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NAMMies 2024

NAMM-Tastic

Im only writing this so I can list the Nammies a fake word play on Grammies and NAMM for all five readers. I think this is the third or fourth fake awards list, I’ll get to that in a bit. But, first congrats to Spider Ranch productions the loudest and most professional sound company I know of. Yall have everyone beat by 3dB not joking.

Namm became the place holder for Sound Reinforcement in the pro audio world. Not everyone will understand that so ill explain. In pro audio or the world as audio as the whole hog so to speak includes both Sound Reinforcement and Installation or contracting world. Long ago returning from Texas to Oklahoma I told my friends in was gonna be in the PA business and well it actually took a while just to learn the word public address. All most every rental shop corporation etc divides the business into two categories, SR and installation. Ill skip the countless boardroom arguments and product dev gate meetings that divide the two. As it were im writing this a week exactly after my first day at namm and I just returned home to be greeted by Mardi Gras. For me NAMM is divided into, one half being as a musician and the other half as a pro audio engineer. 

At first I never understood NAMM. I attended as a manufacture working for Loud introducing the then EAW UMX96 which was never launched. Sold but not launched. They made three prototype consoles from Canada via Seattle and that was it. Later id purchase a car/guitar from Shane Henning who once sold Stevie Ray Vaughn his first guitar. To be clear and fare, im not a guitarist and never will be., Iv purchased a couple in comparison I bought, a Taylor, a Gibson Acoustic with plastic nylon strings from Ray, a Yamaha acoustic with double pickups I bought in Dubai for three times the price as a trophy award to my self, a Cordoba that I like to finger pick on when I visit my folks in Texas and well, thats my guitar experience. You see as a trumpet / trombone player we don’t mix well with guitarist simple as that. Its a musical fact. Other than putting a mic on a guitar cabinet I dont know a lot about guitars. 

Growing up in north Texas, well lets just say we know music and music instruments simple as that. Before I get to my journey thru the trade show floor, give homage to those that deserve it, pick on and throw darts at others and make my list of the good the bad and the ugly id like to share my story of purchasing my first pro trombone. Seeing as that Trombone Shorty just passed by on a giant trombone themed mardis gras float.

