Wham Bam, Thank You Naam!

It might have been held at the Anaheim Convention Center across the road from Disneyland, but the Winter NAMM was no Mickey Mouse affair. NAMM (The National Association of Music Merchants) is a global music products show held every year over four days, and NAMM 2010, despite the recession, enjoyed an encouraging increase in attendance. NAMM traditionally features thousands of companies exhibiting new instruments, equipment and accessories, and always has a major impact on what will be setting cash tills ringing. Guests at the recent event included Yoko Ono and Quincy Jones, and NAMM President Joe Lamond challenged participants by stating: “We need to be inspired if our industry is going to change and grow. We’ve got to do things differently, and ask ourselves ‘can I do more?’” A good question!

This year’s NAMM saw a significant Irish presence, reinforcing the feeling that the indigenous musical instrument and equipment industry is now very much an integral part of the global market. That contingent included Aidan McCullough of Keynote Music, and he reckoned that in spite of the recession the main NAMM hall was particularly busy, with a strong buzz around the big names. “The people we deal with were gearing up for the coming year with a realistic level of optimism, still innovating and bringing on new products,” he said. “We took up a great new battery-free guitar pick-up called MiSi that you plug into the mains for 60s seconds to get eight hours of playing. It will cost around the €160-180 mark and our first stock just arrived.”
The Keynote man was also enthusing about a new Martin guitar in their Performance-Series, which is due out later this year. “They had a limited-edition of fifty which were all gone before we even arrived,” he lamented. “There’s also the Line 6 amplification and effects unit with digital wireless microphones which will be very good for us.”
Aidan also told Hot Press that he believes that trends in evidence at NAMM suggest that we can expect a lot more products linked to what’s happening with the apps for iTunes and anything “i” related, as well as even smaller units coming on the market with which to record sound and vision.
In terms of new products, Woodie’s Guitar Hanger was voted ‘Best In Show’ and Lesley Kane and KMI were quick to snap it up for distribution in Ireland. As she explained to Hot Press, “Woodie’s Guitar Hanger is a cleverly designed guitar display system. The hanger supports the guitar by the strap button and has a quick release top bracket so you can take it down easily and clip it back quickly. There’s no risk of damage to the neck or paintwork and Woodie’s Hanger can be fitted to any wall or ceiling at any angle. For guitar dealers, it’s a cost-effective way to display products, and it keeps guitars out of danger.”
Kane also told us that Marshall Amplification announced its revolutionary JMD:1 range of Digital/Valve Amps. Combining the processing power of a newly developed Marshall/Softube digital pre-amplifier with the power and warmth of a Marshall EL34 amplifier, in theory at least it heralds a new era in combined technologies. The Pearl Corporation also introduced their new E-Pro Live, an electronic drumset that looks, feels and sounds like real drums. It offers limitless sonic capability and is built with real drum shells, real brass cymbals, and real drumset hardware.
Roland Ireland were at NAMM to see Roland Corp introduce their latest products to the world market. These included the new range of digital piano’s (HP307/305/302), new VDrum TD12KX Kit, a great new acoustic amp AC33, and – new from BOSS – the ME25 multiple effects unit. To check out these and other great new products go to www.rolandireland.com.
The innovative new Irish company iTAB debuted in Ireland at The Music Show last year, and is now looking to launch worldwide in April. I-Tab is the world’s first electronic songbook, and, to nobody’s surprise, it was received with great enthusiasm by the visitors to NAMM. For more info check out www.i-tab.com.
Retail Sales Manager Steve O’Brien represented XMusic at NAMM, where he got the opportunity to check out the latest MI products from the world’s leading brands. The response of the Irish presence at NAMM can best be summed up by Jimi Scanlan of Jimi’s Music Store in Ballymount who told Hot Press, “It was really exciting to be there, and see so many top class new products that will be coming to Ireland over the coming months.”
Tommy Leddy of the Sound Shop in Drogheda was especially pleased to come home from NAMM with a new product, the Nuvo Clarinéo, which aims to bridge the gap between the recorder and band or orchestral instruments. As he explained, “The Nuvo Clarinéo is light so that kids can play it with no strain, it’s short so that ‘pinky’ keys are easily within reach for smaller hands, and it has small tone holes that are easily covered by smaller fingers. But it will also satisfy the demands of top musicians, and it’s already been acclaimed by renowned professional performers as a great instrument in its own right.”
With cool young players in mind, the Nuvo Clarinéo has another important advantage in that it allows them to play along with friends using the same music – whether it’s for guitar, keyboard, piano, violin or whatever. No wonder Leddy was so upbeat!