I've been meaning to bring up this topic regarding my experience with RMAF (and other audio shows that I have exhibited at)...
When people come to visit my room - I try to ask them if they have any music that they want to listen to. Some people come in an ask to listen to something very specific, which I might not have. So I respond by saying "Do you have the CD, I'll be happy to play it." Most of the time, the answer is "no, I didn't bring my music." I don't get that - why not?
Then when I'm playing music, someone would say "do you have anything more like genre X, I've been hearing a lot of this genre Y at the show." Sure - no problem. Then I'm playing genre X and someone else would come in and say "do you have anything more like genre Y, I've been hearing a lot of this genre X at the show."
But those people never brought their own music that they are familiar with or that they wanted to listen to. So I probed deeper and asked people, and some told me that some exhibitors don't allow you to play your own music. I was like "what?"
I've had a small group of younger guys (in their early/mid 20's?) who told me that they were thinking of getting into this hobby. I asked them if they brought any CDs. They said they had Pantera "Vulgar Display of Power." I said "Nice - let's play it." And they all looked at me like something was wrong with me. "You don't mind playing this?" I joked at them and said "Do you think I pay for this room and bring my equipment here so I can only listen to my own music. It would be a lot cheaper to do it in my listening room at Red Wine Audio (which sounds 100x better than a hotel room) - let's play it, which track?"
It was loud (Track 1 - Mouth for War), it was not audiophile - but guess what? I actually own that album and let it rip and they LOVED it and could appreciate how a good audio system can make metal sound a whole lot better than they've ever heard in a home audio environment (and we played it very loud, but I'm sure not nearly as loud as at a Pantera concert
). Yes, some people cleared the room - but we all need to take turns. So later on when another group had some Jay-Z on their USB drive - I told them let's give it a listen. I'm not too into Jay-Z (I like Pantera better
), but the point was that they were able to listen to their music in the system in my room and see how it connected with them (or not).
I was just surprised by why some rooms won't let people play what they want. Yes, some of those recordings are far from "audiophile" and don't show off how good the system really is, but it was still fun and I enjoyed their reactions to being able to get a demo of what they wanted to hear - and especially appreciated them bring music that they were familiar with. Otherwise, you're stuck listening to all my stuff. Some of which you might love, and some of which might drive you crazy.
You read these articles in the audiophile mags and some forums about "how are we going to get new people into this hobby? Blah, blah, blah?" I think letting them listen to their music at the shows is a good start
I never get to spend 8 hours in a room listening to all kinds of music. I was sleep deprived, loaded on caffeine and enjoying it all - seeing everyone come in and getting to enjoy it, especially the music I've never heard before and really liked. I wrote a lot of it down so when I buy my next stack of albums, I'll know what I'll be getting.
Anyone have similar experiences, or was it just me? And I hope I didn't offend anyone with some of the stuff that was playing, but hopefully it was a refreshing change from Patricia Barber Cafe Blue or Diana Krall Live in Paris (ain't nothing wrong with those - but when you walk down the halls, you hear them over and over again
).
Ok - back to work for me!
Vinnie
