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RG Jones alumni reads like a Who’s Who

Company pride runs deep in most organisations, but very few companies have as much to to crow about than RG Jones. This independent company, founded in 1926, is not only the oldest sound company in the UK, it’s a factory for famous industry alumni.

From production managers, sound designers and top-tier engineers, RG Jones’ graduates have racked up some incredible accomplishments.

Huge congratulations to two of our best… Monitor engineer of the year, Becky Pell and Sound Designer of the Year, Simon Honywill for winning one of the industries most prestigious TPI Award.

“It was the belief of a fellow award winner, Simon Honywill, 26 years ago, that opened the door for this to happen”. explains Becky. “Back then I was one of a very very few women on the technical side of the music industry. Thankfully we’ve come a long way since then – although women still only make up 7% – but back then RG Jones hiring me was ground-breaking.”

Enter the legendary Fred “Gumby” Jackson through the RG Jones doors, who soon saw something special in Becky and became her mentor.

Bex continues “I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support of RG Jones and these guys”.

Simon takes Sound Designer of the Year for the second time running. Amongst so many other renowned projects, Simon is responsible for the sound design for the worlds most iconic festival stage, the Pyramid at Glastonbury as well as West Holts and two additional stages in Block9, where he designed and installed an immersive 6.1 system for Block9’s incredible IICON stage which made its debut at Glastonbury Festival in 2019. Up to 15,000 people were able to experience sound like no other at the festival, in an arena designed to focus on the astonishing 20m high, projection-mapped sculpture enveloping the stage.

Mind-blowing when you consider Simon joined RG Jones as a driver in the early 1980’s!

Simon explains, “We can bang on all we like about the gear, and no doubt that having the right gear, (like an MLA system for instance), makes us sound good, really good. But in the end it’s all about the people, and without the people the gear is nothing”.

The list of RG Jone alumni reads like a Who’s Who and is featured on the speech given by none other than Simon at our 90th celebration in 2016.

We look forward to welcoming the next generation of legends…who knows who you might find wondering around our warehouse? Someday it will my be your name in lights.

We also want to congratulate our valued colleague Phil Wright for his TPI Award for FOH Engineer of the Year. Not one of our celebrated alumni, but a greatly valued member of our family.