David Frangioni is the publisher at Modern Drummer. David has had a long career as a musician, producer, entrepreneur and author. In this episode he shares insight into his work at Modern Drummer, his career and his interesting life story.
David Frangioni, is an award-winning veteran of the music industry.
He built a ground-breaking music tech consulting business working with the likes of Aerosmith, the Stones, Ringo Starr, Elton John and Sting among many, many others..David is also the CEO & co-founder of Artist Development firm All Access IDA and CEO and founder of ground-breaking technology company Audio One.
Renowned audio engineer and audio expert, David Frangioni explains how he found refuge from his childhood trauma through escapism, audio work for the big names, and more on truth, trust, and the voice.
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!
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.
David Frangioni started his music career as a drummer, but soon became a pioneer in MIDI technology. This lead him into the studio as an engineer and producer for dozens of top artists including The Stones, Ringo Starr, Aerosmith, Elton John, Sting, Carl Palmer, Journey, Styx, KISS, Phil Collins, Shakira, Ozzy Osbourne, and more.
“He’s just an amazing drummer, and an amazing person,” observes noted drum enthusiast and educator David Frangioni, author of 2018’s Crash: The World’s Greatest Drum Kits – From Appice to Peart to Van Halen (Insight Editions). Crash is devoted to being, quote, “the ultimate photographic guide to the world of rock ’n’ roll’s most famous drum kits,” and the 208-page hardback includes a lavish spread on Todd and his massive, current (albeit soon-to-be revised/replaced!) drum setup, as seen above in a photo by Jason Powell.
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.
Technology has changed the world and the music industry has reaped a lot of benefits. Read on to learn about the biggest technology breakthroughs in music I’ve experienced throughout my 25+ year career in the music, technology, and A/V businesses.
Music has long been a dance between creative advancements and technological ones. Since humans began singing together, inventing musical instruments, and finding ways to put music into a fixed and tangible form, there have been technological advancements that have helped pave new ways of musical expression.
And today's music world is as technology-driven as ever. Technology breakthroughs happen every day, and many of them, from iPhones to blockchain technology, influence the way we compose, share, and listen to music.
If you're looking to understand where music and technology intersect today, you need to first look back at the major technological breakthroughs that transformed the music industry. In this post, I explore six important music technology revolutions that got us to where we are today.
David Frangioni of Audio One out of South Florida is an industry legend and award-winning audiophile consultant, recording engineer, studio installer, producer, technologist, and drummer. David has worked, consulted, and in many cases played drums alongside hundreds of music industry icons such as Aerosmith, Stones, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Sting, Bryan Adams, Journey, Styx, Phil Collins, Shakira, Rascal Flatts, Ozzy Osbourne, Chick Corea, and ELP.
On Saturday, March 16, Backstage Auctions, Inc. presents the private collection of David Frangioni, an award-winning veteran of the music industry, for auction. Frangioni started in the industry early, playing live at 12 years old, where he was focused on drumming with bands in Boston. He found the future of drumming in technology, starting his career first with a consulting business at age 16, which helped to make his connection with Aerosmith, where he was their in-house engineer/technologist for 13 years and continued working on their singles, albums, tours and even the theme song for the Spider-Man animated television series with Joe Perry.
Less than a decade ago, pro AV technology was thought to be the premier equipment market—the industry was untouchable and at the forefront of innovation. Many home technologies were born out of the AV market, and at-home-AV research and development was often started with professional R&D.
Today the opposite is occurring, it seems. Harman’s engineering team, for example, is leveraging technology drawn from the company’s connected car business. “Nobody in the pro industry can afford the thousands of engineers needed to develop secure Linux products,” said Mohit Parasher, president, Harman Professional Solutions. “We have access to that because that development was done for our connected car business. We can borrow 80 percent of the work and bring it into the pro industry. The same thing with the consumer side, and the services side, and from Samsung, etc.”
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.
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.
When producer, engineer and music technologist David Frangioni sat down to compile his newest book, Crash: The World's Greatest Drum Kits From Appice to Peart to Van Halen, he knew he needed to include two people: iconic drummer Carl Palmer of Emerson, Lake & Palmer and KISS drummer Eric Singer. Luckily, he managed to get them to write the book's introduction and conclusion, respectively.
Crash, the 207-page illustrative book, features an up close look at the most famed drum kits in the history of rock’n’roll. The detailed images and text highlight the design behind the drums of bands such as The Beatles, Aerosmith, Iron Maiden, Rush, Metallica, Journey, Black Sabbath and more. It's like a high school textbook filled with a timeline of rock percussion.
For fans of KISS, the book comes fully loaded. Aside from a section dedicated to the band’s founding drummer Peter Criss’ 1976 Destroyer set-up, Crash features a ten-page spread featuring three of Eric Singer’s most legendary drum kits. Singer — who started playing alongside KISS in 1991 — is about to embark on the band’s End Of The Road tour.
Singer and Frangioni grew a friendship through both music and charity. In fact, many of Singer’s drum kits reside in Miami at the Drum Experience Center, a museum-like facility where kids in need learn to play. The center is a division of the Frangioni Foundation, which is directly receiving a portion of the sales from Crash.
RC Homes is pre-installing smart home automation in 27 homes in California. Discussing what it takes to interest both homeowners and and integrators. Office Depot throws their hat into the custom installation ring. Do they have what it takes?
Back in February, the fascinating David Frangioni made a trek up to Pwop Studios to geek out with Carl and Richard about music technology. Oh, the stories! What a gas.
Audio One offers smart home automation for home owners looking to add more technology in their home.
"We provide our home owners with high quality and easy to use technology," said CEO/Founder David Frangioni
