NAMM 2013 Overview Part 3 - Music Products

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NAMM is a big show. It takes up all 4 halls of the Anaheim Convention Center as well as the basement hall and second and third floor halls and rooms. Then there's the Arena and the adjacent Marriott Convention Center, not to mention the activities at the Hilton and Sheraton Hotels. That's a lot to cover and I can't get to it all even under the best of circumstances. This year it was a little harder as I was locked down in meetings for most of the days that I was there.

I say this as a bit of a defense in that what you'll see below is what caught my eye from the parts of the show that I saw. There were undoubtedly many other things that I never got to. With that out of the way, let's look at some of the music products from the show.




The famous Buchla synthesizer is back, this time in a more modern package. It's complete with a preset card (on the upper left) that you can solder your own resistors if you choose. This version runs about $4k, which is a lot better than the $40k that the vintage ones are bringing on eBay.







Another blast from the past is Magnatone. The amps didn't gain major traction when they were introduced in the 50's, but gained favor over the years for their "vintage sound" by players like David Gilmour and Neil Young. They also have a unique stereo vibrato feature only found in these amps. Billy Gibbons has been touring with one, so they must be good.











Staying on amps for a moment, I came across this one from Four Force that was amazing in how light it was. And I mean really light as in less than 5 pounds! This EM-1 is a 5 watt Class A amp that sounds way bigger than it feels. There's also a 50 watt bass amp available in a similar package. Perfect for the aging rocker with a bad back!















While this picture is of a striking edition of the Moog Voyager Performer, the real talk of the show in terms of keys was the Moog Sub Phatty. The Sub Phatty is probably the grittiest, dirtiest sounding synth you've ever heard (I mean that in a good way), and it's destined to do big things in the EM world.











This is the U-Bass, which is a short 21" scale bass that sounded about as good as a regular scale bass (at least at the show). Big sounds from such a small instrument. Very impressive.












The last item is more of a vocal toy that I couldn't get close enough to take a picture of, so here's the promo pic. It's by TC Electronic and called the VocalLive Touch 2, and it mounts on a mic stand and allows a vocalist to dial in effects and harmonies in real time as you sing. It even has a looper built in. Very cool, and the wave of the future for vocalists, at least on a club level.

That's it for now. Tomorrow we'll look at some of the oddities from the show.

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NAMM 2013 Overview Part 4 - The Oddities

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One of the best parts about NAMM is some of the things you see on the floor that don't seem to fit into any category. Most of these are usually found in what's affectionately known as "Inventors Row" down in the basement in Hall E. It's also sometimes known as "The Chapter 11 Hall," meaning that most of the exhibitors will probably be out of business by the time NAMM comes around again next year. I don't know about that so much, but here are a number of unusual offerings that caught my eye.




Here's a number of guitars that had their bodies made by a 3D printer. The company that made these is called 3D Systems, and they won "Best of Show" from Yahoo Finance. If you don't know already, 3D printing is the future. Just like everyone had to have a real printer in 1990 and a cell phone a decade later, the same will happen in the 3D world. You've been warned.












Next we have an interesting rotary key instrument that shrieked like a banshee as it was actually electric and plugged into a distorted amp. Didn't get the name of the company since I was so befuddled.









Teac (the mother company of Tascam) presented an interesting version of a boombox (or maybe it's a clock radio?) with retro styling. I didn't know that people still bought these things.















Now for something completely practical. Here's a USB flash drive duplicator from EZ Dupe. Want to get your music out there? No one can refuse a free flash drive.












Here's one of the weirder ones. It's a gallery of artist in-ear monitors by Ultimate Ears (I think). I'm not so sure that I want to know what the ear canal of my favorite music celeb or athlete is like.











Finally, here's a display for "man-made ivory" picks that are harmonically tuned to suite your music by TUSQ. Don't know how much of that I buy, but they felt pretty good, and at least they have some out-of-the-box marketing.


That's it for this year's NAMM show. Now that January's near over, we can all get back to business.



----------------------------------Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.
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Buddy Rich vs. Neil Pert

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Here's a great video for drummers, engineers, lover of drums, and musicians everywhere. It's basically a video that illustrates two ages of drumming, first with the legendary Buddy Rich, then with Rush's Neil Peart. While Neil is great, I can't help but feel that Buddy is at least a step beyond both in dexterity and energy.

A couple of things to notice:

1. Check out the angle of Buddy's snare drum. When was the last time you saw an angle like that?

2. Buddy's drums sound like one instrument while Neil's drums sound disconnected from one other by comparison.

3. Buddy's stick work at 4:40 is amazing! What control the man had.



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New Music Gear Monday: Dave Smith Prophet 12

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Although I neglected to mention it in my NAMM overview, the Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12 was one of the most talked about instruments at the show. Dave was the designer of the original Prophet V synthesizer, which was the very first truly polyphonic synth. That doesn't seem like such a big deal today, but believe me, back in the 80's it was an earth shattering development.

