Welcome to Behind the Backline, the podcast where we chat with merchants, brands and industry professionals in the musical instrument, pro audio and event technology space about their products, services, industry trends, stories, and more. Join us as we dig into the stories behind our favorite backline gear.
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Ep24: Sugar Percussion - Premium Drums Inspired by Family and Furniture Making
Behind every Sugar drum is 20+ years experience with woodworking, quality wood selection, and a passion to create high quality products.
Ep23: Mahalo Amps - Quality Guitar Amps Born From a Single Quality Doorstop
Most companies can trace their origins back to a story of when their founder had an idea and how it evolved to become the company we know and admire.
Ep22: Dream Cymbals & Gongs - High Quality Cymbals Born From a Grass Roots Movement
Dream started out as a boutique cymbal brand, rooted first in producing high quality gongs and orchestral cymbals at a more affordable price point.
Ep21: Istanbul Mehmet Cymbals - 100% Hand-Crafted Cymbals from Turkey
Istanbul Mehmet Cymbals is one of the few brands that can honestly say that the old way is the best way, still creating each cymbal by hand and hammer.
Ep20: Live Undiscovered Music (LÜM) - Music Streaming for the Other 90%
Live Undiscovered Music helps give bands and fans the chance to experience a much larger catalog of music than you will ever find on Spotify or Pandora.
Ep19: Broadjam - Giving Musicians Opportunities for Placement in Media
Broadjam.com is one of the world’s largest and oldest music community websites that provides services aimed at independent musicians and bands.
Ep18: DynaMount - Bringing Engineering Back to Sound Engineering
In the good ol’ days, songs and albums were recorded without technology like compression. At that time, microphone positioning was everything.
Ep17: Drumeo - Making Music Education Online as Easy as Netflix
Taking online lessons for anything requires a lot of self-discipline, especially since your online instructor can’t necessarily hold you accountable like an in-person instructor.
Ep16: Flattley Guitar Pedals - Highly Personalized, Custom Guitar Pedals
Flattley Guitar Pedals is a small family run company in the UK. Each pedal is created by hand, given a personalized touch, and rigorously tested.
Ep15: Beier Drums – Custom Snare Drums from the Land of Beer and Cheese
Getting a compliment on the way your drum sounds in a crowded and noisy venue without even seeing what drum it is? Best compliment ever.
Ep14: SJC Drums – Custom Drums as Unique as the Drummers that Play Them
SJC Drums began as a drum refurbishing hobby in grandma’s basement in 2000. Today it’s a company that prides itself on crafting high-quality drums.
Ep13: Audiofusion - Turn Your Mobile Device into a Wireless Monitoring System
Musicians love their wireless in-ear monitoring systems. But why do we need to have a separate wireless monitor system AND your phone?
Ep12: Wampler Pedals - World Class Guitar Tones Through Experimentation
If you’re a guitar player, you already know there is an endless array of available guitar pedals that seems to provide any sound or tone you are looking for. But what if there isn’t?
Ep11: Blipblox - Music Through Creativity and Audio Exploration
Introducing the Blipblox, a synthesizer and beatbox designed to promote creativity and audio exploration for children as young as 3 years old.
Ep10: SMASHmouse - Giving You the Power to Kick It to Click It!
As technology and music continue to mesh and evolve, musicians sometimes find themselves in new and awkwardly frustrating situations.
Ep9: Frettable - Combining Artificial Intelligence with Songwriting
Greg Burlet joins us to share his story about how he created Frettable, why he was inspired to develop it, and how it is making an impact on the songwriting industry.
Ep8: The Drum Wallet - Expanding Your Drum Sounds with the Flick of a Stick
The Drum Wallet and the Pocket Watch are simple, yet powerful products that hang from your drum and give you the option to flick it onto to the drum or flip if off to change the sound.
Ep7: Signal Flow - Making Stage Plotting & Setup More Efficient
If you’re an audio engineer looking for an end to the evil plots (pun intended), you’ll want to check out the cloud-based Signal Flow app!
Ep6: Fano Guitars - Crafting the Ultimate Boutique Guitar
After working for 30 years at one of the biggest names in guitars, it can be hard to accept retirement. So what do you do? Start a new guitar business!
Ep5: DrumLite - Giving the Drummer Some With LED Lighting
Drum solos are so last year! Drummers need to continuously find new ways to stand out, demonstrate their worth, and get their share of the love from fans.
Ep4: Welch Tuning Systems - Simplifying the Way We Tune Our Drums
What do you get when a drummer who’s had enough of individually tuning up to 20 points on a drum comes to his senses and realizes there’s got to be an easier way?
Ep3: ToneAlly - Behind NAMM’s 2018 Best Teaching Tool
What’s it like to come up with an idea for a drum teaching tool just a few short years ago and then be named the Best Teaching Tool in 2018 at the NAMM Show?
Ep2: Mukikim - Music and Childlike Wonder for Adults and Kids
Robert Sheets from Mukikim joins us to discuss “Rock and Roll It!”, the company’s musical instrument products and who they are for.
Ep1: SN3 Innovations – Achieving True Sound Activation Mode in Lighting
Greg Notaro, co-founder of SN3 Innovations Lighting Entertainment, joins Octave Media founder Matt Jacoby in our first-ever episode of Behind the Backline.