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.
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.
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????
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.
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....
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.
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.
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
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.
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 ...
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 .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
He handled that well. For the time and money he sunk into a NAMM booth and presentation allotment, I would have gone ballistic. Very cool product. I thought it would be a couple grand. Would love to hear how this software would handle a Bernard Purdy shuffle. Do some Dan, Toto, Led Zep Fool in the Rain. The toms were kinda generic but the bass was slick. I could hear the slap and attack on the head coupled with a good, warm tone. Outstanding.
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.
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.
![Recording Drums With Steve Albini [Third Circle Recordings]](/img/n.gif)
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
I'd have gone fucking mental! :)
I thought you handled this very well. And it's funny because of how absurd the situation is!!! A damn marching band... srsly?
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.
SlateTV
Its alright man, no need to explain.
Kek Wills It
Kel lel but his neck line is done properly IMO
Now that's a Slate Trigger.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Hahahhaaha what a comment!
lol
Haha, with a low threshold
Nicely done.
Now I see, why Slate plugins do not include presets for horns/brass
Lol
😂😂😂😂😂
🤣
The title should read 'Steven Slate conducts himself in a fair and reasonable manner considering the utter stupidity of the NAMM organizers'.
Lawrence Greenwood yep
yes
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.
The horns really cut thru the mix without sounding up front..
tf! 🤣
@@iuihlutuk I forgot about that one.. haaa 😁
I think that's the UAD all-star band!!
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.
He's a huge wank..
I don't know about you but it just sounds like a marching band no matter what mic pre you use.
I always imagined this guy, when his car fails, he calmly goes home, takes a baseball bat, and beats the crap out of that car.
Came to watch him lose it. After he didn't lose it I just enjoyed his namm presentation.
Loved the fact that they were playing “Dreams” though, one of my favorite Mac songs.
Honestly, I'd be pissed too. I think he's pretty reasonable.
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.
@Grady Gavin instablaster :)
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.
Next plug-in: Slate Noise Canceller.
Hopefully it cancels out his voice.
I would like to see the video of "Trevor doing something about this!"
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.
exactly.. he had to do something entertaining. what else was he supposed to do but makes some jokes about the absurdity of the situation.
“Bob just killed the marching band. Big hand for Bob.” Hahaha 😂
Dear God, this is incredibly infuriating.
Honestly rude of NAMM not to inform him that there would be a marching band playing.
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.
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 agree, i'd be pissed.
oh hey! :)
Stop defending him. People are DEAD because of this!
I like Steven way more after this! This was hilarious.
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.
Marching band redirected by folks at ToonTrack
That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen at Namm absolutely fucking ridiculous.
I can’t believe they allow that to happen!
Wow...that went from Rumours to Tusk mighty quick
I can't believe you're the only one who made that joke. I thought the comment section would've been full of similar takes.
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 didn’t “lose it”...you just wanted views. He handled it perfectly.
This guy is a total bad ass! He handled this so much better than I would have. Namm owes this man big time.
This really brightened up my Thursday LOL
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.
It was driving me crazy listening on headphones, it must have been 10 times worse at the booth
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.
100% agree. I met Steven at a Golf Event and he didn't know me from Adam and he could not have been nicer.
The king of hype.
LOL is that Gaz Williams at the12:55 point? Hope to hear about this on Sonic Talk.
Man I can’t help but die laughing! This is funny as heck!
I was there during that presentation. All things considered, I thought Steven handled it really well.
Agree!!
kind of a douche bag though
Yeah, real pro...... Cursing at a band and drinking beer while trying to sell product. What an unprofessional douche-bag
Non Pro
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
Hahahahaha damn it man, love your stuff Steve! Ordered an ml1 can’t wait to try it out!
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.
About to order myself an ML-2, and now I know this is the guy behind it I'm even more enthused by it haha! What a legend!
Love using SSD drums with my Roland TD1K
Funny how the title spins it as if steven is doing something wrong but then the description has a more accurate assessment of the situation
I just got the access pass I really like it ....cant wait to get the microphone situation
LOL!!! A Steven Slate Meltdown is the best!
