Behind the Backline
38 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 5 years ago - ★★★★★ - 17 ratingsBehind the Backline is 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, such as drums, guitars, cymbals, microphones, amplifiers, mobile apps, lights, accessories, and more. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/behindthebackline/support
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Episodes
Booklive App - A Lifelong Calling to Serve & Make a Living in Music
July 12, 2019 02:27 - 24 minutes - 33.9 MBVery few of us know exactly what we want to do when we grow up, regardless of our current age (under 20 and over 80, I’m talking to you too!). In fact, for most of the human race and society, the expectation to go from childhood, to grade school, to high school, to college, to career, to family, and end in retirement has become a bit of a scary “cookie cutter” way of life. There aren’t enough of us asking “why do we do that?”. What if everyone on this planet was able to easily identify th...
Dave Hillis - From Aspiring Musician to Multi-Platinum Recording Engineer
June 13, 2019 16:40 - 34 minutes - 48.1 MBThe music industry is an interesting place to be. A path you might start down might not be the path you end up on. What you think you want to do may not be the thing the industry picks for you. For creative musician types, there isn’t necessarily a typical “corporate ladder” structure that provides a single path like other industries. In fact, the music industry is more like a series of (tuning) forks or a “choose your own adventure” book that dictates your career path. ONCE UPON A TIME I...
Michael Molenda - Guitar Player Magazine, Music Journalism & Beyond
May 23, 2019 17:09 - 32 minutes - 45.1 MBNo one can predict the future. No one can ever know what’s coming next (except me, just kidding). A lot of times we have to roll with what life throws at us, regardless of how predictable we want our life to be. As humans we are creatures of habit, loving every minute of having a routine, going to work, coming home, advancing our career, staying organized and having everything in its place, and knowing that we have the power to make tweaks to it whenever we want, as long as its within our ...
Bluesman Vintage Guitars - A Family Business Powered by Passion and Fate
May 10, 2019 05:18 - 46 minutes - 63.6 MBMost people who go into business have an idea they want to try and make a valiant effort and are aware that things are either moving or not moving. Most people need to put in the work to watch the seed they plant grow. Every once in awhile, though, it seems God and fate are in the driver’s seat and you just come along for the ride. That’s what happened with John, the snot-nosed kid from Tennessee. Poor guy! ONCE UPON A FAMILIAR STORY… The story begins like others you’ve heard: boy meet...
Capital Music Gear - An Online Music Gear Store With Heart
April 26, 2019 13:24 - 28 minutes - 38.9 MBLet’s face it: online retail store options are pretty cut and dry. Predictable discounts and sales. The same standard website design and layout. The same old shopping cart experience (unless you’re Amazon). And most online music gear stores aren’t much different. But there’s one online store that hopes to change all that. Less than a year old, Capital Music Gear is hoping to bring a couple of unique and welcome disrupting features to the online music store: heart and help. Let me explain....
Death By Audio - Effect Pedals That Cause Total Sonic Annihilation
April 12, 2019 03:07 - 30 minutes - 41.7 MBDISCLAIMER: No cats were harmed in the making of this episode. But one was seen in the background of our video chat. Fuzz War. Cats. Absolute Destruction. Cats. Apocalypse. Cats. Interstellar Overdriver. Cats. Evil Filter. Cats. Robot. Cats. Supersonic Fuzz Gun. You get the picture (of cats in your head). This conversation was anything but your standard run of the mill podcast discussion. Oh, and besides the overuse of the word “Cats”, all of those are the names of DBA’s guitar pedals. ...
Baldman Percussion - Pushing the Drumming Boundaries With “Junk"
March 28, 2019 21:57 - 23 minutes - 33 MBFirst of all, 3 drummers on a podcast don’t make a right. But they do make the occasional awful pun and have lots of fun! Hell they even rhyme sometimes! And to top it all off, 2 of them are bald and one resembles Andy Samberg! Lonely Island anyone? DON’T JUDGE A BOOK (OR INSTRUMENT) BY ITS COVER Sometimes a product comes along that may not give you any clue as to what it is or does upon first encountering it. Sometimes you need to spend some time learning about it or trying it out to ...
Chance Productions - Chasing Your Dream in a Tale of Two Cities
March 15, 2019 15:09 - 33 minutes - 46 MBDISCLAIMER: YES, this is our one-year anniversary episode! NO, this is not our last episode. NO, this guest does not kill podcasts! Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Everyone personal story and every business story comes from humble beginnings of some kind. This story, like many others, could be chalked up to a supportive family, a motivational spouse, and a desire to never work in a grocery store again. A MAGICAL STARTUP! Starting a business in any industry is not an ea...
