Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Sulo King buys Black Box Studio, changes name to Iacon Sound

We buy a lot of bulbs

Sulo King’s Iacon Sound found a perfect fit at the old Black Box digs in Golden Hill.
Sulo King’s Iacon Sound found a perfect fit at the old Black Box digs in Golden Hill.

“I realized that booking and promoting shows was a risky business to be in, and it wasn’t a sufficient way to make a living,” says Sulo King, whose career in concert promotion included a trouble-plagued run in San Marcos that began in early 2005. The Jumping Turtle incurred several well-publicized legal snafus, some involving Sulo’s attempts to stage all-ages events where alcohol was also served to adults.

“I started off by working at Canes Bar & Grill as a security guard and working my way up to being the head talent buyer and booking agent for Brick by Brick, where I worked for eight years,” says King. “I ended up getting laid off in 2010, unfortunately.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

After taking a job at Unique Pawn Brokers, “I decided to either open up a recording studio or buy an existing one. I realized this while hanging out with my friend and now business partner Frank Torres.” Last summer, the duo responded to a Craigslist ad placed by Mario Quintero at Black Box Studio, opened in November 2005 just off 25th Street in Golden Hill.

King (who studied recording arts at MiraCosta College in Oceanside) and Torres (with a B.A. in audio production) made a deal to acquire the 2900-square-foot facility, renamed Iacon Sound as of October 1. “The location was great, and we loved the fact that his recording studio was the ideal size we were looking for. Black Box also had six rehearsal studios that were rented out by bands on a monthly basis, which was also a huge incentive.”

Since taking over operations, Iacon has remodeled and hosted recording sessions with the Roman Watchdogs and Colorado transplant (and America’s Got Talent contestant) Gabriel DeCrocker.

The building has also been home to concerts featuring bands such as Goblin Cock, the Advantage, Ilya, Transfer, Japanese Sunday, Vitro, Jezebel, Danny and the Tramp, and Quintero’s group Hialeah. The interactivity with bands, King feels, may enable him to revisit his previous occupation as a show promoter. “I would like to return to it again under our studio’s name,” he says.

Meanwhile, King’s finding plenty of minutiae to keep him busy at Iacon. “We buy a lot of light bulbs. There are no windows in the studio, so we always need proper lighting.”

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

3 Tips for Creating a Cozy and Inviting Living Room in San Diego

Next Article

Mary Catherine Swanson wants every San Diego student going to college

Where busing from Southeast San Diego to University City has led
Sulo King’s Iacon Sound found a perfect fit at the old Black Box digs in Golden Hill.
Sulo King’s Iacon Sound found a perfect fit at the old Black Box digs in Golden Hill.

“I realized that booking and promoting shows was a risky business to be in, and it wasn’t a sufficient way to make a living,” says Sulo King, whose career in concert promotion included a trouble-plagued run in San Marcos that began in early 2005. The Jumping Turtle incurred several well-publicized legal snafus, some involving Sulo’s attempts to stage all-ages events where alcohol was also served to adults.

“I started off by working at Canes Bar & Grill as a security guard and working my way up to being the head talent buyer and booking agent for Brick by Brick, where I worked for eight years,” says King. “I ended up getting laid off in 2010, unfortunately.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

After taking a job at Unique Pawn Brokers, “I decided to either open up a recording studio or buy an existing one. I realized this while hanging out with my friend and now business partner Frank Torres.” Last summer, the duo responded to a Craigslist ad placed by Mario Quintero at Black Box Studio, opened in November 2005 just off 25th Street in Golden Hill.

King (who studied recording arts at MiraCosta College in Oceanside) and Torres (with a B.A. in audio production) made a deal to acquire the 2900-square-foot facility, renamed Iacon Sound as of October 1. “The location was great, and we loved the fact that his recording studio was the ideal size we were looking for. Black Box also had six rehearsal studios that were rented out by bands on a monthly basis, which was also a huge incentive.”

Since taking over operations, Iacon has remodeled and hosted recording sessions with the Roman Watchdogs and Colorado transplant (and America’s Got Talent contestant) Gabriel DeCrocker.

The building has also been home to concerts featuring bands such as Goblin Cock, the Advantage, Ilya, Transfer, Japanese Sunday, Vitro, Jezebel, Danny and the Tramp, and Quintero’s group Hialeah. The interactivity with bands, King feels, may enable him to revisit his previous occupation as a show promoter. “I would like to return to it again under our studio’s name,” he says.

Meanwhile, King’s finding plenty of minutiae to keep him busy at Iacon. “We buy a lot of light bulbs. There are no windows in the studio, so we always need proper lighting.”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Operatic Gender Wars

Are there any operas with all-female choruses?
Next Article

Bringing Order to the Christmas Chaos

There is a sense of grandeur in Messiah that period performance mavens miss.
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader