Tom Barrett and Tim Quigley were setting up sound systems and lighting for local bands and nightclubs on weekends – strictly small-time venues – when they decided to take a chance 15 years ago.
At the time, the weekend gigs weren’t enough to make a living. In fact, Quigley was preparing to take a job as a high school English teacher.
But in 1995, Barrett and Quigley learned that the sports TV network ESPN was planning a wide-ranging event in Providence and Newport called the Extreme Games, an Olympic-style competition for alternative sports such as skateboarding and skydiving that’s now called the X-Games. Despite having no experience providing audio and visual systems for something so big, they put in a bid and confidently told the event organizers they could handle it.
They got the job, and it turned out to be a springboard for Barrett and Quigley’s business.
Their company, Ambient Sound Inc., has since grown from two employees to 26. It provides in-house A/V services at the R.I. Convention Center and numerous area hotels, and handles teleconferencing services for area organizations such as the hospital-chain Lifespan Corp.
Ambient also has a longstanding contract with the Army to design and install “distance-learning classrooms” that have allowed thousands of officers and soldiers to receive training of all types from instructors at remote locations.
Barrett, the company president, attributed the company’s growth to having “very, very smart” employees, coupled with an aggressive attitude about leaping into new ventures.
“We’ve never been afraid to tackle anything,” Barrett said.
Case in point: The Extreme Games that launched what had been a part-time, mostly weekend business into a career for childhood friends Barrett and Quigley.
Quigley acknowledged recently that they were unqualified when they bid for the sound and visuals jobs in 1995. They didn’t even own the proper equipment.
But their low bid and confident demeanor convinced event organizers they could do it. “When we got the job, we said, ‘Oh, what do we do now?’ ” Quigley recalled.
Counting on the money from the contract, they purchased the needed sound and lighting equipment, then recruited friends and relatives to lug lights and sound systems here and there. They quickly found that they had enough know-how to do the job.
The Extreme Games led to other high-profile jobs, such as when the Smithsonian Institute’s traveling exhibit visited the Convention Center in 1996.
Then Barrett and Quigley heard from a friend in the sound industry that the U.S. Army was looking to set up teleconferencing classrooms for training. They had never done anything like it before but poured over literature on video-conferencing systems and was awarded the bid.
That initial contract has led to a lucrative relationship in which Ambient Sound has installed hundreds of video-conferencing classrooms – 200 in the last year alone – in everything from 2,000-seat auditoriums to airplane hangars nationwide, Barrett said.
Now, there are few jobs Ambient Sound can’t do, Quigley and Barrett said.
The company works with corporations such as MetLife, and Textron on “corporate theater” presentations that add flash and glitz to training sessions, sales pitches and company meetings.
Ambient also continues to do high-profile work, recently installing systems that allow scientists and students from across the country to monitor oceanographic research missions through explorer Bob Ballard’s Inner Space Center at the University of Rhode Island.
Barrett said a growth area is medical teleconferencing. Ambient provides conferencing services for doctors and administrators at Lifespan hospitals for educational purposes. Now Ambient is making the technology available during surgical procedures.
Ambient also plans to expand into the education arena, particularly with the Smart Board, an interactive white board manufactured by Smart Technologies that allows a user to assemble and display complex presentations by touching fingers to the board.
Despite all the growth, Quigley and Barrett still provide sound and lighting for bands and local clubs, where they got their start.
In fact, Quigley has played guitar for the local group Erik Narwhal and the Manatees for 13 years. “And Ambient still provides the sound,” he said. •
COMPANY PROFILE
Ambient Sound Inc.
OWNERS: Thomas Barrett, president, and
Timothy Quigley, vice president
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Audio/visual and teleconferencing provider
LOCATION: 75 New England Way, Warwick
EMPLOYEES: 26
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1995
ANNUAL SALES: WND
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