Background of Sondare Acoustics
For many of you reading this I'm sure sound has played a significant role in your lives. Whether it is playing an instrument, listening to your grandmother read you stories as a kid, or taking in the sounds of waves crashing along the shoreline while you find your inner peace, sound can play many different roles in our lives. In this blog I'm going to tell you a little bit about how Sondare Acoustics started, and is passionate about sound.
Growing up, my family was involved in many activities, but ice hockey and music really had an influence on me. Even though I chose the path of wanting to be on the ice every day, being in a family so passionate for sound has played a big role in the way I look at life. I've always enjoyed the way music makes me feel. I have never been a huge lyrics guy (something my ex-girlfriend hated about me), but instead the thing about music that intrigues me so much is taking in the different sounds an artist or group of artists puts together. I was never a great artist growing up, but somewhere along the line I became interested in all things about design. I remember drawing pictures of flying cars when I was eight, and at age twelve, all I wanted to do was work in Italy at the Ferrari design studios. To this day, I still practice graphic design, audio/video production, and content generation. I strongly believe that being exposed to different kinds of music as a child allowed my brain to have a deeper appreciation for the arts, and the prowess to be creative.
The main source of our awareness for sound comes from my father, Mike Biffignani, president and founder of Sondare Acoustics Group. Even though I can credit my mom for my knowledge of every Bryan Adams, Garth Brooks, and Amy Grant song, I've always looked up to my father as being a true life long learner of sound. He has a very extensive acoustic background including building and selling audio systems, playing music while in high school alongside his father, playing in college jazz bands, traveling the country in a professional Greek band, and working as an audio engineer for MCI in the early 80's. I remember growing up we always had what seemed like a full orchestra in our basement. We had everything from a piano,accordions, ukuleles, violins, guitars and drum sets. I'll never forget one story that still makes my dad cringe to this day. Well going back to the mention of choosing to spend most of my time playing hockey, naturally I was always practicing in the basement. Eventually, I got a little bit older and wanted to practice the coveted slap shot. As I'm doing my normal after-school basement hockey practice, I really wanted to work on my shot. As I wound up, I never once thought of anything going wrong. It turns out, I really got a hold of the puck on this particular slap shot, and as I watched the puck take off into the music room like a heat seeking missile, my optimistic attitude towards the practice session was starting to diminish. As I walked into the music room, my worst fears were coming to light. Literally, I could see a beam of light where there was now a hockey puck sized hole right in the middle of my dad's prized possession, his stand up bass! Needless to say he was not too happy about the incident, or how I told him afterwards, “Hey at least my slap shot game is improving!”
More recently, my father graduated from Penn State with a masters degree in Engineering Acoustics. I flew to Happy Valley, PA with my sister and we cheered him on as he walked down the aisle to receive his diploma, white beard and all. We gave him a hard time for being older than his professors, but really we were over the moon proud of him for this achievement. I'll always be able to look back on that time when I need inspiration to overcome something that seems impossible.
Today, my father has dedicated his passion for sound by starting Sondare Acoustics, providing different acoustic services. Sondare offers Acoustic Consulting, and Product Development. Sondare is also in the process of developing their own product line (one of which could potentially help millions of blind people) so stay tuned for exciting things to come!
I hope you enjoyed my first blog post giving a peek inside our family's acoustic background. There will be lots more to come so if you too are interested in all things about sound then go ahead and hit that like, share, and subscribe button. We'd also love to hear from you via social media sites so feel free to reach out to us there.
