Trev Circle Studios @ Summer NAMM 2009

[modz1]

Here's a plan then.. Our Trev is about to jump on a plane to Nashville this Friday to wander round the Summer NAMM show, meet, schmooze, salivate over new products and generally have a good 'un!

As a sort of 'what's happening' blog, Trev will be sending me news, gossip and images whilst he's there and I'm gonna pop 'em into this thread so you can all check out what's going down in TrevWorld @ Summer NAMM

Should be a hoot, and of course, the thread will be open for you to interact too..

Let's 'ave it Trev!!

[TrevCircleStudios]

Thanks Modz! Keep your eye on this guys! It's gonna have it all. In addition to previews of all the latest lovely gear at Namm I'm planning to go to the GS BBQ at Steve Lamm's, am heading to Wireworld 3 for a tour of Michael Wagener's new place (followed by the obligatory sushi meal), I'm currently trying to blag a tour of Blackbird Studios and will be heading out and about in Nashville to take in some live gigs. I'm then heading to Boston for a night on the razz with Fletcher who promises to show me parts of Boston I've never seen before! And you guys get to watch from the comfort of your chairs at home!

Watch this space!

[TrevCircleStudios]

Here's a starter for 10 guys... floorplan and exhibitor list:http://www.namm.org/summer/interactive-floorplan

[TrevCircleStudios]

With 20 hours flight, and delay, time under our belt we were sat in the departures gate for our final leg. Our *rses throbbing more than inmates at the local penatentuary at shower time, it was fair to say, we were at the end of our tether. Then, we heard this:

"we are sorry to inform you that the delayed flight to Nashville is currently without crew or pilot, we will let you know when the matter has been resolved"

Here's what we saw:



The sad truth... it wasn't just the crew and pilot that were missing...
Our plane hadn't yet departed from Richmond. It was like finding out on Christmas eve that Santa had decided to stay in with the Lord of the Rings boxset, and would let us know in due time if he will make it next year.

Drastic times led to, well, the most reasonable course of action... we went in search of beer. Finally, 27 hours after we left Birmingham, and having missed an industry BBQ we had invites to and, worse still a gig we had tickets to being headlined by a local band I'd recorded a long time ago, it was a bedraggled Circle Studios staff that arrived at the Renaissance Nashville hotel at 3am local time. With only 7 hours before the show opened and barely able to keep our eyes open never mind have a sensible conversation, we did what any self-respecting rock demi-gods would do... we headed for the hotel bar...

[TrevCircleStudios]

Boy oh boy have we got some cool stuff for you guys!

New gear from Numark, an absolutely incredible controller from Beamz, an awesome interface for recording band rehearsals which has integrated DIs/headphone amps/matrix mixers and recording capability from jam-hub, an acoustic pickup that can be used on literally any guitar to make it sound like a top of the line Martin and the coolest 'pick-holster you ever saw and (once we work out how to upload photos/video clips from the iphone) we'll have it all right here for you!

Are you all still watching?

[sphelan]

You sound excited, Trev! Pictures??

[TrevCircleStudios]

Originally Posted by sphelan

You sound excited, Trev! Pictures??

Sure and video clips and interviews! Just tell me how to get them off my bloody iphone and onto the laptop and they're yours!

[TrevCircleStudios]

Okay, sorted the upload problem.

First on the agenda then was Lashbrook's Naturacoustic pick-up. They claim that you can put this pick-up on literally any guitar and you'll be able to get the resonance and tone of a high end acoustic guitar out of it. Not content to take their word for it, we put it to the test...!

First, take one concrete block.
Second, add a guitar neck to it.



Third, add Circle Studios assistant engineer, Iain, to play it



Verdict? Sh**..! This thing actually sounds like an acoustic guitar! Amazing! They say it's some bumph about adjustable saddles being made of tonewood and piezo elements vibrating to generate an output signal. All i know is this thing actually sounded good.

[EdRyan]

Trev rang me earlier. Hate you

He said he's not buying anything, but my spider senses tell me that you will take something back with you.....

[modz1]

All cool, cool and cooler Trev.. glad to see the image upload problem got solved..

[TrevCircleStudios]

Not entirely solved but getting there. The hotel connection is diabolically slow and I fear you arent going to get the video clips/interviews the photos are each taking about 5-10 minutes to upload) til I find somewhere with a better connection! Anyways, today (and you aren't going to get a picture as I only took video) I'm gonna tell you about the cool controller the guys from beanz showed us. One of the highlights of the show for us, they called it a 'new kind of instrument that anyone could play'. We were blown away by it.

Here's what they said:

The Beamz is an innovative musical instrument that enables people of all ages and skill levels to create and play music. By breaking the path of each beam, this laser trigger-based instrument will unleash the musician in you.
BE THE BAND: The Beamz is an innovative and affordable new way for people of all ages to make music. By simply passing your hands through any of the six laser beams, you can trigger multiple streams of musical notes and sounds that always sound good and are never out of key.
FUN FOR ALL: The Beamz brings the fun and enjoyment of making music to all age groups and skill levels. Regardless of your musical ability, the Beamz provides a fun way to bring people together to explore, create and enjoy music. Beginners and children can play with ease. More experienced musicians will be amazed with the depth of the interactive music compositions and the engaging playability of breaking the beams. Great for social gatherings, the Beamz provides fun for family and friends, and it’s a great addition to any jam session.
EASY TO USE: The Beamz easily connects to your computer’s USB port. You don’t need to read music to play the Beamz. Simply install the software and you’re ready to go!
The Beamz includes an entire digital music system that plays 100+ instruments and sound variations that span over 20 musical genres. The Beamz system starts you off with 30 original Beamz songs, plus you’ll receive 5 additional songs of your choice to download for FREE after you register the product.
Want to see how our interactive software works? Take our Beamz Player Software for a FREE test drive on your computer.

