ISSUE 127 DECEMBER 2010 COVER STORY 25
THE REDOUGHTABLE STENTOR
Michael Doughty has grown Stentor into a £10 million business, but don’t expect him to shout too loudly about it. He’s much more inclined to let others do the heralding.
NEWS
GUITAR NATION, PEAVEY PLATINUM, NAMM SHOW APPS, LR BAGGS TO STRINGS & THINGS, YAMAHA MUSIC POINT, LONDON BASS SHOW
EVENTS 4
NAMM PREVIEW 17 Our first look at MI’s annual California dream
FEATURES
DIGITAL SWITCHOVER 14 Shure’s Peter James talks us through the changes
2TWENTY2 21 How to start a business in two weeks
ORANGE 30 The Great British amp brand opens up in China
17
TAYLOR 33 Back on its own and brimming with confidence RØDE 36
Think this is a budget mic? Think again
ROTOSOUND 38 The benefits of the recession for the UK
EMD 40 On the road with the chief rep, Tom Robinson
36 SECTOR SPOTLIGHTS
PORTABLE PA 45 Never has there been more to choose for gigsters
STUDIO MONITORS 49 What the live boys do, the studio can too
RETAIL 66
SHOP MARKETING 66 Hey, good lookin’, what’s cooking for Christmas?
REGULARS: DISTIE PROFILE 10 I WOKE UP 42 RETAIL NEWS 64 LOCATION REPORT 68 PRODUCTS 53-61 CODA 80
EDITORIAL COMMENT Nobody works in a
vacuum and the fruits of pioneers’ labours are tied to what already exists.
something new that seems, once it has been introduced to the world, to be so obvious we find ourselves murmuring ‘why didn’t I think of that?’ This issue of MI Pro is veritably packed with innovators, from
H
Michael Doughty and Stentor in the UK (page 25) to Peter Freedman and Røde in Australia (page 36). These two make for an interesting comparison. Doughty was heading out to China to source manufacturers as far back as 1975, just about the time Freedman was joining his father’s electronics company.
Stentor did a lot of path clearing towards where we are now
in regards to far eastern manufacture and was the first MI company to do so – as well as being the first to have a wholly owned facility out there. By the time the Stentor factory was opening a few hours
drive outside Shanghai, Freedman was pulling all of his manufacturing back from China and setting up a sophisticated operation in Oz, making microphones better, cheaper and more reliably under his close control. Both have succeeded, to say the least, not by spotting a gap in the market so much as seeing ahead to what the market will be in five, ten or 15 years time. Another innovator this month is Joe Marinic (page 29), the
founder of Shadow Electronics – a man so fired up by new things that he seems to invent one every month or so. Of course, my wonder at the achievements of these people is due to my naiveté. When looking at the results of their work, I never fail to consider the background work, the trial and error and the downright despondency that is always involved before the big idea is hit upon. Nobody works in a vacuum and whether we are talking about
Einstein, Shostakovitch or Jimi Hendrix, the fruits of their labour were very much tied to what already existed at the time. These were simply the ones that worked hard enough to piece together what was already in front of them, but in a way that was productive, useful and profitable. There’s not necessarily any great gift in being a pioneer, but you
do have to be looking in the right direction to begin with – and then put your own stamp on it.
Andy Barrett, Managing editor
ow do these innovators do it? I never cease to be amazed at the ability some people have to come up with something absolutely new – not only that, but
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