COPPERHEAD

Local musician Mark Pirro’s microphones have rockers sounding off

Spree is a 25-piece symphonic rock band, complete with a 10-person choir and numerous instruments that played Austin City Limits and toured with David Bowie. DeLaughter’s audio vision for the band made for complicated sound engineering, and his attempts to incorporate an AM radio effect gave Pirro an idea.

Beginning with PVC pipe and duct tape, Pirro taught himself how to make a microphone they could use on tour to create the desired effect. The sound is similar to what you may hear announcing a special or clean up in a grocery store. The microphone wasn’t pretty, so Pirro dressed it up by building the same microphone with copper. In 2003, the “copperphone” was born.

What started as a chance to save money (copper was cheaper at the time) became an asset. As Spree toured, artists began to inquire about the hand-crafted lo-fi effect microphones. “The mics were advertisements themselves,” he says. “They were ear and eye grabbing.”

The business began to take off, and as the band aged and toured less, Pirro was able to put more time into the business. Today, Pirro’s company, Placid Audio, makes six different copper microphones, which sell for $260 or more each. The latest model, the RU-80, uses Soviet military-grade components to create its unique sound.

Pirro’s microphones made the news in 2004, when airport security thought the copper device in Polyphonic Spree drummer Brian Teasley’s bag was a pipe bomb. DFW Airport shut down and emptied out, and FBI agents waited for Teasley when he landed. His bags were destroyed by high-powered water cannons, but the microphone made it through unscathed.

Today, Pirro is married to former Radio City Rockette Stephanie Dolph and has two young children. He still plays music when he can, but his stacks of ideas for new microphones in his workshop keep him busy, and he enjoys the innovative process. “Now there are no rules. It is more experimentation,” he says. “It’s reckless abandon.”