My first instrument was a snare drum. Marching to be precise, next was a piano and another piano and another piano and then two organs one I could play the other I couldn’t, then a rented Conn trombone from the music store in Mcalester Oklahoma, then my step sisters f attachment King and another beat up tenor horn so that was three in total, then later id be the keeper of the double bass Bach in highschool after a friend graduated. Then my grandmother would offer either a computer or an instrument, everyone thinking id pick an electric guitar (something I still haven’t gotten into and dont ever plan to) I picked a Trombone. We already had a computer lab at highschool, burned thru a 386, 486 a gateway pentium and all I used mine for was IIRC so I defiantly grabbed a new Trombone. By the way in my opinion it is completely possible to burn thru an instrument mouth piece pick etc. Right now I got my first Flugel last Jass Fest, it hasn’t even been a year and iv burned thru maybe 1/3rd the life of the horn meaning I played it so much it started falling apart. Literally and thats a good thing by the way. So by Freshmen year I had already burned thru 4 horns. The budget in 1995 was 1500. Plus 1500 half and half which is a family tradition. In the end id by a Bach 42B Gold bell nickel slide. But to get there took forever. My father who well, is a musician band director and entity all by himself helped me hunt down the horn. We started with the yellow pages, a sheet of paper and well the first ten calls were a waste because I didnt understand what we were doing. We were hunting/shopping for brass horns in north Texas circa 1995 which in it self is and was one of those outlier years. First, there was Sam Ash, second no internet, third bands in north Texas are larger than most militia in foreign countries, not a joke. First we called all the pawn shops, then the guitar centers, then all the smaller used shops, then I think C&S on Hulen and then the other place on Camp Bowie then north side then east side basically every where except Dallas if they had a Trombone we knew about it. Eventually wed find out about a trunk show from Bach. It was hosted by Sam Ash in HEB Hurst Euless Bedford. Im pretty sure I played maybe twenty horns it went down to four pretty quick and then three and then two. I was happy with an all nickel but liked the two tone, didnt really know the price and twenty minutes later walked out the door with it. Next was private lessons at from Dennis Bubert at TCU a soft gig bag for Xmas and a Yamaha mouthpeice. Sophomore year I and others were basically at pro concert level, not had we thought, in real life. Competing at UIL was a pain id usually skip it and my grades were never good enough to compete anyways. I think I burned out that horn with in the next two years, later ska would become popular and id switch back to a crappy tenor single slide horn and then miss the sound of the Bach so id go back and forth. After a couple of years I started getting tired of playing and got sloppy, one day I dropped my mouth piece on the bell which made me wanna scream. I knew it was the start of a decline as I was paying less and less attention and started doing more video shoots behind a three chip camera and mixing gigs on an old Tapco. Sadly senior year I wouldn’t become a drum major as was basically a birth right. I failed to write and turn in a single paper essay saying why I should become drum or assistant drum major. Now keep in mind from when I was a freshman till a junior in highschool I was the one who knew the rules on the buss and kept the tradition. And well my voice on a football field or band room was a little louder (super duper ego, lol), than others. I mean I first showed up in that room well before anyone else. Visiting dad from Oklahoma as a kid ment getting to hang out with percussion in the choir room. I burned out quads before my first horn, not joking. Xylophones, you bet, vibraphone (my favorite, absolutely). And before the sackbut, aka trombone, portable Roland Strobe Tuner, to tune……. Only the marching band, never got to work with Symphonic. the Trombone btw is just a giant tuning fork, these days playing trumpet im never in tune im always sharp and dont care. My new journey on trumpet is about producing notes and direction and themes, not about playing the notes on someone else’s sheet of music.

Cruising thru the show floor at NAMM (americas oldest longest running trade show “fact”) I started with guitars but as a Trumpet player just wanted to get it over with. Guitars are big here Ray Henning basically made his living selling one off rare proto type convention one offs of custom made guitars only available at NAMM. He’d keep a stash of them and bring one or two out at a time each week and well that was as I recall the business model of Heart of Texas Music Store originally located on Lamar Ave Austin Tex, replaced by condos, lol. The guitar section is small but there is yearly a whole sepperate guitar convention as southern California is the capital of guitars. Speaking of guitars, in the pro audio world things are very territorial and southern Cali is Sound Images territory being the providers of sound Reinforcment for basically ….. all of the guitar bands …. Meaning … all of the guitar bands. I think they also got an award this year.

Next was the actual brass section. My plan of attack was one day of music instruments and one day of pro audio. Like other serious musicians I came with some heat. Heat meaning a few mouth peices and my hand made four digit Calicchio made in Los Angeles. Im on my second Calicchio as I over played my first and put too large a mouth piece in it, currently in the trumpet repair shop. I also had a Compu-Balanced mouth piece similar to the Tejano umpa/polka bands and a marcinkiewicz mouthpiece. Several reasons. Im not by the way going to by a new horn but as a musician this is important and later will link up with pro-audio. Clear winners playing a few horns. Missing in action was Lotus and a few others but clear winners from Adam’s, Shilke, Geneva and Carbo-Tech. I played maybe twenty horns, none came close to my hand built horn. Carbo-tech came close and we all agreed it was only because the springs were stiffer in my horn than theirs. The Carbo horn from Switzerland was almost as fast at least we both agreed on valve oil being La Tromba #2, #3 just doesnt do anything and #1 is too thick.

Guanteed as a trumpet player and Trombone player, I love love love my Flugel horn and with out a doubt Adam’s makes an amazing Flugel. The Adams Flugels will hopefully be around for a long long time. After playing a dozen horns from China some even passed air, no no. Not joking I picked up five horns than simply didnt even play. How’s that for trade show floor professionalism. Playing at Bach was fun, same for Schilke but Geneva was in the far back of the middle section of the show floor. And, well….. they win. End of story, an amazingly built horn. The Geneva Cardinal had basically every Trumpet manufacturing trick up their sleeve using the right materials in the right location and the sound was amazing. They even had a matched Flugel which so does but for some reason the Geneva horns were just breathtaking. 