Drumnetics - Beating New Life Into The Bass Drum Pedal
March 01, 2019 14:00 - 36 minutes - 49.8 MBAs a drummer for 25 years, I feel it’s fairly safe to say this: for years, the concept of the bass drum pedal has remained fairly unchanged. Aside from a few variations on the chain drive, such as the bike chain, fabric strap, or other materials used for the strap, and perhaps some enhancements to the spring mechanism, the overall design and operation of a drum pedal has been pretty consistent and trustworthy. (Cue the action movie music) UNTIL. NOW. The Bass Drum Pedal. REIMAGINED. Ha...
CenterStaging - Providing Backline Gear For the Greatest Shows on Earth
February 15, 2019 13:00 - 30 minutes - 41.7 MBFor most of us, we will never be directly involved with the production of a major television production. Sad but true. But that doesn’t mean we can’t hear the stories from someone who is and use our imagination to transport ourselves to those stages, right? While most every day people probably haven’t heard of CenterStaging, there’s a pretty good chance that the majority of people have seen their work and gear. The Greatest Support on Earth Based out of Los Angeles, with a more recentl...
Carolina Drumworks - Finding a Deeper Appreciation for Drums Through Building
February 01, 2019 13:00 - 28 minutes - 39.4 MBFor most people who come into contact with drums, they have a very basic understanding of the relationship between a drummer and his tools. And the case is the same for some drummers too, who only enjoy the basic level of understanding when playing and performing live. But for some, where the art of drum building and performance is serious business, they have a zen-like passion and obsession with the science, the materials, the sound, and the craftsmanship that goes into each finished drum....
INDeDrum Lab - Crafting a Better Drum by Building on a Legend
January 18, 2019 13:00 - 20 minutes - 28.2 MBHow do you make the drummer from Brooks & Dunn, Reba McEntire and Jewel drop his jaw? All it takes is three simple steps: 1.) Work for a legendary drum brand for 5 years 2.) Observe and see where their process could stand to make improvements 3.) Start your own drum brand to make those changes happen Easy right? 😃 Humble Beginnings Independent Drum Lab, or INDeDrum Lab, was started exactly in that way three years ago. Using his engineering background and his experience whi...
DrumART.com - Custom Bass Drum Heads to Make Your Drummer (More) Important*
January 04, 2019 13:00 - 32 minutes - 44.4 MBHave you ever been to a concert and noticed the sexy, awesome band logo or custom artwork that the drummer has on his front bass drum head? Have you ever wondered how they do that or where they get it from? You haven’t? Well, tough noodles. I’m still going to tell you. Be prepared to be amazed! DrumART has been around since the early days of the Internet, having now designed and/or printed over 50,000 custom bass drum heads for drummers of all ages and levels, from beginner to internat...
Lords of the Trident - The Most Metal Backline That’s 700 Years in the Making
September 07, 2018 13:00 - 32 minutes - 45.3 MBImagine if you were alive 700 years ago and, while hosting a concert that was giving out free rats for every ticket sold, you accidentally caused the Bubonic Plague? What would YOU do? If you were Lords of the Trident, the most immortal, most metal band on Earth, you would go into hiding for the next 700 years and let the whole “Bubonic Plague thing” pass over and allow history to correct itself and remove you from any future history books so that you weren’t destined to have that finger p...
Sugar Percussion - Premium Drums Inspired by Family and Furniture Making
August 31, 2018 13:00 - 27 minutes - 38.6 MBWhen you’re a drummer that has made custom furniture for 20 years and your drums age to the point of being unplayable, what options do you have? Well, you could wait to scrap together enough money to buy a new one, or decide to put those woodworking skills to even more use, learn how to build drum shells and build your own kit. I’m sure you can guess which path Jefferson took. Behind every Sugar drum is 20+ years experience with woodworking techniques, knowledge of quality wood selection,...
Mahalo Amps - Quality Guitar Amps Born From a Single Quality Doorstop
August 24, 2018 13:00 - 19 minutes - 27.5 MBMost companies, new and old, can trace their origins back to a similar story of when their founder had an idea and how it evolved over the years to become the company we know and admire. This story starts with a doorstop (for real). Mahalo founder Richie Mays used to tinker a lot with building his own amps after finding that the amps he was using didn’t produce the right sound for him. While it was a 5-year process of piecing together parts in his pursuit to build his dream amp, he still di...
Dream Cymbals & Gongs - High Quality Cymbals Born From a Grass Roots Movement
August 17, 2018 13:00 - 30 minutes - 42.4 MBA lot of businesses usually follow a pattern of starting out family-based and traditionally small with a focus on the customer. But as growth happens, it can be really easy to lose sight of that in order to accommodate the ever-changing landscape of a growing business. Leadership changes, employee turnover, hiring people who can fill support jobs but don’t necessarily know the product inside and out, and a focus on the bottom line become more important than the roots you came from. It’s nob...
