Not long ago, island audio engineers, mixers and musicians Jason Staczek and Martin Feveyear went to see a movie at Vashon Theatre. It was, as usual, a fun experience, but something was not right. The sound was off, and they decided to do something about it.

They reached out to islander Bob Moses, also an audio expert, and Tag Gornall, president of Island Greentech, who recently received an email from Staczek asking if he had a contact for someone at the theater so they could check the sound system.

“I put him in touch with Rachel Ehlers, who set up a sound check. They found some significant issues and sent me the list,” Gornall said. “It was a real diagnostic effort.”

Moses said that through the test, they found the sound system was wired incorrectly.

“We unwired it — the audio processing and the wiring of the speakers were not right — and then fixed it,” he said.

Gornall, who was at the final sound check, said their help made a substantial difference, “making it sound just perfect.” The test run was during the movie, “Guardians of the Galaxy,” a show Gornall had seen before the improvements. The second time around, he said, the changes were significant.

On a recent cab ride after attending an international convention of sound engineers, Moses explained that he shared the story with his colleagues at the convention because while “a lot of us look at Vashon Theatre as a resource for the community, there’s not a lot of support for old style theaters.”

“But we (islanders) have a great love for our community theater,” he said. “It is a real community gathering place.”

Gornall agrees, noting that Greentech oversaw the previous community effort to buy a digital projector to help Eileen and Gordon Wolcott keep the theater going. It is the effort of volunteers that Gornall likes to highlight, and in this case, the generosity of three islanders who noticed a problem and used their expertise to fix it.

“This kind of stepping out of the shadows needs to be recognized. These three individuals have astounding backgrounds, renowned in their fields. To have them pop out of the woodwork is just terrific,” Gornall said.

Reached earlier this week, Eileen Wolcott expressed gratitude for the pros stepping in and taking action.

“You think everything is going OK until someone steps in and makes it spectacular,” she said. “That’s what they did.”