As a trumpet player I accomplished allot. I certainly know that the limitations in me playing are me and not my horn, and that I need to continue to protect and worship my horn. My old Trombone for example was sold to pay the mortgage long ago. I dont think ill ever let it out of my site. I also learned how small the trumpet world is after running into an old teacher of mind Mike Kobrin of New Orleans Trumpets who now works for J Landress Brass

http://www.jlandressbrass.com  

It was fun showing off a little blues progression on the Adam’s booth hanging out with Mike. Mike who of course loaned me a proper Cornet mouthpeice. Between the Carbo Flugel and the Adam’s Flugel you guys are flugeltastic. I also continued to get over some stage fright as I played during lunch on the first day very quietly thru my Sssh mute from New Zeland and then well the next day after dinner I played pretty loud for a half hour out side. I tried to find a new trumpet case but ill have to make one. Im standardizing on one trumpet, one Flugel one midi trumpet, four mutes, two stands and a pair of headphones, iPad general travel gear and well, thats going to replace my black Tumi alpha that I bought back in 2008. 

After brass it was off to DJ world and accessory world. Im still working on my wireless midi rig for my Yamaha Midi trumpet. As a musician well, I met a few other musicians but also met people who owned recording studios that were advertising their rooms and also looking for people to record in. So that was pretty cool. By the way, sadly not many trumpet players at NAMM and sadly traveling around the world definatly a dying art form. Salute to all the trumpet players in New Orleans yall are better than you think. 

This was my third NAMM show in a row, I think maybe my 5th or 6th in total. My first Parnellis was for the late Kenton Forsyth and recently for Mr.Sam Berkow. Congratulations are in order for Mr.Buford Jones friend to all who mix and all who participate in pro audio. Buford is one of those rare people are are simply super duper nice and talented. Unlike the crazy hot scale Buford broke the charts of rock n roll fame with the one and only Pink Floyd. Mr.Jones certainly knows more than the names of the band he likely also knows “which ones pink”. The earliest of trend setting in rock n roll tours who not only coined the term flying junk yard but built and mixed on them as well. I only briefly got to encounter Buford while holding a sound level meter for a live sound shoot out in the early days of line arrays and have certainly spent time with fellow friends. Congratulations for winning Audio Innovator. 

Jim Brammer of SES won Life Time achievement. Iv only met Jim once before he easy to remember with black sunglasses he reminds me of Roy Orbison. I only got to support SES briefly as a LAKE customer long ago but similar to other southern sound companies their services are sweet as tea. Congratulations to anyone who receives a Life time Parneli yall got thru and accomplished all the tough gigs. As Poodie “Willy Nelsons Tour Manager” would say, “no bad days”, however, there were no bad days because people in the audio world did their gigs. Again congratulations.

Next stop pro audio. First im a trade show race skank, lol, no not joking. I live and love trade and trade shows. The saying about Synergy, and trading dollars for ideas, well its a quote from Bernard Shaw but in audio its serious. Anyways, lets just say I know a lot about trade shows, iv done them good bad, ugly, fast, slow, fancy, cheap, flashy, quiet, parking lot, bar, you name it Iv seen and heard it all on 5 continents.

Giant slam dunk by PK Sound. Not joking, PK Sound has been on the radar for a long time now. Congrats to them on winning the Chapel tour, ur rig is literally from the future. Long ago a dream of controlling the horizontal from Outline, originally built as a product called Compass and later mini compass the technology was expanded upon by the French in the Kara product from L-acoustics. The original version I think worked using phantom DC power but PK has built an even better version using network controlled motors and can even delete the back pick point. Building a poor acoustic treated demo room and demoing a state of the art sound system. In the indoor arena Sound Reinforcment market PK Sound is currently setting new standards and will likely grab customers who are looking for actual solutions available today. 

