Once a year, Anaheim California, the sleepy bedroom community south of Los Angeles and home to the Happiest Place on Earth, gets rocked to its roots. The NAMM Convention is music’s number one trade show in the USA and the place where audio pros, musicians, celebrities and manufacturers meet to share the latest gear, gossip and goings-on in the industry. Walking the floor this year was Shaquille O’Neal, George Duke, Stewart Copeland and Dave Navarro. Obviously, NAMM has a lot going on to attract an elite group of celebs and musicians such as these.
The CRAS crew was there in force checking out the latest gear, forging new relationships and visiting old friends on the show floor. "NAMM and other industry trade shows affords us the opportunity to meet with the top manufacturers in the industry, and bring their technology back to our students," said Director Kirt Hamm. "Being in close touch with manufacturers let’s us gauge the best path to take in our curriculum development."
New alliances recently struck at the school include one with trendsetting Alesis. The Conservatory recently purchased enough HD24 Hard Disk recorders to stock all it’s studios, labs and 6,000-sq. ft. live sound classroom. In early 2004, the school kicked off its Masterlink Certification program where students gain the skills they’ll need to expertly operate this world-class digital two-track recorder.
Kirt Hamm sums it up when he says "our goal is to make students irresistible to the music community through their mastery of a wide variety of audio skills." The truth is, you can be a Conservatory grad, or compete against one.
The CRAS crew was there in force checking out the latest gear, forging new relationships and visiting old friends on the show floor. "NAMM and other industry trade shows affords us the opportunity to meet with the top manufacturers in the industry, and bring their technology back to our students," said Director Kirt Hamm. "Being in close touch with manufacturers let’s us gauge the best path to take in our curriculum development."
New alliances recently struck at the school include one with trendsetting Alesis. The Conservatory recently purchased enough HD24 Hard Disk recorders to stock all it’s studios, labs and 6,000-sq. ft. live sound classroom. In early 2004, the school kicked off its Masterlink Certification program where students gain the skills they’ll need to expertly operate this world-class digital two-track recorder.
Kirt Hamm sums it up when he says "our goal is to make students irresistible to the music community through their mastery of a wide variety of audio skills." The truth is, you can be a Conservatory grad, or compete against one.
Pictured top: Anaheim Convention Center; Top rollover: Kirt Hamm visiting Ben Cook and Simon Sinclair of Tannoy; middle: Kirt, Sarah Jones of Mix Magazine and engineer Robert Scovill Middle rollover: Kirt at the Midas booth; Bottom: Kirt, Eric Papp, John McJunkin and Paul Grove at the Summit Audio booth; Bottom rollover: CRAS grad Eric Boyer, now head of marketing for Blue Microphones.