Dave really put everything into the Prophet 12, from 5 oscillators per voice (4 plus a sub oscillator), arpeggiator, analog filters (which is why it sounds so analog), and a load more that you'll see in the video. If you're into keyboards, this is one well worth checking out. It doesn't sound to try like any other instrument; it has it's own voice.



----------------------------------Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.
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"Ramble On" Isolated Bass Track

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Going back in time again, here's the isolated bass track from a Led Zeppelin song that I always loved - "Ramble On." On it you hear bassist extraordinaire John Paul Jones play a complex track very well, but listening to just his track alone isn't quite fair, as you'll see.

Here are some things to listen for:
1. Listen to how the bass sounds. Big, full and fat, with lots of lows yet plenty of definition. We sometimes have a hard time achieving that today.

2. Listen to how the level changes between the first verse and chorus from there on. It's much louder by the end, as is the rest of the band. It's a good example of dynamics.

3. Listen to how JPJ plays the verse line staccato (short and choppy) in the first verse, then legato (smooth) from there on.

4. There's a lot of missed notes that you probably didn't hear with the rest of the band playing (I know I didn't). Listen at 1:20, 1:30 and 2:31 just for starters. Then there's a mistake at 3:47.

That's not to rag on one of the best bass players ever. It's just to point out that back in those days, we had a different idea of what was acceptable than we do today, where we try to wring perfection out of each note.

5. JPJ plays some brilliant ad libs on the outro after about 4:00. Too bad we miss a lot of this thanks to the fade on the record.

This just goes to show that an isolated track does not make a song, it's how the entire band interacts. If you listen to the real thing, you'll hear how spot on JPJ is with both drummer John Bonham and guitarist Jimmy Page, which is why the band always sounded bigger than the sum of its parts.



----------------------------------Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.
You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.
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New Release: David Guetta Featuring Taped Rai - Just One Last Time

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David Guetta, real name Pierre David Guetta, has definitely become one of the most popular DJ's of all time, and his career in the music industry will, from now on, be endless. However his most recent album has spawned 8 singles, believe it or not, surely we will be seeing a new album soon! This song features unknown Taped Rai. All the info I can get on this duo band is that they are from Sweden and consists of two people. They are new, and if they were spotted by David Guetta, they are clearly great, and they will be a duo that may just become a highlight of 2013. Watch out for them, and by the time they have a big hit on their hands, I should have more information about them, hopefully.

"Just One Last Time" was written by David Guetta, Giorgio Tuinfort, Tom Liljegren and Alexander Ryberg. It's extremely catchy and I'm sure I've heard it a few times in the club. However it's not doing well climbing the iTunes chart, and it makes me question why the UK aren't taking it that well. Personally, I think it's not our sort of thing, on the other hand I really like it, and I hope that radio play will pick up and make this song liked by more people.

This music video is amazing. It's the only word I can use to describe it. I first saw this on the music channels, and at the end I was really upset, luckily I held back tears. But this ending is really not something I expected.

This narrative-based music video is supposed to flow perfectly, but I get confused easily (in case you haven't noticed), and so I don't quite understand the start. Clearly he snuck out of his girlfriend's house to play pool, but when he returns the house is in flames. And his girlfriend is dead. But when he lies down and these robot things enter his ears, he relives his memories, only this time around he goes in and saves her, but ends up dying himself. Has he changed the past, or is this just a dream or a wish?

There's an extra performance piece by David Guetta, I think it's him. And it kind of reminds me of his DJ set of "Where Them Girls At", only with fire instead of bubbles.

Overall, an extremely catchy song that gets better and better the more you listen to it. The accompanying music video is tearful, but confusing too, but has everything I need for a top rating. It just misses out because I don't get the start, and I don't think I ever will.

Celine Dion 2013 Vegas Schedule

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Celine Dion (Photo credit: ladybugbkt)

Make sure to check out Celine Dion when she appears at the Colosseum in Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas, NV. Here's her full schedule:
Dec 28, 2012Dec 30, 2012Dec 31, 2012Jan 3, 2013Jan 5, 2013Jan 6, 2013Jan 9, 2013Jan 12, 2013Jan 13, 2013Jan 15, 2013Jan 16, 2013Jan 18, 2013Jan 19, 2013Jan 20, 2013Feb 19, 2013Feb 20, 2013Feb 22, 2013Feb 26, 2013Feb 27, 2013Mar 2, 2013Mar 3, 2013Mar 5, 2013Mar 6, 2013Mar 9, 2013Mar 10, 2013Mar 12, 2013Mar 13, 2013Mar 15, 2013Mar 16, 2013