Hahahaha lol
new song title, tactical nuke 2.0
You missed your calling dude. You should do stand up comedy. This was painfully funny 🤣
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 ...
Why doesn't he clip his wireless mic pack to his belt or pocket or something. I just found myself staring at the cable he's twisting..
aside from the headache NAMM, this is a very cool presentation. very interesting sound designs and crazy mic models.
Why did they add unnecessary noise to product convention for audio and music products. Isn't it difficult enough to isolate each display as is?
I completely agree with him being upset! He's there to make a living, and has paid allot of money to be there. NAMM owes him some money...
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!!!
You are so right with his crap mic.
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 .
c0cainum...
rkl08551 BINGO!
why was there a NAMM parade? that's what I wanna know.
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.
ideal microphone for marching band
Take the fancy mic and software and record the marching band. See how good they can make them sound.
iVardensphere LMFAO dude I'm dying of laughter
I think he handles it pretty well all things considered. He obviously spent big money to do this and they (NAMM) kind of crapped all over him.
This was actually funny. I'd be pissed too... I do like how they were playing "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," though. It was ironic for the moment.
Consumerism, driving the last nail in music's coffin.
Steven Slate knows that there's a sucker born every minute, and Steven Slate is going to get their money.
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.
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.
OMG - is guessed the song ("Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac) about one measure into the drumming! :D
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.
When do we get the “parade emulation” upgrade?
Why does NAMM still exist again, especially now that online videos exist?
Great product
I like him even more now!
"loses it" ROFLLL talk about clickbait. Dude was handling it PERFECTLY. Dude's a pro, I'm no surprised.
cool software idea
The crowd noise sounds great!
Feel sorry for Steve, that must have been fucking brutal standing up there while that fucking racket was going on.
Slate is a legend
can't compete with a marching band!....Where's slayer when you need em?
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.
The Townsend Audio Labs Sphere L22 does a WAY better job of that, though.
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.
Super polished hair cut and drum samples.
Maybe they should have read the NAMM fixed schedule before making theirs.
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.
really funny. I like him even more now.
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan that last snare sounds fantastic!!!!!
Slate is fucking amazing!, he is great, dude.
next time follow Gibson and just do CES lol
Not so well.... more like "in" the well. lol
what did i do, where did i do that, why did i do that...
I love this. Go Steven!! With ya!
Where the hell did a marching band come from?
I swear he handled it like a boss :))
All things considered, you handled that like a pro
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.
He handled that well. For the time and money he sunk into a NAMM booth and presentation allotment, I would have gone ballistic.
Very cool product. I thought it would be a couple grand. Would love to hear how this software would handle a Bernard Purdy shuffle. Do some Dan, Toto, Led Zep Fool in the Rain. The toms were kinda generic but the bass was slick. I could hear the slap and attack on the head coupled with a good, warm tone. Outstanding.
The Rose Bowl Parade broke out in the middle of his presentation. Is this an episode of the show Punked?
Honestly that band sounded on point and great sound besides the far proximity 🤣😂🤣😂
Got me bopp’n my head
That’s what you call making it work. 👏
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.
Poor guy. :( Those booths aren"t cheap!!! Still like a pro he works through it!! :)
lololol this is amazing
Is it the fxxxin band parade then you can hear Gaz Williams laughing above everyone lol
"You know what everyone at NAMM is wondering? When the goddamn marching band will come around again" lmfao
Man, you handled that way better than I would have! Now I'm interested in your product! Yeah for dramatic click-bait! Great job Mr. Slate.
Who is this guy?
He responded very well...why the hate?
NAMM is stupid. It's tired. Companies are already starting to drop because of the costs and they can get more hype on their own.
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.
Absolute waste of time.
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.
BuddyNubbins namm is for retailers to come and see and try the new gear and new tech..... It has nothing to do with "tech nerds"
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.