Installer of the Year

After his first time pursuing the Industry Awards, Justin Kush was named Installer of the Year during December’s KnowledgeFest.Live event. Kush specializes in fabrication at Mobile Toys in College Station, Texas, where he’s now one of three team members who’ve earned the illustrious title.

“I’m an artist. I draw a lot and I paint. I went to the Art Institute of Seattle and got a degree in 3D Animation,” he said. “The art side of it, the fabrication, the vision has always been there for me. Being able to explain to a customer what I’m seeing and being able to draw a quick sketch helps out a lot.”

Kush has also taken the reins when it comes to creating renderings for clients so they can get an idea of what the end result will look like. He added that the things he learned about video editing while in college also helped him in the process of submitting material for the awards. He uses Procreate to give clients an idea of what he can do for them.

“It’s the closest thing there is to drawing with real pen and paper,” he said, though the program provides tools that, once mastered, can also help someone who isn’t an artist accomplish their goals. The user’s hand doesn’t need to be perfectly steady, for example.

“The program will fine-tune your work. You just need to know the techniques to bring out your vision. It’s like fabricating: You have the strategy. You just need to apply it.”

About 15 years ago, Kush began his career working at Circuit City. “I knew nothing,” he said, adding that he stayed there for about five years. “Anthony Lyons showed me the ropes—Steve Brown’s stuff, the Alpine vehicles and the custom side of the industry. I always liked building things.”

Kush’s automotive interest initially led him into the 12-volt industry, and it took time for him to discover his passion for car audio. Shortly after he left Circuit City, the business closed its doors. After accepting a position at Car Toys, Kush worked there for five years “with guys who had tons of experience,” he added. “In the bay, total, we had over 100 years of experience between all of us—that’s a lot.”

After leaving Car Toys, Kush joined the staff at a shop called Epic Customs, where he continued to grow professionally. He applied the knowledge he’d accumulated by working on large custom builds, including big rigs.

“We built an entertainment system with four woofers in the bed of these trucks,” he explained. “I did two of those, and then I did a sound quality build in a Toyota 4-Runner, and that was my first DSP.”

In this 2018 Ford F-350, Kush completed the door panels, while Chris Pate built the enclosure and the A-pillars. The truck received four of the Focal 40th Anniversary speaker boxes, with four 3-inch Focal drivers.

Recalling the build, Kush added, “I had no business being in that car as far as sound quality goes. I got on the phone with buddies of mine who’d done it before. If I could go back in time and re-tune that car, I would.”

But with lessons learned, and having made a commitment to continued education, Kush was well on his way and thirsty for as much knowledge as he could absorb. By the time Epic Customs closed its doors, Kush was secure in his passion for car audio. He went back to Car Toys briefly, then left again and finally found himself at Mobile Toys where he’s been for a year as of this past October.

Seeing the work of other installers, such as Matt Schaeffer, made Kush even more determined to hone his craft. His time at Epic Customs sparked his growth, he explained, adding that his drive to keep learning and improving hasn’t stopped since.

While Kush said it’s important that DSP and integration are done correctly, he feels the biggest flaw in the industry involves inconsistent standards.

“If you do a speaker install, there are a few ways to do it, and most are right— but there are some absolutely wrong ways,” he explained. “Shops may not care, or don’t have the right stuff to do it the right way.”

As an example, he said that making speaker spacers out of MDF wood is incorrect because they swell, crack and break apart over time. “There needs to be more of an industry standard,” he said, noting that MECP continues to promote proper high standards, but “there are still a lot of shops out there that say, ‘If it plays, it’s good to go,’ regardless of presentation.”

While he feels this is an issue that requires more attention, Kush said there probably isn’t a good way to hold businesses truly accountable industry-wide unless it relates to encouraging a kind of personal pride. “It would help if shops prioritized MECP certification,” he said. “You have to do good work.”

