Rat sound

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Rat Sound Systems Inc. is the longtime touring sound company for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters and Black Flag. It is headed by Dave Rat (real name Dave Levine), FOH engineer for the Chili Peppers over the last 20 or so years.

Rat Sound rents, sells and manufactures (see the MicroWedge, the Rat Sniffer and Rat Subs) professional sound equipment to put on the rock show. Its crew and gear travel around the world on tour with various rock bands.

[edit] History

Rat Sound Systems was founded in late 1979 by Dave Rat under the name Solid Sound Systems. In search of a more unique and memorable company name the R.A.T. Sound was adopted with acronym R.A.T. representing Reliable Audio Technology. Rat Sound initially provided sound primarily for punk rock shows throughout the Los Angeles area.

Steve Wozniak's US Fest 1983: the first time Rat Sound was to provide sound in a large festival environment. Dave Rat and his best friend and business partner Brian loaded up their Dodge Maxi van full of all the gear they owned, packed the free space up with beer and set off to do sound for an air-filled Laser tent. Dave drove while Brian sat on a monitor wedge which had been put in the place of the removed front passenger seat. In the back, was the rest of all the gear they owned in the world - 4 single 18" cabs and 8 double 12" and 4 horns. At that time, they were excited just to get backstage passes and run around at night after the grounds had closed, looking at audio gear. The day Van Halen played on the main stage, Rat remembers making his way from the bubble tent to the main stage where Clair Bros had provided the main PA and Showco providing the delay clusters. The Clair system tech invited the young Dave Rat up onto the Mix Riser and explained the system to him and, to this day, he remembers that experience as his first exposure to the "big time" in audio. How ironic then that 21 years later, these two fiercely competitive companies, Showco and Clair, are now one entity and Dave Rat's company, Rat Sound, is providing sound systems and personnel for some of the biggest rock shows and events in the world.

"Our first PA was two 12" wedges, a BGW 250 amp, a Tapco EQ, and a cassette deck for a mic preamp/mixer (read "y" cable on the output). Everything fit in a Toyota Celica and we could earn in excess of $25 a night. We saved, we bought and we built until finally we had enough to take the first big step and quit our jobs at Hughes aircraft, " explained Rat.

Brian and Dave were eighteen when they did decide to quit their ' real' jobs at Hughes Aircraft and began work ing hard: designing, building and renting the growing systems. In the early 80's Dave met a guy named Frank in a liquor store and upon talking to him, was further introduced to Gary Tovar, founder of Goldenvoice. Goldenvoice was instrumental in the growth of Rat Sound, providing Rat a near endless stream of punk shows for years to come. At the time, Rat was one of three sound companies Goldenvoice used but doing only the smallest of shows in the Los Angeles area. As Goldenvoice grew, so did the strong relationship which still lasts to this day. "We've been working with Goldenvoice for almost 20 years," Rat explains! "The original reason why Goldenvoice hired us in the past was because our PA's were harder to climb and here we are 23 years later still working with them."

In 1985, Black Flag asked Rat Sound to tour with them and they ended up doing three tours with that band. A typical Black Flag tour was 16 weeks long and over 100 shows so Dave and Brian built a new PA for each of the three tours. The next 5 years were then spent rebuilding everything into a "real touring system" and just doing lots and lots of local shows here in the LA area. Tommy Rat, their third partner came to join them in 1988 from Tucson , Arizona. Sonic Youth, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam (who even named a song "Rats" and used the Rat Sound logo on the album) tours ended up being the breaks they needed to prove themselves as a national touring sound company. By then they had dropped "Reliable Audio Technology" which had been their "more professional" name and only used "RAT Sound" and as bands like Pearl Jam and Chili Peppers brought them out on larger and larger tours, they were able to refine and perfect the systems and designs for arenas and stadiums.

"I guess the key is to just surround yourself with people and bands that you truly love; we worked solidly together on building our dream into reality," reflected Dave Rat. " We didn't get into this for the money; it was something that we really and truly were passionate about."