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Since the Summer NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show moved back to my home town of Nashville this year, I decided to check it out and see all the newest gear in the world of MI (Musical Instrument) retailers.

With most of my recent projects being more in the pro audio and installation side of the music industry, it had been a while since I had spent any time just browsing in a music store.

When I was a young lad with dreams of rock stardom, I would spend every saturday in one of the local music stores. My mom would drop me off and go do her shopping while I spent hours and hours playing with all the newest keyboards and guitars.

I”ve long since given up on being a rock star, but I do still like playing with all the toys. And the NAMM show is like the worlds biggest music store. So I had a lot of fun walking through.

If you”ve never been to a NAMM show, it’’s just like any busy music store x100. Drums here, guitars there, more drums over there. “Step right up and see the latest newest coolest guitar string winders. Or how about these slick new guitar strap pick holders?” And it sounds like a 500-piece orchestra tuning before the start of a symphony, except they never quite get to that A above middle C.

Now I”m only good for about two hours at any convention or trade show. And NAMM was no exception. But it was neat to see some new stuff. And not once did I hear a butchered version of Stairway To Heaven.

It helps to have a certain type of product you”re looking for when walking though the endless maze of booths. My focus was on tech stuff…cables, connectors, tools, etc. When it came to cables, there were plenty to look at. And if you”re an exibitor at one of these massive trade shows you”d better have a darn good gimmick because after a while unless that cable could pull a locamotive or was wrapped around a bikini-clad booth babe, I wasn”t going to stop and look. There was just too much to see.

The common theme for connectors at this year’’s show seemed to be “fix-it-in-a-hurry” solderless connectors for all those times a forklift runs over you guitar cable or rips the connector out of the jack. Most everything was crimp-type connections and I even saw one 1/4″ connector that was held together with a magnet!

I”ve got nothing against crimped connections. In fact a well-crimped connector is sonically and mechanically more sound than a soldered connector. When done properly, crimping actually fuses the two surfaces together at the molecular level.

All that being said, I could still fire up a butane soldering iron and repair a cable faster than anyone could prep and crimp a connector. And I wouldn”t think twice about my soldered connection, but any of those crimp connectors I saw at the show would make me nervous if a live performance or recording was dependant on it.

Granted I”ve mad a living for years with my soldering skills, but if you”re not good with a soldering iron how proficient are you going to be at properly crimping a connector?

If you take the time and practice your crimps and work at doing it right, then I have no problem with anyone using crimped connectors. Buy you”ve got to use quality connectors and quality tools. Just as with soldering, if you use cheap connectors or don”t have the skills then you”re always going to have problems with your connections. And usually at the worst possible time.

So invest some time in your skills, some money in your tools, and do the job right. You won”t ever have to wonder “will it work?”.

Aside from the tech products, I also looked for studio-related products such as acoustic panels, bass traps, cue systems, etc. There were some nice recorders and outboard gear as well as all the latest software and plugins, but I couldn”t find any acoustic products. I did see a lot of stage equipment like snakes, mic stand attachments, and other performance-related gear.

So if you have the chance to go to a future NAMM show, it’’s probably worth walking through. It can be a great networking opportunity. And the exibitors are usually willing to give great deals on demo equipment if you find something you really like. But don”t expect to find much for your studio. The NAMM show is geared more toward the performing musician.

Have you ever been to a NAMM show or did you go this year? Reply and tell me what you thought of it. What type of products were you looking for?

This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at 11:24 pm and is filed under Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.