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What goes around, comes around... on the fairground
Wes Maebe about supporting the social aspect of the industry and trade show culture...
hen you read this, I sincerely hope it will be in the blazing sunshine on a terrace, on the steps of the studio on your break or in your garden. With Frankfurt MusikMesse / Pro Light + Sound and NAMM behind us, and the AES convention returning to London, I'd like to talk about the social aspect of our industries. Fewer and fewer of the main pro audio manufacturers are willing to spend time and budget on getting together at our pro audio exhibitions. The general consensus is that the shows are getting too small to make it worth the effort. This will result in a self-fulfilling prophecy of course. Because if you, as the industry's manufacturing backbone, don't attend, the shows will just shrivel up and die. I have to agree there are too many of these shows and most of them seem to be held at pretty much the same time of the year. So if we want to go and talk to a given manufacturer and check out their new releases and updates, we need to pick one of the massive expos. As with anything that's grown beyond capacity, there are a lot of drawbacks to this. The stands you want to visit aren’t grouped together but are spread out over several halls, often tucked away near products with
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which they have nothing in common. Once you find them, you see that their equipment has people buzzing around it like bees round a honey pot because of the sheer volume of visitors. This makes a bit of knob twiddling or a chat with someone knowledgeable on the
Wes Maebe enjoys getting together with the rest of the industry at trade shows – and urges others to do the same
What we need are focused and well laid-out exhibitions attended by all the big players.
stand very hard. Then nine times out of 10 you’ll find that your contact isn't even at the show because they’ve been detailed off to attend another show running at the same time on a different continent.
The big boys tend to stick to the
following reasons for not participating: "It's too small, nobody buys anything" and
"people can get all the information on the net".
Call me old fashioned, but what happened to human contact? Does it feel right to expect potential customers to part with several thousand Pounds, Dollars or Euros on the strength of some spec sheets
and watching some cool dude twiddling knobs on a YouTube clip? I think not. You’re talking about buying equipment that was conceived by geniuses, built to perfection with real passion and destined to be used and cared for for the duration of your career.
The web does provide end users to be with all the manuals, prices comparisons and reviews. Then there are the various pro and pro- sumer magazines supplying us with in-the-field reviews. But nobody can deny that the market is being swamped by new gear all the time. Gone are the days of choosing between three or four units at your local dealer. Product catalogues fill books the size of the Yellow Pages and the new kids on the block have
no idea which piece of kit to go for. What we need are focussed and well laid out exhibitions attended by all the big players and the smaller manufacturers or their distributors alike. A place where we can get in depth and practical advice, get a feel for the equipment and the companies and designers behind the gear. Obviously it has to be profitable for all parties involved but there’s a lot to be said for being seen, supporting your existing and potential client base and enjoying some real life interaction. And this translates across our industry, be it in the equipment sales, songwriting, publishing, record labels or in the studio. Nothing beats a bunch of people interacting and making history, however big or insignificant it may seem at the time.
Wes Maebe is a multi-skilled engineer involved in all aspects of the studio and live sectors. While spending a great deal of time touring with artists such as Sting, he freely admits that his first love is studio work and he is most at home either recording, mixing or mastering at his own facility or at one of several top UK rooms. Recent clients have included Alexandra Burke.
48 audioPRO May 2011
www.audioprointernational.com
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