The console is his instrument

★ His story

Buford Jones is a front-of-house engineer and live sound mixer whose career has spanned more than fifty years and taken him to the largest stages in rock and roll. He earned a degree in electronics and was repairing stereos, amplifiers, and turntables in Dallas when he was hired on by Showco, one of the first companies in the modern touring sound business. On his very first day, the company handed him the keys to a truck and sent him across the country with Three Dog Night’s entire sound system.

After ten years with Showco, Jones became an independent engineer, working directly for the artists themselves. In the later years of his career he turned to teaching, sharing what he had learned with a new generation of audio engineers.

“I have always called the console my instrument, and if you watch me work you will see what I mean.”

Buford Jones