History

The History of the famous “Party Sounds”

Ray Liddelow

As told to Roland Ott by

Pioneer Founder and legendary Perth Mobile DJ Entertainer Ray Liddlelow

(Reproduced here with the kind permision of Roland Ott 2017)

I felt honoured and privileged when Ray started telling me about the birth of “Party Sounds”.

It bought back many memories for me as well, since my own DJ business days as “Roltronic Sounds” and my past association with Ray Liddelow.

I suddenly realised that I also was part of history and how it evolved into “Show World” and the Sound Team that was headed by Manager and senior Mobile DJ Graeme Duffey

We are still trying to work out how many weddings, birthdays, backyarders, outdoor shows, Sunday sessions, nightclubs, pubs, shopping centre promotions etc. did Party Sounds attend with Ray, Dennis and his staff over the many years.

How many prizes were given away after patrons eagerly spun the chocolate wheel invented by Ray?

How many Mobile DJ’s learned their craft through Ray’s generous time and genuine concern?

He was always very supportive to me during my mobile dj days and in fact I loved the console I purchased off him with proper queuing and monitoring facilities. He was ahead of his time with knowledge and equipment.

I still have many of my mixers in the garage. What do I do with them now that I have replaced them all with Computers and Laptops :)

Ray Liddelow's Party Sounds certainly touched a lot of people over the years and are remembered with a passion including the many patron up the North West, especially Broome.

How many clients did Nel (Ray's wife) and Bev (Ray's Daughter) speak to on the phone over the years?

Were you one of those?

Did they attend at your wedding or function?

We’d love to hear from you.

Maybe you will help us and share your experience and photos with Ray’s “Party Sounds”.

History: The Birth of “Party Sounds”

Family Affair...

My Brother Bill offered to me the operation of his butcher shop in Northam. We were living in Carnarvon at the time with wife Nel, son Dennis and daughters Kaye and Beverly. For four years I worked long hours and did my own buying, slaughtering and working the shop. It was hard going and many hours. I had to make a change for my family’s sake.

Birth of “PARTY SOUNDS”.

Phil Salenger called in the shop and talked us into going square dancing. Eventually I purchased his sound equipment for 120 Pounds. I first started using it at the local football club when they had a home game. We would roll a keg out of the shops fridge across the road to the Northam Railway Institute Hall.

The Move!

Well we left Northam and moved to Carr Street, Leederville. I started work as a boner with Globe Meats at the metro markets. In the afternoons and evenings, I was a pool attendant at the newly build Beattie Park Pool. But on Sundays, in season, I would spin discs, 45’s and L/P’s (Vinyl records) at the Cottesloe Surf Club.

Hotel Sunday Sessions...

Globe Meats closed and I started to manage a butcher shop for W O Johnstone’s Blue Ribbon Meats at Dianella. Alan Piper delivered parcels there for Skipper’s Transport and it was through his business advice I purchased a truck and started doing the same type of work. The music side started to grow and I used the truck to cart the equipment around on weekends. About that time the Hotel Sunday Sessions started to become popular and we took on the Balga Inn (Owen South Manager) on Wanneroo Road now called the Seven Mile Inn on the same spot.

Weddings and Parties...

We had the sessions going really well and received bookings for weddings and parties out of it. This is what I wanted to do and gave the parcel deliveries away to concentrate on the music business full time. I was worried after a while hoping I had made the right decision as it was just after Xmas and a quiet time for the Mobile DJ type of work. Luckily it started to grow.

Custom made Equipment...

I strongly believe that the success of our business was the custom made equipment we had designed and build to my specifications. All DJ units were interchangeable and consisted of a mono amplifier, good speakers and enclosures, mixing console with monitor and cueing facilities, two turntables to play vinyl records and a microphone. You could not purchase most of the equipment and I meet Ben Van Eyke (Manager Electronics Dept) at AWA during my parcel runs and he was able to design and build the equipment I knew I needed. We finally managed to build our own stereo amps, as you could not purchase them with the wattage we needed. So he married two 60-watt amps together and that became our blue print model for all future amps. They turned out trumps as I still use the last unit he built so many years ago. Yes, and I still go out there and use it!

Party Sounds Business... Fun to Serious Business!

It started to grow and became a serious operation. We started to understand what the word overheads and commitment meant. We were living in Balga by that time and disco style shows accumulated a big following. We were doing eight Sunday Hotel Sessions. So, you can image the amount of equipment I had, prepared and maintained. Our other work also grew for Weddings and Parties on Friday nights, Saturday day and nights. Our dining room was the office and storage for the many thousands of vinyl records with two phones going flat out handled by Nel and Bev. The garage was bursting at its seams with equipment. I hadn’t had any time off in 8 years so Nel and Bev sent me on a fantastic boat cruise for a good break and rest.

The Factory Unit. For $1,000 a Month...

We were forced to move out to a factory unit in Balcatta. The profit dropped and overheads accelerated. But the business started to grow even more and now we were operating 25 units. We worked most Hotels in the metro area and did country work. We enjoyed going to Broome.

The Shows...

The jobs, gigs. Well there were so many. Some of my highlights were Alan Bond’s Daughter’s wedding. All equipment was loaded onto a barge anchored off their Swan River Property. The Pearl Queen Ball in Broom was a fun gig with all the equipment flown up.

We performed at so many weddings too numerous to mention but The Sheraton Hotel and Parmelia Hilton Weddings were always a delight to do. The Old Melbourne Hotel gig every Sunday afternoon is remembered fondly as Dennis my son had that going really well. Party Sounds became a household name. We performed at after concert parties for Tina Turner done by our D.J. operator Craig Dawson, Status Quo and the likes and at times had some 53 shows a week happening.

West Coast Sounds...

As the DJ Shows were mainly taking place on the weekend, Ray commenced “West Coast Sounds”. This business mainly operated public address systems hire. In summer, the main operation were surf carnivals. Other highlights included the school carnivals at Perry Lakes Stadium and school fetes throughout the metro area.

The DJ's...

Having all those units go out in the enclosed trailers, Ray could only do so much himself.

Nel (Ray’s devoted wife) organised most of the Jocks and we are now trying to remember

some of the past DJ's.

Garry Beckedd Dean Bikers Andy Broom

Paul Campbell Steve Cangeni Warren Curren

Glyn Darnell Craig Dawson Warren Dawson

Mark Fox Derek Garner Ian Grobner

Ken Jackson David Kent Peter Lavender

Greg Levett Alan Williams Tom Malowski

Dennis Liddelow Sean Mcgoven Garry Melvin

Warren Myers Mike O’Meara Rod Oxford

Con Raycos Paul Rigo Mark Rogers

Steve Saunders Jeff Weldack Ross Welshman

Garrard Willet

Saturday, 22. May 2010 RO
Reproduced 6, September 2017 BSP

The History of Party Sounds