Tom’s Travels: Celebrating 40 Years With Apogee

Santa Monica, CA (January 31, 2025)—It’s become something of a tradition these past few years to ease into the NAMM Show by stopping in at 1715 Berkeley, Santa Monica, for a kick-off party at Apogee headquarters. It’s on the way from Oakland to Anaheim, so it’s easy. And it’s hosted by company co-founder and CEO Betty Bennett and her husband, producer/engineer Bob Clearmountain, so it’s big-time fun. As the legendary Rose Mann Cherney once told me, “Betty sure knows how to throw a party.”

There are multiple food stations, multiple open bars, a live band on the in-house stage, technology and playback demos in the house (which Apogee also owns) across the alley in the 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos mix studio (with Genelec monitoring), a BMW with Atmos playback on the back patio, brought in by Dolby, and a guest list packed with the who’s who of the local pro audio community. Then, at the end of the night, on buses provided by the company, about half the guests continue the party and head down to Anaheim to start the show.

Like I said, a whole lotta fun. But I just assumed it would be cancelled this year.

Betty and Bob had just lost their home, Bob’s one-of-a-kind Mix This! studio and nearly every piece of personal property they owned less than two weeks earlier in the Palisades Fire. Blazes were still burning north and east of L.A. And who knew what the mood would be like? Would people come? Were they ready for a party? Within days of the initial fires, Apogee sent out an email and said that the party was on.

It was a brave decision. At Mix, we had been all set to start the marketing, promotion and announcements for our second annual Mix LA: Immersive Music Production event, already scheduled for March 8, to be held just a half-mile from Apogee at UMG’s 2115 Studios in Santa Monica. I certainly wanted to go to the party to support Betty and Bob; and, heck, this is the kick-off of Apogee’s yearlong 40-year anniversary celebration. It’s a big deal! Now, I figured, perhaps selfishly, it would also provide an opportunity to judge the mood of the local community so we could decide whether to go ahead with the March 8 date for the Mix event..

Well, I am happy to report the positive vibe and resilient spirit was on full display at Apogee. And we are all systems go for March 8.

“In the first couple days after the fires, I just assumed that we would be cancelling the party,” said Marlene Passaro, Apogee Artist & Press Relations Manager, who led an internal team in producing the event. “NAMM was going to be challenging enough under the circumstances, but Betty said right away, ‘No. We’re not cancelling. It’s important that the community comes together right away.’ And she was right. The feedback we got both during and after the party was so positive. People have been making a point to say thank you, and to let us know how grateful they were to have some sense of normalcy in their life, even if it’s only for a couple hours with their friends. And it was nice, right?”

It was an excellent party, and it did provide a sense of normalcy coming out of two weeks of unprecedented disruption in Los Angeles. Soon after arriving, I was talking with Bob, and, after expressing my sincere condolences, asked, with the risk of too-soon gallows humor, “So, now that the SSL is gone, are you going to be mixing in the box?” He came back right away with, “You know, I was honestly thinking about it for a minute or two. But then Chris and Tom Lord-Alge both called in the first couple of days, and they each have an extra 4K that they’re not using and have offered them to me. So I’m figuring it out. But I will be mixing right out of there.”

He pointed to the house across the alley, where Eventide and IK Multimedia, who helped sponsor the party, were giving presentations in the Atmos mix room. Later, I would see Bob head back there for an impromptu meeting with Chris Lord-Alge and Phil Wagner, formerly of SSL. By next year’s party, following a few renovations, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Mix This! were fully re-established, in some form, with a 4K across the front and the famous NS-10s on the meter bridge. More to come.

That’s not all that Bob did that night. At 7:30, Charlie Bereal (in partnership with Death Row Records) and his nine-piece band took the stage to funk it up, and while Apogee studio and stage manager Brandon Duncan mixed front of house for the roughly 150-cap open space, Bob, with support from his assistant engineer, Ira Becker, performed and recorded a live 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos mix at his classic 80 Series Neve in the control room! For the guests who packed the couches and stood shoulder to shoulder, moving in and out throughout the 45-minute set, it was a real treat to watch.

Then, for the next three days, the Apogee team went to NAMM to show off the new Symphony | Studio Series of USB-C audio interfaces, which is a big launch. A few days after that, Bob started three 18-hour days in the Horizon truck at the Forum in Inglewood, mixing the music for broadcast from FireAid. Betty managed business post-NAMM and prepared for a February trip to Australia for their daughter’s wedding. All of this less than a month after they lost everything.

So many people suffered loss in the recent L.A. fires, and Bob and Betty would be the first to say that they will do fine, that they have resources and that so many others suffered much worse. Still, I’m sure that this was not how they expected to start off a milestone year for the company, with big plans worldwide over the coming months. Those plans will still happen, I have no doubt, if the first few weeks are any indication.

To most of the guests at the Jan. 22 party that night, it was a damn fine night, and a welcome chance to re-enter the world following two weeks of fires. To me, it was a whole lot more.

The public face that Betty and Bob displayed during a period of catastrophic personal loss has given us all a small glimpse into the strength of human character. It isn’t that they decided to throw a party; it’s that they decided it was important to bring the community together, right away.

So, Bob, Betty and all you fine folks at Apogee, congratulations on turning 40! And thanks for the party. I think everybody needed it.