Best demo: PK

Best coffee: Alcons

Rational Hang: Mortons

Best Immersive mix: EAW

Most confidant: d&b 

Favorite oldy but a goodie: Cervin-Vega

Best un-discovered brand: Adam-Hall

Best conversation area: Outside the halls by the food trucks

Best Swag: NAMM “thanks for the you tune me on button”

Best Behaved: Josh Evans

Best on site appropriate sound: RH Iconyx-Live

Yes, I gave my self an award, nothing wrong with that. I showed up on time, didnt stink like an airplane and didn’t get in trouble, no parking tickets no lost trade show badge didnt leave my horn in the car and I was friendly to small animals. With that said it wouldn’t be pro audio with out me sticking my foot in my mouth online. While I only earned my one “tour tony merit badge” rather tour audio iv largely chased the big stuff in acoustics for the past twenty years being the stadium world. About a decade or so ago I earned the “king of stadium” merit badge. While not in attendance id like to give a south out to the big boys of rockn roll or what I call hi output loudspeaker devices. While not in person, electro-acoustically speaking iv spent just as much time in stadiums as well… giant talented divas, lol. 

1:Holoplot X1

2:Outline GTO

3:Danley Caleb

4:Danley J1

5:Danley J6

6:Danley J8

7:Fulcrum AHS

8:Meyer Sound Panther

I must say before hitting pro audio I had to stop by the piano section. Back in Fort Worth we have the Van Cliburn which is still a very important copmoetition. Not ironically I preferred the Italian  pianos over the American made boxes of wood and liked the pianos from New York better than the German pianos but certainly appreciate a good solid Bosendorfer (technically Vienna). Tangent, sorry, back to audio.

Holoplot wins because it can make the directivity smaller than the source. Outline because it uses a double manifold with .25 degrees rather 1 degree. Danley smashes all spec sheets with a solid 150dB product range. Fulcrum big sound! Meyer, basically as i understand it built the test signal to achieve an impressive 156.5dB. As an engineer I appreciate them adding the .5dB as at that level every .25 dB counts.

Back to NAMM reality:

Honorable big sound mentions go to the new QSC L Class. Acoustically speaking its the F-150 of line arrays and actually does more work acoustically speaking than this big boys. Congrats to Ray at QSC.

Cool gear award, Audeze headphones with built in head tracking. Long awaited. Audeze along with fancy headphone pres from RME/Neve and even a tube pre from Nagra hi end planar headphones are finding their way at FOH for consoles like AVID/Digico/Yamaha/Allen and Heath/Soundcraft/Studer and more. Also new drivers from Radian using similar planar drivers should be available in the near future. Club Alcons as they called it was equally impressive and currently has the best sounding production made planar range of loudspeakers and an equally impressive complete system. Alcons, Fun subs, thanks for bringing a cool vibe!

Beginning of this I mentioned bringing my trumpet to the show floor to compare to other trumpets. I wrote that because one does the same thing in pro audio. Case in point, im always worried that because I dont and haven’t spent a bunch of time doing measurement the past decade that ill lose my edge. After this past trade show visit, not a chance in hell. I dont see me falling behind in the measurement community any time soon nor do I see others catching up, so im good like that. Ok enough of the super ego back to being an un appreciated expert, lol.Im hopeing that others do the same from a mix perspective.

Part Deux

!!!HODL the LINE!!!

If one invested as a system tech in the LAKE DSP from day one and continued on till present day you would be a wise wise wise system tech. The software hasn’t changed, the GUI is still the same, the shortcut keys are still the same, it was designed as a tablet from the beginning, it became the first or earliest Dante platform and all ur system files work more or less regardless of device used, amplifier, card slot module, rack frame. Speaking of modules, no other DSP or equalizer has been fought with more than LAKE, first with a card used in the all mighty Mackie TT24 and currently with the YDGAI card slots. Being a LAKE user, designer, operator etc means more than just a system eq, it means in short you know all the reasons why one would be driving a LAKE in the first place. Hence why almost all early d&b users who purchased J series long ago also adapted Dolby LAKE processors and the knewer replacement being the LM series recently updated. Its kinda funny at one time the amps with Dolby logos were being sold cheaper than knew ones with out and right now with Dolby ATMOS being so popular well, it’s just branding right?