After removing the factory seat in this pontoon boat, Kush rebuilt the base with fab enclosures to house a JL Audio 13 W7, and designed a grille to match the other grilles in the boat.

Kush still comes across clients who are concerned about someone touching their new car because they’re afraid it will be ruined by a technician. He noted that if shops held themselves to higher standards, the clients’ fears would likely lessen.

For example, he recommended that shops stay away from wire nuts and T-Taps. “It comes down to little things like that. People need to care more,” he said, adding that an increased commitment to higher standards should lead to more passion in the industry over all.

Part of working toward higher standards involves staying humble and prioritizing a willingness to listen to constructive criticism from peers, according to Kush. While working on a project he planned to highlight in his video, Kush said his coworkers took a look and offered their suggestions.

“Chris Pate, Matt Vowell and David Cruz all inspected my work. They critiqued everything and told me what I had to fix. It was overwhelming,” he said. “I learned something: Even though you might think you’re ready to go, there’s still more in the details that you can be better at. It doesn’t hurt to get someone else to critique it.”

He stressed the importance of constructive criticism and being willing to listen. “Just because they’re pointing out things that are wrong, it doesn’t mean it’s bad,” he said, adding that all it means is that the project needs additional work.

In this particular case, “It was the body work I was doing on the dash piece. My inlays didn’t quite meet up all the way in certain spots, or I had a rolled edge in one spot and elsewhere it was sharp.” In the past, Kush said he had a tendency to “eyeball” things, and his peers demonstrated different techniques he could use to measure odd shapes.

“At one point, I had an inlay piece where the speaker goes, and David Cruz taught me how I can fill that with body filler and sand it to make it look better,” he explained, adding that it all

goes toward increasing efficiency. “I’m a very visual learner, so I’ll see David or Chris working on something, and I’ll try to figure out how they did it. I learn little things here and there. I’m watching them because I want to learn [better ways of doing things].”

Now that he’s Installer of the Year, Kush feels an increased responsibility to promote high install standards and pay close attention to details. “While I’m shooting for perfection now—say, a 10—I’ll have to bump it up past that because every once in a while, something slips through the cracks.”

Earlier in his career, when he first started learning DSP, Kush got on the phone with friends Cory Stocklin and Antonio Ghirardelli. “Cory worked for Alpine at the time,” he said. “He helped me when I wasn’t even using his product. That says a lot that he was willing to help even when he didn’t need to.”

Kush added that it’s important to him to pay tribute to those who gave him a chance and helped him get started. “Chris Pate is really good at DSP tuning,” he said, “and I feel like I’m good at everything else I’ve accomplished so far, but I’m lacking in my ability to tune systems as well as he does. These guys are in a league of their own. I want to be around them to learn from them.”

Kush hopes to share what he’s picked up by teaching—perhaps fabrication techniques, or even drawing instruction to help other installers hone their skills when it comes to creating concepts for potential clients. He added that 12-volt professionals should think of themselves and their personal brand as an essential selling tool for their team or company.

And when someone’s shooting for the Industry Awards? “If I had any advice to pass on, it would be this: Even if you think you aren’t going to win, give it everything you’ve got,” he said. “I didn’t think I would win at all. When I made Top 12, I was super pumped.” Kush said he joked with his coworkers about it, saying he probably wouldn’t win, but they encouraged him to get involved.

“I spent three weeks on the video, about four or five hours each night,” he added. “I almost feel like I haven’t fully earned it.”

Now that he’s been named Installer of the Year, Kush said he hasn’t thought too much about what’s next, though his main focus will be studying for the MECP Master certification exam and continuing to improve his skills.

“MTI Acoustics just purchased a new building, and we’re moving all the guys from our two locations into that,” he said. The company has several techs who want to improve their skills, and he feels they’ll learn a lot from being able to work in the same building as some of the industry’s top installers.

Kush said he wants to continue getting better every day. “It’s about promoting higher standards and education,” he said. “I still have so much to learn about DSP and fabrication. I’m still growing. I’m not done yet.”