Home Audio Business Manager Tomi Hassinen

I joined the company 21 years ago after getting to know our former Domestic Sales Manager, Keijo Hautala, through my job at HifiStudio - an audio hardware shop in Helsinki. Keijo and I both share a love for playing musical instruments, so we quickly became friends, and I learned a lot about Genelec from him. Even before meeting Keijo, a colleague of mine at HifiStudio said that if I want produce music seriously, I'll need to get some Genelecs.

Before all of that, I had no real idea what Genelec represented, though I soon found out when I bought myself a brilliant pair of 1030As. Later, when Keijo changed his position at Genelec to International Sales Manager, there was a chance to fill his old position and I didn't hesitate to take it.

My job involves a lot of variety, for example I might spend my day at a trade show, visiting dealers and customers, producing videos, managing practicalities at our Helsinki office space, travelling or simply working from my desk. Aside from my main responsibilities, I also head up our Pro At Home and G SongLab initiatives, and I assist with our Artist Room programme. I like to be on the move a lot and I appreciate my broad job description, so this way of working suits me very well!

I've centred my life around music for as long as I can remember, so being an audio professional comes very naturally to me and doesn’t feel so much like work, but more of a way of life. Working with the loudspeakers that I love to use myself, both at home and in my studio, feels very satisfying. I've always respected equipment that's made to last, and assuming a long lifecycle is possible, I can't understand the mentality of someone that makes or buys things that need to be replaced regularly, it goes against my way of thinking. I prefer things to be as serviceable as possible, and I wouldn't like to see anything needlessly thrown away. It's easy for me to be proud of Genelec, because we always manufacture solutions that last, and furthermore, we make it possible to fix parts that break, no matter the age! That's sustainable thinking, and I have a great deal of respect for it.

Genelec has built up a very strong community of music lovers over the years, and I've really enjoyed being involved in that, mainly because it's an absolute pleasure to interact with everyone. During my first ten years at the company, after taking over from Keijo, I got to know our domestic partners and customers very well, and those people are fantastic to cooperate with. I must also give a special mention to my colleagues here, after all, there’s so many great people in our team who help to make this an exceptional and enjoyable place to be.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, I use most of my spare time to listen to or create music. Above all, I write songs and play bass for a great band called Frozen Factory and I produce and mix all the music too, which keeps me nice and busy. Otherwise, I produce a few covers from time to time with a friend, and I try to help out some other friends and upcoming talent with their projects.

I've made so many great memories over the years that it’s hard to highlight a few favourites, however, seeing the world, experiencing many different cultures and meeting a host of interesting people has been wonderful! Perhaps the most vivid memory that sticks in my mind is from our trip to the 2010 NAB show in Las Vegas. Just as we were about to leave, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted and released a giant ash cloud that disrupted flights between Europe and the US. I was stuck in Chicago with my colleague, Lars-Olof Janflod, and the news stations reported that the situation could last months. In the end, it didn't take months to arrive home, it took about one week. We caught a flight to Norway and continued by boat to Sweden and eventually back to Finland. All in all, when I think about my time at Genelec, it's the complete experience that I feel good about, rather than any particular events.

I live in a small city called Porvoo, which is located close to Helsinki in the South of Finland. I'm joined by my wife, our three kids and our dog called Rampe, or Ramos. Since our house was built in the 1950s, I get to exercise my love for fixing things at home. I repair anything that's simple enough for me to tackle, which is quite a lot of things when you have an old wooden house, including plenty of garden work in the summertime.

I like to be hands-on with practical tasks, and I'd encourage anyone reading this to learn by doing, I believe it's the best way to stay happy and improve your skills, and it can even help the environment in some cases!

Greetings from a colleague:

I've known Tomi since we were in a seventh-grade music class together at school. I noticed his passion for music right away, and these days Tomi knows how to play several instruments, which is something I'm a little jealous about!

We've been working together at Genelec for about 15 years, and we've always remained close. When I joined the company, we took care of Finnish regional sales together and since then, even though our roles have developed a lot, we keep daily contact. We also like to get together outside of work, often joined by our families.

Tomi has always been the most reliable colleague and friend, and I often admire how committed he is with the things he does, not to mention his great taste in music and cars, especially Hondas. All I can say is, I'm extremely happy to have a colleague like him and please, Tomi, stay as you are!

Your colleague, Sami Mäkinen