Hi guys. The NAMM show is without a doubt the most grueling four days of the year. However, it’s also one of the most rewarding because it’s when I get to interact and meet many of our customers. This situation was obviously very frustrating and even more so to relive in this video. But not because I felt bad for myself, but because the people who really suffered were the audience who came to the booth to listen to our products but were not able to. That’s what disappointed me most. Luckily I did several presentations each day and most people were able to eventually hear a great demo of the new system. But anyway, I tried to incorporate a little bit of humor to mellow the situation, and i’m glad some people can get a laugh out of it. Much love to everyone! - Steven
If it makes you feel any better, I came here to see a freak out but the it was underwhelming but i ended up watching the whole thing and I'm alot more interested in a virtual recording studio than I probably would been otherwise.
Yes I think he did ok not to flip out, if it was me I would be pissed too , I have a short temper so I would probably start throwing stuff cussing like crazy and ending the show, that is absolutely ridiculous they had a marching band their when people is trying to have a presentation.
Regardless of your opinions on Steven Slate, this was extremely unprofessional on the part of the organizers at NAMM. I think he handled this much better than most people would have. He is completely right, booths get fined or even shut down entirely for being too loud. You know he paid very good money to be able to put on this presentation, and its very insulting to have to be interrupted mid-presentation by a goddamn marching band.
Greetings, My booth was about 25 yards away from the Steven Slate booth. He was, by far, one of the louder things going on near me. I don't see that he has any cause to complain. It wasn't anything like the guitar, horn or drum sections though. Those places made me want to take a hostage.
+Mark You're right- everyone should just be cool with everyone else making the environment as loud as possible while merchants try to demo and hawk their products.
Yes but you miss the point in that Steven Slate was by far the loudest booth near us. How can he complain? NAMM is what it is and I wouldn't want it any other way.
Sorry to be so off topic but does any of you know a way to log back into an Instagram account..? I was dumb forgot my login password. I appreciate any assistance you can offer me.
Ridiculous! They should have at least made the band schedule public so the exhibitors could plan the demos around it. Pretty annoying, even watching the video. I can only imagine how annoying it was in person. Actually Slate held it together pretty well IMO.
This isn't a meltdown, it's just a rant to fill the time until the problem goes away. God forbid he visit the wind instrument area. It's like this all day, all four days.
Completely agree with Steve, if I would be there trying to demo my audio product, I would have responded the same! What where the NAMM guys thinking????
I feel for Steven. We weren't at NAMM this year but they have, for the past couple of years, really been cracking down on volume on the trade show floor. And then they allow that crap to happen. Ridiculous.
Well this is what happens at big shows. At the end of the day as long as you enjoy it overall that is all that matters bro. Everyone knows your products are good and we appreciate how are you and your team are working to give us audio engineers and musicians so much more. So thank you Steven.
Perfectly warranted; how the fuck are you meant to work around that? There's extraneous circumstances, and then there's flawed planning and unrealistic expectations surrounding the simultaneous exemplification of sound.
So he’s saying with this program, that you can replicate other popular microphones? Sounds pretty awesome to me. I’m very surprised the mics didn’t pick up all the surroundings chatter and sounds. Besides the interruption, he sold me on it. Granted I could never afford it ever in my life.
Loses it? He's saying like it is and I think he's handling it pretty well and even humors the audience. I have to agree with the rest of the guys here. If you consider how much money you pay to show your newest products and the noise level is already pretty damn high, why the hell is a marching band allowed through the show? If I was attending I would be pretty damn annoyed and probably more grumpy than Steve.
Click bait. That...is not losing it. That...is called he was pissed that he's not getting what he paid for...kind of like the way some of us feel when we try his plugins or find an issue during the installation or usage.
Every booth should be sold with scheduled access to a soundproof demo room. Even with ambient noise it must be impossible to hear nuances in anything demoed. NAMM probably offer this separately at a premium ...
Dude, I did the same thing....I scoured this section to keep from being one of those redundant commenters you see on EVERY video...but nothin... Did people really ignore tusk to that degree? I guess so....
He's a cry baby. IT'S NAMM! There is sound going off (musical sound and floor noise) literally constantly; that's what happens when you fill 5 connected halls (A through F... even though F is down stairs) with all M.I. and Pro Audio companies... it's fricken noisy by literally everyone (not just the marching band). Indstead of acting like a spoiled effing 8 year old brat, he could have paused for 30 seconds and had someone politely go and ask if the marching band could stop until his seminar was done.... simple. Normally if you ask exhibitors at NAMM nicely people respond positively. Now, I wouldn't use his shit if you gave it to me.. Total douche bag
id built out a completely sound proof room for these shows but I'm not a audio company so it probably doesn't make sense to do that but it sounds like a great idea to me.
This shit is exactly why I would never go to NAMM again. NAMM 2018 was almost an entirely visual experience for me because everywhere you go it’s like every song you’ve ever heard being played at the same time. I really just got to see a lot of new equipment. I didn’t hear hardly any of it.
Honestly I wouldn’t have heard of slate until I saw this video and this is very interesting. A tube condensor mic that can digitally model an arsenal of studio mics that would cost $10000s of $? Really interesting technology. Pretty groundbreaking.
And like he says, I believe the organisers can be quite strict when monitoring volume. I saw at least one photo on social media showing a notice that a booth had been closed down for exceeding the allowed SPL levels.
