Members Anderton Posted November 24, 2015 Members Share Posted November 24, 2015 You know that feeling when you're in a foreign country, and things aren't the same, but somehow, they're the same? Well, I've been to a zillion trade shows in my life, so when a co-worker at Gibson said "You should really check out the WFX trade show, it's in Nashville this year, I'll get you a pass," my first reaction was "Huh?" WFX stands for Worship Facilities Conference and Expo but trust me, this thread isn't about religion. The "worship" biz is, in the words of Donald Trump, HUUUGE. Now, I knew that PreSonus sold mixers into churches and such, but I was not at all prepared for WFX. The multimedia onslaught was such that if you can't swing the airfare to get to the ProLight + Sound exposition in Germany that's part of the Frankfurt Messe, just go to WFX instead. Granted, there won't be the pounding techno soundtracks everywhere you go - and frankly, it was true culture shock to attend a quiet trade show! - nor will you find Bevies of Booth Babes, but you will find lighting, sound, streaming media, and some pretty advanced technology. Sometimes I felt I was having deja vu all over again, having just been at AES. So, let's head to downtown Nashville... Go to the same convention center that hosts NAMM, and see what awaits us. Here's an overview of the show, courtesy of the nice lady who let me invade the meeting room spaces on the top of the Perdue booth. Yes, there really were that many exhibits. But it definitely wasn't as big as NAMM, although that left a lot of room for tables to accommodate the aficionados of haute cuisine known as "convention food." Live performance mixers are commonplace...gone are the days of Peavey powered mixers with 12 inputs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted November 24, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 24, 2015 DiGiCo had a particularly strong presence. Allen & Heath was there, too. As with many trade shows, manufacturers choose KRK speakers to demo their stuff...as they're a Gibson brand, I always like to see that This company is showcasing NDrive, a pocket-size solid-state recording that hooks up to mixers with USB. Wanna record all 32 tracks of a sermon for later recall? That's what it does. As you'd expect, Avid was there too. But they were more into showing off their consoles than Pro Tools. Lighting was everywhere. Mammoth LED screens, animations, big-screen TV setups...you name it. This is where I started getting serious ProLight + Sound flashbacks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted November 24, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 24, 2015 And more lighting... The other thing that surprised me was how many companies devoted to streaming were there. Real-time streaming, podcasts, you name it...everyone's hitting the web to get their message out. And there were plenty of familiar names from our industry. But it wasn't just all about electronics and lighting. You had everything from intelligent locks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted November 24, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 24, 2015 To acoustic companies... To architectural consultants... To chair manufacturers. There was also a speaker that looked so cool, I just had to take a photo. And we'll close out with the Wacky and Wonderful category...fake trees. Now, the irony is that I didn't take any photos of the event that I went there for - the comparison of about 16 compact sound systems including ones from Cerwin-Vega, PreSonus, L-Acoustics, Bose, EAW, RCF, etc. Material was played through each setup so you could A/B them. Or actually, it was more like A/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/I/J/K etc. them. Nor did I get a shot of the one product at the show that really rocked my world...a chair. Yes, a chair. The reason why I didn't get a shot is because it was the last thing I saw and it was so freaking comfortable I got totally wrapped up into finding out why. It's designed specifically for music engineers, in fact it's called the Stealth Music Engineer Chair. I'll be doing a review of it because given how much time I spend sitting, I'm always looking for something that will improve the experience...and even though I didn't take a picture, I did find this video online. [video=youtube;n0LsoWPeM_g] At that wraps up my experience at WFX. I have a couple takeaways: Religion is going high-tech...and for all of you who can't get a gig mixing live sound because there aren't any bands left after the collapse of the music industry, well, there are a lot of mixers out there just waiting to have their faders slapped. Also, give the soft sales of pro audio equipment into big studios, it looks like houses of worship might be taking up the slack. In any event, it was an eye-opening experience...and a peek into a part of the audio industry that I never really knew was this big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 It was true culture shock to attend a quiet trade show! I always thought that, like Bigfoot and Nessie, those were strictly mythical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Nor did I get a shot of the one product at the show that really rocked my world...a chair. Yes, a chair. The reason why I didn't get a shot is because it was the last thing I saw and it was so freaking comfortable I got totally wrapped up into finding out why. It's designed specifically for music engineers, in fact it's called the Stealth Music Engineer Chair. I'll be doing a review of it because given how much time I spend sitting, I'm always looking for something that will improve the experience...and even though I didn't take a picture, I did find this video online. [video=youtube;n0LsoWPeM_g] I'll be watching for this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted November 24, 2015 Members Share Posted November 24, 2015 One of my pals who specializes in mid-sized facility FOH has a Sunday HOW gig with a prosperous (but in no way mega-) congregation in Newport Beach, CA. It's an old line sect and music tends to the traditional, choir, organ, a little piano. But while the music is traditional, the tech is not. There's a lot of money in religion -- and particularly in mega-churches and in the evangelical communities, often a big emphasis on the entertainment aspect -- and often with hired professional musicians from outside the congregation performing in a number of styles. My mom occasionally goes with friends to some of these churches and she often comes back telling me it's more like going to a commercial entertainment show (which she also sees plenty of; ironically, my mom is much more socially active than I am these days). In fact, one of my younger relatives (late 20s) has started playing in one of several 'amateur' bands that share his megachurch's main stage with a couple of paid, professional bands. I remember when i thought it was refreshing to see a little nontraditional music sneaking into services in the 1960s. A few decades of crass commercialization and LCD pandering [there really is Christian death metal,* I guess, hard as that is to believe] can really take the edge off that refreshing quality. It's a long way from a single nun with a guitar... *Definitely not to be confused with the late, arguably great LA band, Christian Death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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