Q & A WITH FOLLY HIFI

Who are the members of Folly Hifi?

Folly Hifi is the brainchild of Gianni, Will, Monique and Alec.

What does the name Folly Hifi represent?

We chose the name Folly for a couple of reasons, the fun-loving, charming tone the word possesses was quite endearing to us as it has an energy we wanted to bring to our parties. As well as this, inherently a Soundsystem of this size is more often than not, found playing in an outdoor environment such as a garden or park. A folly in that context, refers to a structure that mainly serves ornamental purpose. We though this fitting as we love the visual spectacle a large Soundsystem adds to an outdoor party.

Why did you guys decide to work with one another?

We are all individually entrenched in the Melbourne music scene we all banded together and pooled our knowledge to construct a high fidelity Soundsystem for running music events. We all shared the job of restoring a pair of beat-up cinema speakers and constructing 4 new subs to reinforce the low end. All of us having some experience in one way or another in running parties, construction, audio and electronics, we now contribute equally to put on our own parties to Melbourne partygoers as well as providing a hire service to events needing a Soundsystem.

When did you decide to start constructing a Soundsystem ? And how did it come about?

Folly Hifi was a lockdown project started in 2020. Initially Gianni wanted to build a pair of speakers for home listening. After buying some sheets of plywood and working in CAD with Monique to recreate cutting plans to build a pair of Altec Lansing A7 speaker cabinets, an original pair in poor condition popped up for sale. After acquiring the roughed-up cabinets, the only logical thing to do with the extra timber was to build 4 subs and from there, the idea creating a large scale Soundsystem began.

What was your inspiration behind starting folly Hifi?

Having all frequented Soundsystem parties in public parks and places like Grumpies on Smith Street, we loved the chest pounding sound these systems produced. The community feel these parties provided, and their contrast to the classic club night experience, was refreshing to us, and we wanted to try our hand at it ourselves. 

What was your aim when starting to construct the system?

Sonically, the aim was to create a Soundsystem utilising the super clear and highly efficient speaker drivers from our Altec Lansing A7 cabinets and pair them with newer technology to reinforce the low-end to provide a crisp, deep thump that new-age subwoofers can provide. As the speaker drivers in the Altec cabinets require such little power, this part of system utilises older amplifiers which have lovely analogue warmth some newer gear tends to lack. In basic terms we wanted to pair the clarity and vintage tone that older speakers provide with a big bottom end frequency.

What was your biggest challenge when designing and constructing the system?

Definitely the tech side of things. Having only a basic understanding of audio systems and how they work. We all spent countless hours reading books, forums and watching videos to learn about signal chains, wiring and the electronics needed to bring a Soundsystem to life.

First LP you guys played using the Folly Hifi system?

Chicane – Far From The Maddening Crowds (1997 Xtravaganza recordings)

This was the first record we dropped the needle on when we bought the system outside for the first time.

Favourite Track: Leaving Town: A lovely late 90’s breakbeat sound with little IDM nuances. Now a sound test favourite.

Favourite record to play on the system?

Cherish – For you (1979 DT Records)

Can’t beat a crackly uplifting soul 45 with heart melting vocals.

How did it feel using the system at an event for the first time? And what was the event?

Completely Surreal. We managed to bring the system into the middle of Fitzroy Gardens when restrictions were lifted to 50 people gathering outside. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon of March 2021, We played from midday till sunset to bunch of friends and family.

What’s next for Folly Hifi? Future plans/events?

After a fairly restricted summer just gone, we have pencilled in gigs over new years and January 2023. With hopes to do a couple of our own in spring of this year. Nothing to announce just yet, but we are excited to do so in the coming months.