Column 1

　In this series of columns we will delve into the history and policies surrounding the cables manufactured by Providence and its current product lineup in order to emphasize the quality and performance required of the cables used in musical instruments. We would also like to elaborate on how Providence strives to realize excellence in cables from various perspectives. Column 1 features an interview with Takeshi Okuno, the Head of PACIFIX, Ltd. We would be delighted if this column helps our readers get an idea of how and when the Providence brand was established, and also helps them to gain a deeper understanding of Providence products based on our philosophy that “development is never ending” ? a philosophy which is incorporated into each of our products.

1：Background of Mr. Okuno

　First of all, we asked Mr. Okuno to tell us about the various episodes of his life connected to his music background and what motivated him to get involved in the musical instrument industry.

Mr. Okuno：　I was originally a fan of the Beatles and being a great admirer of Paul McCartney took up the bass guitar from an early age. I formed my first band when I was in junior high school and began listening to European and American music regularly from around 1971 or 1972. I was into the hard rock or progressive rock generation, which was called "New Rock" at that time.
When I entered the university, I joined a music circle called the Waseda University G.E.C., ironically, however, rather than hard rock, it was actually an R&B circle (laughs)! As it turns out, the drummer Funky (Funky Sueyoshi) of BAKUFU-SLUMP also attended Waseda at the same time as me. I proceeded to form a band while a member of that circle and occasionally played live houses and so forth. At the time, however, the harshness of reality, the various demands of talent, skills and so forth, hit me. As the concept of "freeter" or roaming part-time worker didn't exist in those days, I had to look for work through regular employment channels. As it turned out somehow to my surprise I was hired by Arai Trading, the import agent of the Gibson Company in those days. I started out working in the Tokyo Branch of their Sales Department. Although the company's headquarters was in Nagoya and I was in the Sales Department (in Tokyo) which had a "Planning Section" in charge of public and artist relations, which I assisted in, doing follow-up work for artists. At the time, I became acquainted with various musical groups such as EARTHSHAKER, SEIKIMA II, KINNIKU-SHOJOTAI, BAKUFU-SLUMP, KOME-KOME CLUB, and Mr. Reibun Ootani. It was also around that time when I became involved in planning of original guitars, as well as planning and development of original shop accessories, one of which happened to be "cables." Although, I can honestly say that I lacked a deep understanding of cables at the time, looking back, this time propelled me into my involvement with cables.
　As fate has it, I changed jobs around that time and started working for Nihon Electro Harmonix, the import agent for Rocktron and other companies. This was also when the Bradshaw System was first introduced in Japan and I became involved with so-called audio routing and switching systems. About this time, I also came to know Mr. Hayashi, who is now head of "Free the Tone." This was also about the time when something hit me: I began to realize that characteristics such as sound quality or noise characteristics had their respective merits and demerits depending on the quality of cables, particularly in complex systems. As a matter of fact, this realization served as added motivation for me to get involved in development of cables. I came to understand that sound is greatly influenced by the quality of cables.
　Following this, I changed jobs again, this time moving over to Hookup Inc., which was a sales agent for Vital Audio and related products. This was when I became involved in the development of cables. Although high quality cables had just begun to enter the market, their merits had not yet become a focal point of discussion.
Also, although I was already making high quality cables using LC-OFC at the time, I still had to explain to the shops and users I dealt with "why high quality cables produced a better sound" before we could get down to serious business. At the time, shop owners and their staff didn't even know the basic difference between guitar cables and speaker cables. I had to begin my business talks with such shops with a step-by-step explanation of the basics of cables. Essentially, they knew little or nothing about cables. The same held true for professional musicians as well and the majority had little awareness of cables or didn't care much about them.
　In retrospect, I think that my colleagues and I can take pride in being pioneers in educating people a step at a time about cables. We were actually changing cables for them to compare sounds, saying that "sound differs doesn't it"? We also painstakingly went to professional music studios and music stores to explain "how sound differs depending on the cable used." Through such efforts on our part, the professional music world gradually came to understand the significance of cables. Now, today, it can be said that Japan adheres to the principles of excellence in cable making more than any other country in the world. Also, no other country offers the variety of cables nor the quality of cables as those made in Japan.
2：History of Providence

　After that, Mr. Okuno left his job with Hookup and established his own company in order to move forward to meet new challenges in the world of cables.
Mr. Okuno：Looking back at my career until that point, I think that development of "cables" had become my lifework, so I became determined to do my best at what I really wanted to do. In the early stages, we started marketing cables under the brand name "Live Wire," as the brand name "Providence" had not yet been established. Fortunately, the brand soon began gaining wide-spread recognition. However, when we attempted to register the brand name as a trademark, we found that for various reasons, we were not permitted to register any brand name containing the word "Live." In spite of the fact that the brand "Live Wire" had already gained a certain level of recognition, two to three years after the company was established, we decided to change it to "Providence."

　Ever since sales of "Live Wire" brand cables began the company has been promoting the concept of providing a variety of cable models, each offering a different palette of sound characteristics. This remains as one of the guiding principles of Providence cables today, and gives testimony to their being pioneers in the field of cable quality in Japan.
Mr. Okuno：Back then, we started out by making prototypes and painstakingly spent approximately half a year coming up with a finished product. Being involved in making cables at the time, I asked myself "what constitutes a good cable?" And, I couldn't come up with a satisfactory answer to that question, nor explain "what constitutes good sound" in concrete terms. In that whether a sound is "good or bad" depends greatly on musical taste of the listener, an absolute definition of "good" sound cannot be put forward. With this in mind, from the beginning we started classifying our products according to music genre, such as cables for rock music, cables for jazz, etc. Later, however, we realized that classifying products by sound characteristics or would be easier to comprehend.
Thus, we proceeded to examine cables by comparing various prototypes to determine the suitability of the characteristics of the sound. In conjunction with this we asked the opinion of musicians who were friends of mine their opinion on the matter to narrow down our product range. By means of this process, we initially came up with three model names: "SHARK", "FATMAN" and "BOTTOM FREQ'ER". In naming cables, for example, a cable which produced a natural, yet, good or "tasty" sound for mid-low range guitar was named "FATMAN", and so on. So you might say, we started out based on the premise or proposal of "which cable type is suitable for which purpose." I feel the purpose of a cable is to convey sound exactly as it is produced by the guitar; however, unfortunately, a sound will always change as long as it passes through a conductor which has electrical resistance. Therefore, although ideally a cable should not change the sound as much as possible, given that the sound will change, we made it a prerequisite in our cable development to change sound in a manner that imparts a "good feeling." Thus, through a repeated process of trial and error while the number of different models in our lineup expanded, we continued to ask ourselves "which direction do we want to move in to offer a particular model?", or "will this prototype match the desired palette of sound characteristics when completed?". This is how we increased our lineup.
In our next column, we continue our interview with Mr. Okuno, this time on the development of products from the standpoint of the influence of the professional music scene and people in various fields and we urge you to read it.