The news came not at the official press conference, but several hours later when public notification was green-lighted by shadowy figures on the other end of mobile phones. New senior VP of marketing Ken Berger - returning to the EAW fold - clearly expected to announce the deal at the conference, but was forced to play out a double act with PR manager Kyle Ritland, as ink failed to dry on remote contracts. Still, the sigh of relief come 5.00pm, and official confirmation, was almost louder than Behringer's hairy metal duo on the next stand.
Berger's appointment was one of many 'people launches' in a show more crowded with new executives than new toys. At Soundcraft, Andy Trott lived up to his name and covered a lot of exhibition ground as the new MD with responsibility also for BSS, Amek and DAR. His predecessor at Amek, John Oakley, meanwhile ran out in his new Klark Teknik strip, having been transferred from Manchester to Kidderminster.
The lighting industry gets a pretty good look-in too, thanks to the DJ sector, and not to be left out of Anaheim's flurry of musical chairs, John Adams popped up at the International Audio Group (IAG) as the new president of Apogee Lighting (further details, page 41). Nobody missed the serendipity of his arrival from totally unrelated Apogee Sound, but Adams himself was looking forward. "I'm managing the whole chain - R&D, manufacturing and sales channels. Our main thrust will come at PLASA and LDI, with a whole new range of products that will offer unprecedented value for money. This is all possible through the Chinese connection."
Adams was referring to the vertical integration of IAG manufacturing in a brand new 500,000sq.ft factory an hour from Hong Kong, and indeed Steve Woolley of Wharfedale Pro highlighted the significance of this move for the group. "From conception to delivery, there are few people involved outside of IAG," he said. "Raw materials go in one end, finished products come out the other end. I think we all recognize that the factory of tomorrow is China . . ."
Proving the price-performance point, Wharfedale additions included 8" and 10" Twins and a pair of Twin subs, along with a 3-way C215 LiX and powered versions of the EVP series.
Harman is now using its consolidated worldwide distribution to supply brand packages, and used this NAMM to roll out a series of entry-level live systems. Typical of these is a kit comprising two JBL MP415s, two MP418S subs, Crown CE2000A and CE4000 amps, dbx DriveRack PA and a Soundcraft FX16. "We've never done this before," said Mark Terry, pointing out another system in one single box comprising Eon speakers, Soundcraft E-Series mixer and an AKG microphone. "But it's finally fulfilling the promise of being able to bundle all these brands." A consumer-level tactic, maybe, but with the top-end systems at around $15,000, a great many small-to-medium clubs will be tempted by this kind of off-the-shelf systems integration.
As KV2 celebrated its Czechs bouncing back, and a new era for industry mainstay Phil Price (see L&SI January 2003), live music innovation continued in unexpected quarters thanks to software companies Ableton and Cycling '74. Both Live v2.0 and Radial v1.0 are real-time sequencing packages for performance, closing the gap between stage and studio and setting whole new challenges for sound reinforcement.
Final word, though, must go to BLUE Microphones' Ball - the world's first phantom-powered dynamic microphone and exactly the same as a softball. And yes, it's blue.
