Introducing Lave DaRonde

Joe Clay | 2026-10-08

We were talking internally here at ESC the other day, and it occurred to us that the industry has lost some of its more colorful voices. Particularly those of the old-school broadcast designers who frequented user forums, dispensing gruff, terse replies and occasionally offering genuinely useful advice.

We miss those days. The unsolicited criticism. The thinly veiled contempt. The ability to make someone feel like an idiot for asking a perfectly reasonable question.

So we decided to bring one of those voices back.

Some of you who've been around long enough will undoubtedly remember a particularly notable figure. No, not Wilford Brimley.

Lave DaRonde.

A veteran of the broadcast design world, Lave has spent decades developing a reputation for telling people exactly what he thinks, whether they asked or not. His technical knowledge is extensive, his patience is limited, and his enthusiasm for new tools is practically nonexistent.

Naturally, we thought he'd be the perfect person to review our products.

After some discussion, Lave has agreed to provide his thoughts on the tools available at Element Supply Co. We're not entirely sure why he agreed, and judging by his initial submissions, neither is he.

His reviews are brief, occasionally informative, and almost universally devoid of enthusiasm. Even products he seems to like are unlikely to receive anything resembling praise.

We believe this makes him uniquely qualified for the job.

You'll find Lave's reviews throughout the ESC catalog. We hope you find them helpful.

Lave doesn't particularly care if you do.

UPDATE: Lave has read this announcement and asked us to include the following statement:

I didn't ask for an introduction. Knuckleheads.