I had the pleasure of sitting down with Dwayne Wade Sr. and Patrick Reynolds on their YouTube show Take A Stand. Dwayne Sr. and Patrick host an annual charity event that I am honored to be a part of. During the course of the video, I gave a little insight into my background, beating cancer as a kid, what led me to a career in A/V design, and my charity work.
In part-one of the show, we recapped another successful Take A Stand event and discussed the positive effect we can have on young people’s lives. Dwayne Sr. and I also had the chance to revisit some of my past work including a few of the artists I’ve worked with and the technology I’ve helped popularize.
David Frangioni, an award-winning veteran of the music industry, has expertise ranging from being a drummer and producer, to an artist development & label founder, audio consultant, music technologist, integrator, author & engineer. He built a ground-breaking music tech consulting business working w Aerosmith, the Stones, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Sting, Bryan Adams, Journey, Styx, Phil Collins, Shakira, Pat Metheny, Rascal Flatts, Ozzy Osbourne, and Chick Corea, many more.
David has authored 3 books incl Icon and Crash, along with founding companies Frangioni Media , Audio One , All Access IDA & his non-profit Frangioni Foundation. In 2019, David became Publisher of Modern Drummer Magazine, the world’s #1 drum magazine.
David Frangioni, owner of Audio One, tells how he does it all, from professional recording studios to high-end home theaters and whole-house automation systems.
David Frangioni knows sound. A drummer from the age of two, he became an in-demand studio designer and sound engineer, working with Aerosmith, KISS, and Bryan Adams to name a few. When his famed studio clients wanted equally impressive home systems, they called Frangioni, who then added high-end home theater and whole-home automation systems to his offered services. Today, his company, Audio One, based in Miami and Beverly Hills, takes care of all AV needs, from studios, commercial installations, houses of worship, to top-of-the-line residential systems.
This week the Rock n Roll Archaeologist sits down with music technologist to the stars, David Frangioni. Known to Steven Tyler of Aerosmith as Gyro Gear-Loose for his magical abilities in all things audio technology, David has worked with too many rockers to count. Along with the bad boys from Boston, he is also widely known for working on “The Osbournes” reality TV show. He is the owner of Audio One and a collector of famous drum kits that he keeps at the Drum Experience Museum in South Florida.
In this episode, Growin’ Up Rock talks with producer, engineer, and technologist David Frangioni. David’s early experience with MIDI technology would establish his reputation as the go-to guy for setting up home studio recording. David became so much of an authority on MIDI setups, Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer gave David the title of “Midiot” along with the hat to go with it. David’s worked with countless rock artists including Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, Elton John, Styx, and KISS.
Bands you will hear on this episode include Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin.
If I listed one of David’s careers, it would be impressive. But David isn’t a one-career type of guy. He’s a Renaissance man who’s reinvented himself over the years. David started as a drummer then evolved into a pioneer of MIDI technology, the founder of an award-winning A/V firm Audio One.
In a recent interview on the Drummer’s Resource podcast with Nick Ruffini we discuss everything from why I started playing the drums at two years old to my thoughts on having a day job while pursuing your dreams.
Throughout the episode, Nick hones in on some incredible insights. Specifically, the idea of training yourself to repeatedly create something out of nothing and how to start executing on the ideas you have as a musician, artist, entrepreneur, and dreamer. As such, we explore a lot of tactical advice that you can start implementing in your own career right now.
In an article for The Strange Brew, Editor Jason Barnard and I explore how MIDI shaped the music industry, Aerosmith’s production process in the early ‘90s, and more.
Drummer this show is for you! David Frangioni is a respected pioneer in digital audio and video technology who has written for Rolling Stone, Fortune, and EQ. With David we discuss Peter Criss, Eric Carr, Eric Singer, Stuart Copeland, Clem Burke, Charlie Watts, Alex Van Halen, Butch Vig, Tommy Lee, Nigel Olson.
David Frangioni, a music technologist and drummer who has worked with many of the world’s biggest rock artists including Aerosmith and Ozzy Osbourne, talks to Jason Barnard. Additionally, read on to see how to win a copy of Dave’s book CRASH: The World’s Greatest Drum Kits From Appice to Peart to Van Halen.
"I’d like to welcome David Frangioni, an award-winning veteran of the music industry, with expertise ranging from being a drummer and producer, to an artist development & label founder, audio consultant, music technologist, integrator, author & engineer.
"On this episode, I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Mr. David Fragioni, who is a drumming aficionado and has found a way to support himself through his art. He started playing drums at the age of 2, which was the same age that he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma and lost his eye. Still, he pushed through all of his struggles, nurtured his talents, delved into business, and discovered his strengths along the way.
David takes us through his journey, sharing his personal and professional truths, as one always leads into the other. He discusses the importance of nurturing your talents and focusing on what will help you grow to be who you’re supposed to be in the world, rather than focusing on the deafening outside noise that can derail your journey.
David Frangioni is an award-winning veteran of the music industry, with expertise ranging from being a drummer (since the age of 2) and producer, to an artist development and label founder, an audio consultant, producer, technologist, integrator, author and recording engineer.
He has gone on to work with Aerosmith, the Stones, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Sting, Bryan Adams, Journey, Styx, Phil Collins, Shakira, Pat Metheny, Rascal Flatts, Ozzy Osbourne, and Chick Corea, to name a few.
What do you do when the odds are completely against you?
He said, “Just after being introduced to the drums, I was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, which is a rare form of eye cancer … It required that in order to save my life, they had to remove my right eye … So, I’ve been blind in my right eye ever since … What they did is put a removable prosthetic in the socket, and in addition to that, when the surgeon was doing the operation to remove my eye, he made a mistake, and it happens sometimes in operations like this … and he clipped a muscle in my eye lid … So, I grew up … with my lid half-closed, without eyesight in my right eye, and a lot of hospital visits …”
David Frangioni began as a drummer for a cover band in his early youth before going on to become an engineer, producer and technologist hired by some of the worlds biggest stars. From changing clothes in the liquor storeroom between gigs as a teenager, to working with some of the greatest musicians we all know and love, David has pretty much seen it all. He joins us to have a discussion about what he’s learned from his career in the arts and how to build one that will stand the test of time.
David’s website can be found at www.DavidJFrangioni.com
David also has two companies, Audio One and All Access IDA, go check them out!
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with the rock experts at Metal Pulp and Paper to discuss the release of my book Crash: The World’s Greatest Drum Kits From Appice to Pert to Van Halen.
We discussed growing up playing the drums, and how I used music to cope with the trauma of losing my right eye due to a rare form of cancer. When asked how I was able to excel musically while dealing with such a traumatic situation, I told them that I owe my success to my parents and my faith: “I had incredibly supportive parents…I owe my career and life success to my parents, Silviano and Rita and, of course, God.”
I recently had the opportunity to sit down for a conversation with Neil C. Hughes, host of The Tech Blog Writer Podcast. Neil and I had a great conversation about my company Audio One, designing high-end A/V home systems for Steven Tyler and Ozzie Osbourne and the work of my company All Access IDA.
Neil wanted to know where my love of music came from, so I started at the beginning: being introduced to the drums at two years old. I went on to explain that when I was eight I started taking drum lessons, and by twelve-years-old I was playing in multiple bands. Then I was introduced to the drum machine, and at that moment--from a production and sound stand-point--everything changed for me.
