Last week I was given the opportunity to attend my first NAMM Expo, and of course, I took up the offer. It’s the music industry’s largest trade show, held annually at the Anaheim Convention Center, and as I quickly realized, it’s huge. Imagine every major music retailer in the world setting up their own personal guitar store, but bigger, taller, flashier, and louder. The building was filled with every major brand – from guitar string makers, to violin companies, to music tech company launches, and more. It was spread out over 3 floors, although the first 2 saw the most traffic.
I had just came off of my first Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and for those who aren’t familiar, CES is attended by nearly 180,000 people. While going from that to NAMM wasn’t so drastic as just blindly jumping into it, it was still colossal.
Many awesome companies showcased their work, but a few stood out:
Ragtime Music – Mechanically played real music instruments. This MIDI programmed device can contain anything you want custom made. Pat Metheny travels with them on his tour, and I was blown away by what I saw. It was as interesting to watch as it was to listen to.
The Moog MIDI guitar — All the beautify and complexity of the classic Moog synthesizer, but available as a MIDI guitar. Infinite sustain, interesting knob effects, and much more. Amazing.
BT’s Stutter Edit software — Turning a 15 hour post-production stutter edit session into a one-button effect. BT and IzoTope made one of the most impressive plug-ins I’ve ever seen. The result is nothing short of stunning. You can control every parameter you can think of, and get some seriously unbelievable results within minutes. Oh, and it works on vocals and in real time, too.
Although I’ve never been to a NAMM show before, I’d imagine the presence of music video games, music apps for phones are entirely new. It was crazy to see a huge name brand superstore, and directly next to it would be tiny 4×4 booth showcasing some college kid’s iPhone app.
The weather was amazing, the venue was packed, the rockstars were present, and the shows theme “Take it 11 in 2011″ rang true. For those who haven’t attended, I recommend definitely checking it out. Having only stayed 2 days and 1 night, I wish I could have stayed longer. NAMM aimed to please, and I look forward to being an annual attendee here throughout.
Walt Ribeiro is a music producer and entrepreneur who runs “For Orchestra”, which takes pop songs and recreates them for the orchestra including artists ranging from Pearl Jam to Lady Gaga.
