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Sweetwater's GearFest 2016 - Official Show Report Thread


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Sweetwater's on to something for certain as last year's GearFest reported slightly over 8000 in attendance and this year, early reports predict over 10,000.

Those are pretty impressive numbers for an online music retailer located in the middle of Indiana.

 

Harmony Central's packing up a 25 foot Airstream and heading up to the show to bring you our GearFest X-stream Show Report.

 

If you are not familiar with the event, you can learn more here:

 

Sweetwater's Official GearFest Page

 

 

Our very own Craig Anderton is giving several presentations, along with about 100 other great industry presenters.

Let us know if you plan to attend or see something you would love to see us cover.

 

Thanks

 

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If you've ever dreamed of designing your own Gibson Custom Shop Guitar stop by the custom shop's Made 2 Measure event at Sweetwater's Gearfest! They are located in the building just up the stairs ... by the slide (that's right, Sweetwater has a slide from the upstairs to the downstairs! - such a fun place!)

 

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Sweetwater has all kinds of deals for event attendees. Interestingly, if you're a vendor you have to wait until after 4 PM to take advantage of any deals - Sweetwater prioritizes the customers. It was very difficult to avoid the temptation of a pair of Auralex MoPads for $25...I saw Craig walking out with a set. It also seems to be a yearly tradition that Sweetwater sells SM58s for $58 and SM57s for $57.

 

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The Cafeteria - And the food is actually fantastic and varied. There are salads and vegetarian offerings, as well as old favorites like burgers and pulled pork sandwiches. Oh, and about the elephant: Apparently it was a charitable art sale, and although you can't see it, this elephant was done up as Elvis so that's how it ended up at Sweetwater.

 

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People waiting to get into Andy Timmons workshop. The multiple workshops and seminars are a very big deal at GearFest, in fact it's getting to the point where the number of people attending GearFest workshops is bumping up against the limits of the amount of classroom and auditorium space at Sweetwater.

 

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Craig is like the E.F. Hutton of the Music Industry - his four workshops were packed. This shot is from his workshop on "How to Make Your Recorded Vocals Sound at Least Twice as Good." People even had to be turned away after his workshops became standing room only...and then they ran out of standing room.

 

Given how many workshops conflict in terms of time, Sweetwater is very smart about how they schedule workshops in terms of subject matter so that people likely to go to one of the seminars would probably not be interested in another one scheduled at the same time.

 

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Sweetwater's owner, Chuck Surack, has a hobby: He likes to fly his helicopter. I thought this was probably Chuck doing a flyby, but it wasn't...apparently he was too busy at GearFest itself. It seems he was constantly surrounded by people who wanted to thank him for putting on the event; he's very accessible.

 

 

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Gibson Custom Guitar Shop - You could design your own Gibson Custom Shop guitar from the ground up in the "Made 2 Measure" room, and end up with something totally personalized for you. There was a steady stream of people who were there not just to design a guitar, but who wanted to learn about what went into making a guitar.

 

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If you get hungry at GearFest - wait ... they won't let that happen. There's also a smaller cafe where you could revive yourself after hours walking the premises with designer coffee options. And by the way...these are around all year for the 1,000 or so employees, not just brought out for GearFest. Prices are very reasonable, too; Sweetwater definitely doesn't take advantage of a captive audience.

 

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And never let it be said that working for Sweetwater sucks - there are some pretty incredible employee benefits. Apparently Chuck Surack has this wild and crazy idea that happy employees is good for all concerned. If I worked at Sweetwater, I would not argue with that concept.

 

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Oh, Wait, you need a cut and color with that?

 

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Full Salon & Spa -

 

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Sweetwater's GearFest: It's "In Tents" :) One of the great aspects of GearFest is everything is so spread out, and there are so many tents, that you never feel crowded like you do at indoor trade shows. Looking at this photo, it's hard to believe there are thousands and thousands of people running around the show.

 

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