Respected audio engineer and electronics expert John Frey died onDecember 27, 2003, after a year-long fight with cancer. Frey lived andworked in the Washington, D.C., area for most of his life, spending agood part of 30 years at Rodel Audio in Georgetown.
After a short stint in Vietnam (where he befriended pilots by fixingtheir radio equipment), Frey’s interest in sound led him intoprofessional audio. His strong theoretical understanding of electronicsallowed him to create countless custom devices for recording and soundreinforcement. Frey was responsible for much of the design andinstallation at Rodel, which included a film mixing stage withinterlocked mag dubbers, analog multitrack studios and digital audioworkstations. During the 1970s, he also worked at legendary musicstudio Nimbus 9 in Toronto.
Frey’s greatest skills were as a designer and troubleshooter ofelectronic equipment. His workshop included a vast collection of testequipment, tools, parts and technical manuals, as well as aprofessional machine shop for custom fabrication. His technicalinterests ranged from audio to industrial control, radio systems andocean navigation. There were few things he could not design and evenfewer that he could not fix. His high standards set the mark forquality regardless of application; no matter how big or small the job,he wanted it done right. Frey was one of a diminishing breed and willbe greatly missed in the audio industry.
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