Musical Instruments

It’s only been one day at the NAMM show in Anaheim California, but I’ve been seeing a couple of themes recurring as I walk among the booths. Continued integration of or integration with touch-screen devices and miniaturization & portability seem to be features that a lot of vendors are including in their product lines this year. Day 2 will be a test to see if my hunches here are correct and to see if there are any other trends emerging.

Any meaningful discussion with an recording engineer will inevitably morph into a discussion about microphones. Just as a closet full of shoes is never enough for a lot of the women I’ve known, a closet full of microphones is rarely ever enough for most recording engineers. There are a lot of different types of microphones and there are a many, many brands, shapes and sizes to pick from. I hope to at least get you started with a road-map of what to look for in microphones and I apologize in advance for setting you on this path! If you’re set on recording as a hobby or career, there’s a very good chance that you’re going to get slightly obsessed with microphones.

The trip to NAMM this year was packed! I thought I’d write a post of some things that personally caught my eye in a head-scratching way. My francophone counterpart, Marc-Andre and I walked dozens of kilometers over the past four days.    Here’s a few of the things that made me go hmmm …   (including the 24 string bass guitar shown here!)

 If you are in the market for a stereo mixer that won’t colonize a lot of space then the Yamaha MG06X may be what you are looking for. Compact but with incredible power and features, small-scale live performers, DJs, or home studio producers can all benefit from this compact, portable, and well built mixer.