Im a pretty big EQ geek, in Texas well, only an Okie would say something like, “In Texas we invented the EQ”, well I didnt , we didnt, but a Texan named Dick Boner did at the University of Texas “goeux short horns”, no honestly sorry for the upset this last season. From early eqs to modern Transversal Eqs past the KT DN360 and upgraded Brook Sirens Systems with the Omni series and then later XTA eventually became Bruce Jacksons LAKE. From a lead singer EQ perspective, I simply dont care, lead singer gets a channel of lake, and maybe even a dedicated LAKE touch screen, bigger the diva, bigger the screen, maybe. end of story it has the better analyzer, eq combo but that requires needing or wanting control setting of ur measurement rig. Case in point, its great that all the consoles have RTA’s in the back ground, but thats the starting point of basic tools, far cry from modifying the hold time on an RTA specific for an artist. Which helps in more ways than one, the biggest for me has always been so others can see what I hear, not so I can see. Keep in mind my reference is a big giant marching band. Even if I was on an analog console which is coming back in style by the way id want my proper LAKE rig with a full Tablet and dedicated Keyboard combo. In the world of audio business audio real estate is now recognized as a successful economy and real estate in the pictures is proof enough. I myself don’t even remember most of the shortcuts, but seriously muscle memory comes back pretty fast. For the record, I only know of three platforms with short cuts. Question, why would one ever invest time and energy in a software platform with no shortcuts? So when someone shows up with a LAKE rig or when someone shows up with a Bracasti Reverb its not the same as when others show up with insert any digital console

!HODL the LINE!

Personally I dont like concerts, I like audio and music. However while I never made it in production or rental what others would call the SR market, iv been sitting on the installation market for a while now. The SR market has developed and matured much more past system compatibility or cross renting systems that sound the same. That was the first accomplishment of L-Acoustics and Crown with amps that have presets. We are far past the X equals this amount of SPL equals this amount of load in time. We are even past the limits of sales channels and design engineers. What it is about is acoustic signatures and acoustic real estate. As others are already saying about the French, its pre aged. Meaning they already knew and know the limitations of their system but might have wanted the acoustical consistency of a Michelin restaurant. And, its my opinion that Christian Heil likely knew the various shapes and methods of created hyper, super-hyper, compressed and non-compressed phase plugs for arranging a circle into a square in simple terms, Fresnel and Fraunhofer in complex terms. The double parabola phase plug was and is the next progressive device of its acoustical nature as used by many and has a different acoustical output and has different precision etc. It also sounds slightly different as well. While there have been some blemishes recently with a rigging problem in the NBA and god knows how many fake versions it doesnt matter. Those that made acoustical investments in the acoustical wavefront from the French made a very smart choice and can keep their inventory or systems for as long as they last. Typical of the French no joke I have a pair of pants than you can literally burry me in. Question, how many Mormon church’s have French rigs in them, answer…… Not joking that acoustic signature is here to stay long past anyone holding the flag in France. From me as a non L-Acoustics user who ignored line arrays as much as possible for as long as possible. I should personally share also that my folks church has DOSC waveguides and my two favorite bands are Radiohead and the Cure. I know their catalogs entirely and every time I hear them… its on an L-Acoustics rig. Hold, the, line!

Above is the good, now for the bad.

