Sound Pioneer Bob Heil Passes Away At 83 years old

A sound Pioneer has passed away. Bob Heil the likable and fun founder of Heil Sound and Audio has died. He was 83 years old.

We send our condolences to the Heil Family and all his closest friends and employees

Bob first started Heil Sound in the mid-1960s and pretty much created the template for modern Rock Pro Audio sound systems and setup. Speaker stacks, mixing consoles, tweeters, and audio components for touring bands and the sound engineers that ran them

Speakers and mixing systems for the Music Festival Circuit. He later developed his own line of microphones as well. Eventually, everyone called Heil Sound to get their equipment. One of the first people was Jerry Garcia himself. He was booked at the Fox Theatre in St Louis in 1970. Bob rigged the theatre (where he was the house organ player), with a brand new system just for the Grateful Dead.

The result was amazing and now you could hear the lyrics clearly and the experience for the audience was much better. Heil Sound began producing similar speakers and mixing systems to sell to other Bands and touring sound engineers at the time.

The show was a success, and the Grateful Dead asked Heil, his crew, and his sound system to join them on the road. Heil's setup would later become a template for the modern concert touring sound system at the time.

Heil Sound company quickly got accounts from sound engineers and managers who worked directly with The Who, Jeff Beck, Stevie Wonder, Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton, and the list goes on and on.

Bob got contracts with the biggest touring bands and sound companies for several decades.

Bob Heil was a true pioneer of this industry and will be greatly missed