen to why someone's trying to promote that idea or that change of an SOP. I think communication is really important. Adaptability is really important. I think willingness to give it 110% when the chips are down or whenever it's needed.

Look, we're too small to have just managers. Every manager in here that has that title is a working manager. I really need people to manage themselves. They should like the gig that they have and want the company to succeed. They want a bonus. I mean, that's always nice, but the only way they're going to get it is if they look around and see what needs to be done and they do it.

The other thing is constantly educate themselves. We have a four o'clock meeting now. We were doing it daily for a while on AI. I need everyone to understand what's coming and how it can adapt to their position. We can't bury our head and pretend it's not happening because we don't like it or we don't want it or we're scared of it. Education is a huge factor and the willingness to open your mind and learn and change.

MrB: What would your advice be to somebody who wants to get into the world of pro audio?

Betty Bennett: I think they should have some formal training. Either go to school, or a technical school or there's courses that you can take even by manufacturers and become certified in some aspects of it.

Then I think an internship is necessary. Most companies I know pay their interns, that’s something we do. But intern and be open to everything. I know you're going to get the crappy jobs at first.

We had an intern that came in from NYU this summer, and she was working in sales and marketing. And little did we really know how strong her computer science background was. So we moved her into engineering, and she's doing great, and she loves it so much more than marketing and sales. But she's doing fantastic work. She's really saving the engineers a lot of time, because there's a lot of things that are difficult, but if you have the right mindset, if you can think your way through a problem, you can do it. And she's doing it, I'm really thrilled.

MrB: That's a great story.

Betty Bennett: The other thing that I would say is, after they get some base knowledge, then if they wanted to specialize in something, whether it's being a live engineer, a mastering engineer, recording engineer, pick a specialty and become really good at that. It's hard in the beginning, because it's like the world is your oyster, and you don't know which one to pick. But if you could specialize in something that would be a good asset.

In summary, gets some basic knowledge from school or wherever, intern someplace where you get a chance to possibly move around and really get some experience in different areas, and then figure out what it is you want to specialize in and become really good at it.

MrB: Excellent. Okay, let's wrap it up soon with a couple of lighthearted questions. What’s on your playlist?

Betty Bennett: On my 45 record player, I have a 78 one upstairs. The music that comes out of there is a lot of marching band records.

MrB: What's a good place to chow down in Santa Monica?

Betty Bennett: We just discovered this restaurant called Elefante. It's on Second Street, you can barely find it. But if you do find it, it's upstairs. You have to go to a third floor through this weird elevator that looks like you're going to a warehouse. But when you get up to the third floor, it's beautiful. There's an ocean view and the food's good. They only have about eight items. It's kind of the tell on a great restaurant, when they don't give you 50 different choices. They do the few things that they do really well. It's Italian based.

MrB: Which Apogee product is really close to your heart?

Betty Bennett: The symphony and the higher end products I don't use, but I do use this little one right here, this microphone because it has a compressor built into it. It's called HypeMiC. And it's, it's got an analog compressor with three different selections and it's easy to operate. We made it because when a customer friend called me and said he was working with some really top name artists and the artist is so used to hearing compression on their voice. I don't feel like I'm getting the take that I could so if you could put a compressor in that microphone it would be fabulous. And so of course, we did. And it's great.

MrB: What is the secret talent of Betty Bennett?

Betty Bennett: I would say tenacity. I don't give up. I always figured out there's a way to get it done. I think my mother bred that into me from when I was a kid. Never say never. And just keep trying. There's got to be a way. And I think that's what has helped us. Apogee is going to be 40 years old next year. Only 1% of companies make it that far, so I'm pretty proud of the fact that we're still around.

MrB: Thank you, Betty. It’s been great.

Discover Careers in Music

Engineers, sales, marketing and IT professionals are just some of the roles in pro audio companies like Apogee. Visit our Careers in Music page to explore the types of roles that exist within the music products industry.

About the Author

Mr. Bonzai is an award-winning photographer, author and music journalist. He has written more than 1,000 articles for outlets in the United States, Europe and Asia. His photos and articles have appeared in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Billboard, Mix and EQ, among others. He has also published numerous books, including Studio Life, Music Smarts and Faces of Music.