At first glance, Ed Hopson's ears didn't appear out of the ordinary. But it was what those ears could hear that amazed many of the people he worked with.
Mr. Hopson worked as a production manager, and later a sound engineer, at nearly every major venue in the metro area. And his talent for engineering the perfect sound came from years of working with dozens upon dozens of acts, said Charlie Brusco, who runs the Atlanta office of Red Light Management, an artist management company.
"What he did wasn't something you could transition into, you had to have a talent for it," Mr. Brusco said. "He could hear things I never could. To do what he did, your ears had to be in tune with what was going on, and his definitely were."
Edmond Burke Hopson III, called Ed by most, of Decatur, died Thursday at Vista Care Hospice at Emory Midtown, approximately a week after being diagnosed with liver cancer. He was 56. A memorial event is being planned for Sept. 8 at Center Stage. Arrangements were handled by SouthCare Funeral & Cremation Society, Stockbridge.
Mr. Hopson came to Atlanta from Raleigh, N.C., not far from where he grew up in Lowes Grove. As a teen, he played the trumpet and became interested in the science of sound. Mr. Hopson came to town in the '80s, not originally to run sound boards or manage shows, but to install a computer network for a local promoter, said Mary Ellen Jones, with whom he spent the past 25 years of his life.
"He was always on the cutting edge of technology," she said. "And he had to be, for the shows and all of the sounds that came with a show."
His career started on the production management side but he had a natural ability when it came to sound engineering, friends said.
"He just knew what things should sound like," said Michele Caplinger, head of the Atlanta Grammy chapter. "He was the guy you went to, and he had the reputation of being the best."
He didn't graduate from college, but he studied physics, which he used often in sound engineering. For instance, during an outdoor concert in Jamaica, the sound of one act was traveling into the next resort.
"He knew how to fix the problem," Ms. Jones said. "And he did."
Mr. Hopson was known as a problem solver, which is why so many artists and venues enjoyed working with him, Mr. Brusco said.
"He knew how to take situations that were really, really bad, and not let anybody know how bad they were, and he could fix the problem faster than anybody else," he said. "Above everything else, he was just a special guy."
Though Mr. Hopson and Ms. Jones didn't have a traditional wedding ceremony, they lived together and co-parented her daughter, Savannah Dukes, who is a production coordinator.
"I was successful and I did well because I'd been around it, and Ed, since I was 5," Ms. Dukes said.
Ms. Jones said Mr. Hopson was her "soul mate," who loved to share what he knew with those who wanted to learn.
"He lived life full tilt," Ms. Jones said. "He did everything he wanted to do, the way he wanted to."
Mr. Hopson is also survived by his brother, Robert Hopson of Cary, N.C.
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