God dammit! I'm trying to sell my magical $1000 microphone that sounds just like a $100,000 mic. No seriously!!! Turn that damn marching band off!!! It's magic! Please god dammit people, buy my crap!!!
its called technology, in this day in age it also has to be marketed. The guy is fighting to bring great products to the market against the big players that are ripping you off in value. every product i have bought i love. if you paid 50k to have a both you would think otherwise. unbelievable!!
Umm its a audio trade show .... As in music and instruments and sound. I guess the other 5000 vendors are supposed to just hault everything because this douchbag has a nice haircut or something .
Damn dude that must be insanely irritating. I work events like this quite a bit and the event coordinators are usually DDIICCKKSSS about noise levels and scheduling. That’s absolutely unacceptable.
He’s completely justifiably pissed off. That’s ridiculous. He should’ve at least been given notice as to when the marching band would be performing, so that there was no conflict with his presentation.
im impressed he kept it cool with the sale face on during the marching all while drinking a beer. Takes years of patience and dedication being that professional minded.
To me NAMM feels like it's for lazy tech nerds, who can show up without doing any research and see new stuff. Brands are realizing it doesn't actually increase their sales and it's slowly dying.
I completely disagree. For new up and coming products from small companies that might have just started, NAMM has allowed them to get onto store shelves. I still recall the amazingly talented young teen who hand built his own synth last year and because of NAMM, was placed in the spotlight.
True - the booths and companies are getting smaller. I noticed that at Namm this year. They give away less and less merch, shirts, hats, strings, etc. A lot of the plugin makers are in so much fuckin' competition lately. I got to play at Namm this year, so that was cool. But, overall, it is getting less and less interesting.
I personally would have gone to show management and demanded my entire show costs back including drayage (the union's cut) and all travel expenses for purposefully preventing my company's new product demo from taking place. What a world-class stupid move allowing a marching band in there.
Someone else should start doing shows like these. Ive seen so many videos of the Namm event organizers ruining the shows for the crowds. That is what happens when there is no competition.
There’s no need for namm we have the Internet we could do this entire convention live online and make it a better more organized experience, people can market their product using social media and artist endorsements it’s time to move it along
I have to say I think the title is misleading. I think he kept it together but just displayed a level of annoyance. Which he was perfectly within his rights to do considering the circumstances.
Haha, brilliant. He's a cool dude. The amount of money it costs to display there, I prolly would have just cranked it loud enough to dorwn out the band.
i dont think he really loses it all like the title of the video he actually handled it better than most people would i think especially for how passionate he is about the products
Steven Slate is the greatest salesman in audio. If he was on a shopping channel, every household in the world would have pro audio equipment. I can see it now. Every man, women and child would be recording and mixing their own music, constantly trying different slate mic combinations. Little Timmy, the youngest of the family would prefer the crisp sounding U87 while his older sister Abigail is quite contempt with an AKG c414 for its balanced tone. The mother Thelma though, she loves her RCA 44a. Her taste in microphone reflects on her expensive taste in order to maintain face and dignity among her peers. The father Steve, as much as he is a fan of fidelity is a tough man and an old soul. For that he always chooses the old faithful sm57. May not be the most finesse of microphone but like an old roll of duck tape, it will get the job done. When he feels like being a bit more adventurous he often chooses a coles 4038 as he is often nostalgic of old AM radio broadcasts and often dwells on the collective impact of the 1938 radio play of War of the Worlds as the pinnacle of audio fidelity. Steven SLate would sell the dream of audio fidelity at a convenient price point and not a single home in the US would be without a Slate product!
Obviously you don't have the entrepreneur spirit that Steven Slate has. I can see it now, you sitting at your computer, day in... day out. Pretending to be happy. A fake happiness if you will. All your life you constantly think to yourself "I could do that" or "What if I did that". However, due to lack of motivation or drive you never act out on these inhibitions and grand ideas. Instead you go on youtube and watch videos of other successful entrepreneurs and business identities. By observing the success of others you give yourself a shallow but steady degree of happiness. Everybody loves an underdog or success story, building something grand from almost nothing, just an idea. However, deep down you know that such feats are just beyond your grasp. You will never live out your dreams and only settle with what is comfortable in the present. But there is a glimmer of hope. Your romantic partner, little Timmy (mentioned in the previous post now all grown up) provides the loving support and motivation you have always yearned for. After finally starting a successful career and living out your dreams, you will finally change your name from Fake Unhappiness, to True Happiness. Good luck and godspeed True Happiness!
Mark Jeremy Seymour (born 26 July 1956) is an Australian musician and vocalist. He was the frontman and songwriter of rock band, Hunters & Collectors (1981-1998). Seymour has a solo career, releasing a number of albums. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2001 he won Best Adult Contemporary Album for One Eyed Man. Mark Jeremy Seymour was born on 26 July 1956 in Benalla to Frank and Paula Seymour. He has two older sisters, Hilary and Helen, and a younger brother, Nick (born 1958) - later bass guitarist for Crowded House. His mother encouraged all four children to learn musical instruments and sing. He initially learned piano but switched to guitar as a teenager. Seymour and his family moved to Melbourne in 1972, he graduated from University of Melbourne in 1978 and was qualified to teach. He later lived in the St Kilda area. He wrote the anthem "Holy Grail", which although not intended to be about sport, became synonymous with the AFL Grand Final and adopted by Network Ten for broadcasts of AFL matches, and also with Queensland's first Sheffield Shield cricket win in 1995. Seymour has performed at several AFL Grand Finals.
