Arnie Goodman has been involved with music all his life. His parents were professional violinists in Chicago. As young musicians they toured the country with the Tommy Dorsey Band. They settled back in Chicago playing with the symphony, Broadway touring musicals that came to town, the Lyric Opera and on countless TV and radio commercials.
Arnie studied classical piano for 10 years and at 17 was swept away by rock and roll. He played in a few college bands and in 1968 moved to San Diego with a music partner. Within 6 months they secured an album deal on Frank Zappa’s Straight Records label and life was never the same.
A few years later, Arnie’s love of music and audio led him to become a recording engineer and synthesizer programmer. After 12 years of engineering, and too much fun, his once exceptional hearing had deteriorated to the point where he could no longer do the job. Hearing aids helped him with daily living and music enjoyment but were not enough to allow him to continue working in recording.
Arnie moved to Eugene 25 years ago and re-entered the audio business as a hearing aid dispenser. As Arnie tells it, programming hearing aids these days is much like a mix down session and in his mind he is happily still in the biz.