The French and Germans now have a large army of freelancers, im talking 30,000 people. In the past other companies have chosen audio transportation systems which was also mimicked in the sales channels making this product work with this product and not with this one etc. On purpose or not is a whole nother conspiracy. The transportation of audio is now becoming a specialized skill set in it self. Those that learned early with Cobranet haven’t had so many problems as they later adopted the other platforms. It seems the Germans and the French are trying to stitch things back together so that their is a common audio transport used in the rental market, say that three times fast. My personal background starts with skipping midi class at FullSail for SynAudCon’s Cobranet work shop, latter I’d hear about the success and failure of Lonewolf curtesy of Paul Allen. It’s funny, what we really need is production friendly switch gear and instead we get stuck going to DANTE cert classes to learn how to manage switch gear. Its funny from a personal channel count, 1999 no digital channels, 2007 8 bundles of 8 800 channels of Cobranet for a shopping mall, 2010 Dante 1040 channels for a stadium and a swing and a miss at Sphere thousands of channels likely approaching double digits not my circus not my monkeys. 

For me the transport is all about my measurement rig and navigating delay. I dont care about the other stuff as its just not my job and I wouldn’t be good at it anyways. I’d rather have someone else commission the switch, now I might have some requirements or some hoops id like the system to be put put threw, like a power cycle test sequence and I expect you to embrace my engineering concepts coming from what ever background of mine you may or may not understand. Case in point if one were to design a battery backup system, you better bring more than a knife as I throw PMP at you from the boardroom and experiences from me and others when the power went out.

Failures in digital audio transport, example one:Texas Rangers ball park consultant PMK transport Cobranet, number of channels required 500, system broke after 300. Worked out fine in the end and lasted a long time, example two:Cowboys stadium, George Straight opening night, networked audio system crashed, don’t know the details but it happened. So when I hear in the industry trade news grape vine that those in power with buckets of money are modifying the transportation network, its like startling a long horn. No stampede or cause for alarm but it seems others know their business better than simple outsiders. And im starting to think analog is cheaper. 

Much like climbing a mountain, live audio audio doesn’t fail and speakers dont fall.

The Ugly

Splay in the front splay in the back. Ok so someone in Europe said behind my back that I dont know wavefronts and that im not qualified to design with line arrays. And, yes in fact my first line arrays at Bose were junk. But what you dont know, that I do, is where the journal for Audio Engineering Society catalogs are located in the Georgia Tech Library. For me a line array was a drum line, then later spatialization was a marching field. My next line array was from Duran the Intellivox 2C, then the CBT, then the Paraline and lets not forget the CAT 2×7 used for the concourse at Ferrari which should be replicated at all Ferrari’s hows that for acoustic real estate. Then there is F-Chart which is well, at this point, none of y’all’s business, lol. Actually even more fun was Arkady Glukhovs software for creating the complex phase response used for balloon radiation patterns, but then again “I dont know about wavefronts, lol”. The evolution of line arrays and acoustic signatures as iv tried to point out has not changed very much if at all “Splay in the back”, line arrays with the following options, 

No phase plug

Square box

DOSC 

Double parabola

Double parabola on a manifold

Ribbon

Dome tweeter passive

Dome tweeter active

And now

WFS from Holoplot

Whats ugly is that after all that said and done, were left with Danley. Splay in the front. Splay in the back hard hats and steel toes, splay in the front, flip flops and 1/4 tons motors vs 1 toners. In the sports stadium world, there are really only two brands, JBL and EAW with a third competitor being Danley and then typically community gets used to support all three brands. Even more ugly, advanced product but sadly already being replaced by stadiums second and third systems only because video boards get moved and people get tired of hearing the same system. Same thing happened for the golden state warriors who had a custom large planar well advanced curtain wall that was ahead of its acoustic day by about 30 years and was taken down. Can you imagine having a first gen Toyota pickup and be told and convinced to by the new Toyota pickup with a smaller motor and C channel frame. Happens all the time. Hence why I took my Trumpet to the NAMM show. Yes I found some horns that I liked, yes they were fun to drive yes I need a backup so I dont damage my hand built horn, but no it wont make me a better player or musician. 

