NAMM 2017: MEDIA DAY “Revolutionary & Extraordinary” Believe In Music

Michael Hepworth

NAMM 2017 – MEDIA DAY “Revolutionary & Extraordinary”

By Michael Cohan, Music Journalist

Anaheim, CA (Perfectmusictoday) 1/24/17—Another NAMM show begins with those exhibitors lucky enough to be showcased on product preview day. I met many first timers who were very excited about showcasing their new musical products and services. Revolutionary and extraordinary seems to be the catchwords to define today as a great kick off for the New Year in the world of NAMM’s international reach.

Isovox is a company from Sweden that has created a high quality fabric box that you stand up into in which your head is encapsulated around a 360 XYZ pro acoustic system. A shelf has a microphone on it that you can use for vocal practicing and recording just like in a soundproof room. An ipod stands in front of you to do your programming into. It is a straight out of the box home studio and the best thing is that only you can hear it, no one else can! Put on those headphones and sing away! Last years’ first prototype was wooden but this second version is portable and sets up in a flash!

Partners Philip Olsson, rock musician, and Larss Holstensson, engineer, we’re happy to point out product highlights that make them stand apart from the rest of the competition. Isovox2 features are optimized fabric walls that create massive sound reduction, collapsible construction/easy zipper assembly, and XLR-CABLE-CHANNEL ready. You can even use this in a broadcasting capability enabling a better podcast. End user prices ordered directly, not mrsp, are approximately $799 euro and $800 us. Musician Olsson remarks that they are so confident with their product that comparing it seems unfair. Go and get “Voxed” at their booth In Hall E, 1370 and visit their website at Isovoxbooth.com for their captivating marketing video.

A long standing company that has serviced musicians worldwide is Ultimate Ears headquartered in Irvine, CA is an in-ear monitor, speaker, and earphone manufacturer. In 1995 monitor engineer for Van Halen Jerry Harvey mixed their stage sound through stage wedges that are powerful loudspeakers that are aimed at each musician. Drummer Alex could not hear the other band members over their stage noise and turning up the monitors didn’t help. So Harvey designed a custom molded earpiece for the drummer to block some of the stage noise and focus on the desired sound: a prototype earpiece that contained two tiny speaker drivers, one for low frequencies and one for the highs, the frequencies split by a passive audio crossover. Add a Knowles-made driver pacemaker part to survive the bass drum signals and a balanced armature transducer intended to warn the wearer of internal problems. All the band members, even opening act Skid Row, and Mr. Humperdink wanted to buy them too! Jerry Harvey had to create a company to supply the demand!

All you have to do is plug the earphone into the wedge and tap into the mix and then you’re in charge of your own mix board! This will work at any level and is great for small venues and spaces. Learn more at Ultimateears.com.

On the extraordinary side are the actual musical instruments which were beyond and mind-blowing.

In the world of the fretboard are the unique sounds of Zerberus Guitars from Germany. They have come out with a new Chronos model with “Gorgonized” gemstone finish on top. Two of the five beautiful guitars of this series were featured to hold and ogle. They told me that production painstakingly lays a 5 millimeter thick covering of either amethyst from Brazil and the other one had tiger’s eye from South Africa. Other guitars have turquoise from none other than Arizona which they mentioned had the most beautiful.

In fact, a customer came up with the idea to put a stone top on his favorite guitars. With this added feature dead spots were eliminated. Also, the sound moves stronger along the grain creating a longer and more even resonance. The tone is exquisite due to the owner’s high standards. Their motto is simple, “Quality starts with the design process and includes the incorporation of the highest quality, cured tone woods and the best technology available. We insure our guitars are built right the first time and when you purchase from us you will own a unique, organic product that has been loved and cared for from its inception and which is designed to last a lifetime.” Experience their website zerberus-guitars.de.

The last revolutionary and extraordinary instrument was the ukulele sized all clear worlds’ first concert electric violin manufactured by 3D printing technology. This masterpiece came from 3DVARIUS out of France. Mechanical engineer and violinist extraordinaire Laurent Bernadac designed his first digital prototype in 2012. In his mind, Laurent saw his invention as fulfilling the needs of the classical musician and set out to create an electric violin. First he used aluminum but at fruition in the beginning of 2013, it was entirely hand-crafted by a stringed instrument maker, in transparent polycarbonate.

Obviously too heavy and hard to play, Mr. Bernadac continued his tireless work on improvements. Better design was needed. He also decreased the weight, creating a smoother soundwave flow, and refinement of the curves.

All this to accomplish his original goal which was, “to create an electric violin in perfect symbiosis with the musician.”

In 2015 his talented friend, Geraldine Puel, partnered with him on the project. The second prototype incorporated using a SLA 3D printer finally brought homage to his inspiration, none other than the master artisan himself, Antonio Stradivari, one of the most prolific creators of musical instruments of all time. After all this is why the 3Dvarius has been patterned after the Stradivarius.

A violin like this takes many long and strenuous hours to get the perfect quality. Many steps were taken to optimize the violins features. This concert high-end electric violin needs to have one sound within the accuracy of the audio spectrum. It was printed as a single piece departing from traditional musical instrument production technology. Weight distribution was vital in order to achieve the comfort and feel of the classical violin. Also, it had to be designed to facilitate a smooth transition from the classical violin to the 3Dvarius. You can have the ability to select your own bridge and tuning pegs to obtain sound clarity with its unique transparency and refined design. The videos on the websites show the customizable possibilities to play all music styles from rock, jazz country, heavy metal, etc. in small venues as well as large stages.

The world is a buzz about 3Dvarius because they had a Kickstarter campaign to assist them in reaching out. Laurent Bernadac and partner Geraldine Puel have created a mind-blowing niche for themselves. You can look up all the many reviews already out there. They have done it and their perfect instrument is a prime example with superior soundwave, high quality pickup, high gain without noise, and direct acoustics sound. Discover their world at 3d-varius.com.

With media day finishing, I thought to myself what really stood out as I ran into NAMM President again, Joe Lamond who wanted to know too. I blurted out an answer but felt awkward afterwards. At a NAMM event everything stands out! New instruments and the always emerging technology are always making the Power of Music even better.