PORTLAND, OR — Audio pioneer Bob Sterne, founder of Northwest Sound, who was also a longtime tour manager and sound mixer for Neil Young and sound coordinator for many Super Bowls, died June 9, 2016. He was 73. Sterne is pictured here mixing at FOH for a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young concert on the band’s 1974 Reunion Tour, at the Atlantic City Race Course (August 9, 1974).
Commenting on his Facebook page, Neil Young posted: “Last night, in Leeds [U.K., where Young performed June 10], we learned that Bob Sterne, our beloved sound guru for the ages, soundscape architect of Rust and Ragged Glory, had passed away. Mark Humphreys, our monitor mixer, cranked the volume on my guitar and gave me the big sound. I felt like I died and went to heaven. He did it just like he was told to do by ‘SterneBob.’ Mark Humphreys, Mr. Mulligan, Mr. Briggs, and all of us have lost a beacon of light. Rest in peace, Bob Sterne.”
Sterne was born in Portland, Oregon, on April 25, 1943 and obviously, technology ran in the Sterne family. Bob’s father, the late Harold Sterne, was a radio and microwave electronics engineer who worked on the design and production of the transmitter for the first U.S. satellite to send information back to Earth.
Sterne first got involved in audio in 1969. He later co-founded Northwest Sound, a Portland, OR-based sound company that, over the years, grew to prominence with an impressive artist roster that included luminaries such as Tom Jones; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Joni Mitchell; Boz Scaggs; Steve Miller; The Eagles and of course, Neil Young — among many others. Northwest Sound was eventually acquired by MSI (Maryland Sound International) in 1985. Sterne was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame in 2007.
A memorial service is planned for July 30, 2016 at a private residence in Portland. As per Bob’s request, the required attire for the ceremony will be an old concert t-shirt.