Watch the interview especially for DVTV here:



Or check it out yourself here:

http://thebeamz.com/

[TrevCircleStudios]

Next up then Voyage Air Guitars were promoting Yoga for your Guitars! Sandle-wearing Californian celery munchers? No. A nifty product that, by means of a hinge mechanism on the neck literally allows you to take a full size acoustic guitar, fold it up and put it in your suitcase. Seriously.

Check it out here:

or at www.voyageairguitar.com

[TrevCircleStudios]

Next up, Art were showing their new ProMPA-II. Essentially identical to the ProMPA but with the addition of digital outputs, seen at the top of the rack here, it looked very slick indeed:



Here's what they said:

In addition to XLR and 1/4" analog outputs, the Digital MPA-II features a high quality A to D converter which offers digital connectivity on S/PDIF, ADAT, or AES/EBU outputs. A rotary control on the front panel allows selection of format and sample rates from 44.1 to 192 KHz and 16 bit dithering. There is also a push button for, and two wordclock jacks, allowing loop-through.

[TrevCircleStudios]

Four items of note on Numark's stand (though I don't think any were newly released for the show I'm not sure all are shipping in the UK yet) were the HDMix, Omni-Control, the DDS and the NS7 Serato Itch Controller (we played with this, it was fun). You can see more on their website but here's the HDMix:



In their words:

hat do you enjoy about being a DJ? Is it the hours of moving heavy racks and cases, running cables, and testing levels, or actually playing the gig that makes DJing fun and exciting? HDMIX gives you everything you need to DJ anywhere. Just add a pair of powered speakers or patch into the house PA, and HDMIX puts everything at your fingertips in a single, rugged console.

Built around Numark's expertise in designing and manufacturing the world's best DJ mixers, HDMIX has all of the features a professional DJ needs to command their entire performances. But HDMIX isn't simply a DJ mixer: it's also a CD player and hard drive media player with standard controls. It's also an iPod and USB-device mixing station. It's a powerhouse performance tool that plays MP3 and other digital files from a wide variety of sources.

HDMIX has been specifically designed for mobile DJs and club owners who need a compact, portable system that sets up and packs away at a moment's notice. HDMIX lets you load in and out in one shot. Just pack HDMIX and a pair of powered speakers and you can leave the pickup truck at home.

If you DJ with CDs and your laptop, you're probably not checking email at the gig but you might end up hoping that the system doesn't crash while the crowd is getting into it all. Never fear. HDMIX has a dedicated operating system that doesn't have to share processing power with instant messaging, email programs or anything but straight-up DJ performance. An on-board, high-definition color LCD screen lets you focus on the music and helps keep you in full control of the dance floor.

Two mic, two phono, and three line inputs, as well as balanced XLR and RCA zone outs enable you to connect anything you need to HDMIX. HDMIX is built in a rugged, heavy-duty steel housing that's made for the real-world rigors of DJ life.

HDMIX centralizes your music into a Numark DJ mixer. With its all-in-one design, HDMIX is perfect for working with CD, MP3, WAV, and AAC files.

Numark's exclusive Crate function lets you work with music files the same way you work with records or CDs. You can prepare and arrange your set in advance, during your performance, or enjoy a mixture of both for your personal definition or control. The Crate empowers you to quickly find, organize, and perform tracks. Got a request for Bust a Move? Type in "BU" on the included keyboard, and the song pops up immediately. Stop leafing through books of CDs and get the track you want fast.

HDMIX features a user-upgradeable and replaceable internal hard drive and an internal CD/DVD drive that plays CD, MP3-CDs, and MP3-DVDs, and it even allows you to field-rip music from a disc into the hard drive. Plug-and-play USB ports let you connect iPods, thumb drives, and external Mac or PC hard drives so you can mix in any track from any source anytime.

HDMIX is the way to DJ the way you want. Flashy sports car not included.

Check them out here:

http://www.numark.com/en/index.php

[TrevCircleStudios]

So after about 5 hours of walking around the cavernous hall that is Namm we decided that the jetlag was catching up on us and we were thirsty. Beer and livemusic beckoned. Having walked up and down the strip three times (there are at least 2 dozen live music venues next door to each other) we realised that they had both types of music: Country and Western! We were about to give up and head home when we heard what sounded like Shania Twain's dulcet tones. Heading in we found an amazingly talented singer belting out some awesome songs: kind of pop and rock with a very slight country twist. We sat down and grabbed a beer and were captivated. You can get a clue as to why here:



Sadly they only played for a couple of hours We could have watched... er... listened all night. By the time they were done were were ready to eat. Following a recommendation we headed off to the Bourbon Street Blues Bar on Printers Alley. The food, in characteristic Tenessee style, was bloody awful. Did I mention they put gravy, and copious amounts of salt, on everything. What did I order? an open face roast beef sandwich. What did I get a plate of salty gloop covered with a gallon of gravy with cheese melted on top.

Luckily, the music was much better than the food. First up was Two-Tone Malone. Kind of a white BB King lookalike with a pork-pie hat. An incredibly talented guy, with his Martin acoustic guitar, a range of harmonicas in different keys and an awesome voice he played BBs back catalogue for about an-hour and a half without stopping.

Next up the house band. I think that term takes away from what we got. An incredible band of session musicians they rocked the house in a set reminiscent of the Blues Brothers at the Palace Hotel Ballroom. Absolutely awesome!