Most of the time I think manufactures think designers pick by favoritism and loyalty or customer management. If this salesmen moves here then he brings these customers with him. It does and doesnt work like that. Designing for acoustic quality and mixing a orchestra at 85dB thats where a designer lives and thats how devices are chosen. Not by branding or marketing, its influential but marketing aside and even spec sheets aside, a 90 degree angle on a box of wood is nothing but two 45 degree angles. And, in audio angles matter. Technically the term is GA or geometric acoustics. Hence why big difference in high output devices where one has 1/4 degree accuracy on a one ton pick vs infinite precision using a screw worm gear vs 1 degree of angular precision.  

What is upsetting is hearing things like fake products when we have plenty of good products not being used. A pandemic happened, concerts shut off, the pandemic ended, large demand for concerts, well we have plenty of arenas being built and already built stadiums in the 90s thanks to Clinton. Are they being used to their maximum potential? Is the audio technology being used properly to entertain 100,000 attendees? As I joked one time what would happen if one of the divas built a 50million dollar sound system, forget that, what if someone built ten 100,000 seat systems for one million dollars including rigging. In theory there should be an equalization in price vs acoustic quality etc. In reality people buy this race car because they didnt like the salesmen at the other company not because its a better car. Happens all the time. You want a DOSC rig you got it but there is only one, you want a double parabola, then I got twenty people lined up with product ready to ship, thats the power of acoustic signature and I can say the same about the loudspeakers in the intelligibility market. Of course a Dutchman created a speaker for the transportation market and of course it sounds good in multiple languages, the creators and commissioners also spoke … multiple languages, imagine that. 

Creating an acoustic signature and an army or camp of engineers that all understand the same terminology is not easy and even more difficult to keep together.

So there is the ugly. The reality is recognizing the limitation and finding a new solution. We might as well wake up Hartley Peavey and tell him to re open factories in Mississippi but that wont happen. Literally money flows from us to china to us to France to China back to France, then the US. Financially speaking. Danley has fantastic products but no one wants to deal with them or the limitations or their problems or their marketing im reminded of while its easy to throw stones at the marketing from Germany, it was an equal match to the technology and brand and thats about as good as a compliment as I can acoustically think of. And with Danley money only flows one direction Us to Us. Not so good for the international markets or is it?

Regarding acoustical real estate. I mean it, the acoustical quality and space of an entire country/religion/music genre can and has been summised by those who are in the sound reinforcment industry. Subwoofer Baptist is subwoofer baptist end of story. Georgia sounds like Georgia, Tennessee sound like Tennessee, New Orleans sounds like New Orleans. While I admire, appreciate and respect Holoplot as an Oklahoman I would never want to even see or hear a demo of Holoplot in Oklahoma. That’s my opinion not request as its none of my business, free country and free economy.

Audio, if it were easy everyone would do it. I’ll sighn off with combining both music and pro audio, my personal trumpet rig, which is a work in progress. First im working on 3d audio as a musician which means slowly gathering 3d gear and techniques etc. I used to think I understand stereo but then moved on from stereo mics to xy to ortf to the B-format. Now I think im gonna settle on a combo os a figure 8 mic with a dynamic in the middle using the 3d spatial mixing assignments the team at sound particles shared with me. And I learned about that while eating a taco at the food trucks outside of namm and for that, I say gracias for another NAMM-tastic trade show.

Josh Evanz

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NAMM-Tastic
Im only writing this so I can list the Nammies a fake word play on Grammies and NAMM for all five readers. I think this is the third or fourth fake awards list, I’ll get to that in a bit. But, first congrats to Spider Ranch productions the loudest and most professional sound company I know of. Yall have everyone beat by 3dB not joking.
Namm became the place holder for Sound Reinforcement in the pro audio world. Not everyone will understand that so ill explain. In pro audio or the world as audio as the whole hog so to speak includes both Sound Reinforcement and Installation or contracting world. Long ago returning from Texas to Oklahoma I told my friends in was gonna be in the PA business and well it actually took a while just to learn the word public address. All most every rental shop corporation etc divides the business into two categories, SR and installation. Ill skip the countless boardroom arguments and product dev gate meetings that divide the two. As it were im...

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