Istanbul Mehmet Cymbals - 100% Hand-Crafted Cymbals from Turkey
August 10, 2018 13:00 - 32 minutes - 45.2 MBIn an industry that has evolved from making its products by hand to making them via machine in order to ensure consistency, it can be hard to be the one that resists and insists that the original way is still the best way. Technology is changing all the time, and experts think that keeping up with it is the only way to stay relevant. But is that really true? In the midst of all of this technological upheaval, Istanbul Mehmet Cymbals is one of the few brands that can honestly say that the ...
Live Undiscovered Music (LÜM) - Music Streaming for the Other 90% of Music
August 03, 2018 13:00 - 27 minutes - 37.9 MBIt seems like everywhere you look these days there’s another music streaming service or music discovery tool that caters only to popular mainstream music, including Spotify and Pandora. But did you realize that by focusing on only this music demographic those services only really represent and promote the top 10% (or less) of music on the planet? Where can you discover the other 90% of music?! Live Undiscovered Music, or LÜM, hopes to change all that. Starting in August of 2018, bands and...
Broadjam - Giving Independent Musicians Opportunities for Placement in Radio, Film and TV
July 27, 2018 13:00 - 30 minutes - 42 MBIt can be hard for lesser-known bands and musicians to get a foothold in several areas of the music industry without having the right connections or, as old school as it sounds, a record label. This is true when it comes to trying to get licensing agreements to place their music in radio, film, TV shows, advertising campaigns, and video games. But what if there was a social network built specifically for that reason? What if bands and artists could connect with each other, build relationsh...
DynaMount - Bringing Engineering Back to Sound Engineering
July 20, 2018 13:00 - 28 minutes - 39.4 MBIn the good ol’ days, songs and albums were recorded without technology like compression. At that time, it was imperative to find the sweet spot manually. Microphone positioning was everything. These days, we tend to rely quite a bit more on technology and post production methods to achieve the desired sounds. But what if there was a way to use new technology combined with the microphone positioning practices of the past to get those sweet spots even easier and quicker? Brothers Jon and...
Drumeo - Making Music Education Online as Easy as Netflix
July 13, 2018 13:00 - 30 minutes - 42.4 MBTaking 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 can. But what if the platform allowed you to interact with your celebrity-level teachers and your fellow students in order to help keep you on track and provide encouragement? Musora is the parent company of online education platforms Drumeo, Guitareo, Pianote, and Recordeo, but its story begins with the birth of D...
Flattley Guitar Pedals - Creating Highly Personalized, Handmade Custom Guitar Pedals in the UK
July 06, 2018 13:00 - 24 minutes - 34 MBWhat do aviation avionics and guitar pedals have in common? Paul Flattley, of course! Achieving perfection in sound, quality, and personalization can be quite the daunting task when it comes to making custom guitar pedals, but when perfection is basically a requirement when you’re working in the aviation avionics industry, the idea becomes second nature and way easier if it’s something you’ve already been doing for 30 years. Flattley Guitar Pedals is a small family run company in the Sout...
Beier Drums - Custom Snare Drums from the Land of Beer and Cheese
June 29, 2018 13:00 - 29 minutes - 40.6 MBGetting a compliment on the way you look can always make your day. But getting a compliment on the way your drum sounds when that person has never even seen the actual product but knows it right away in a crowded, noisy venue? That might be the best kind of compliment of all. Making a snare drum that over delivers on sound quality is far from easy, but it’s also not that difficult when you have the passion and know in your mind exactly the sound you want to achieve. This passion and attenti...
SJC Drums - Custom Drums as Unique as the Drummers that Play Them
June 22, 2018 13:00 - 29 minutes - 40.9 MBEvery business on the planet has a story that starts with humble beginnings. Some companies are created with well-intentioned goals, while some are formed by accident out of a passion or hobby. Some start in fancy business incubators while some start in garages or grandma’s basement. This is definitely one of those “hobbies in grandma’s basement” kind of stories. SJC Drums initially began as a hobby by Scott and Mike Ciprari out of their grandmother’s basement in 2000. What began as a ...
Audiofusion - Using Wi-Fi to Turn Your Mobile Device into a Wireless Monitoring System
June 15, 2018 13:00 - 25 minutes - 35.4 MBMusicians love their wireless in-ear monitoring systems. It gives them the freedom to move around the stage without worrying about tripping over extra cables or getting tangled while playing. But did you ever stop to think why you need to have a separate wireless monitor system when you already have an extremely powerful computer in your other pocket? The guys at Audiofusion did, and after four years of development and testing, they are on the verge of bringing their technology and first...
Wampler Pedals - Achieving World Class Guitar Tones Through Experimentation
June 08, 2018 13:00 - 34 minutes - 47.1 MBIf you’re a guitar player, you already know there is an endless array of available guitar pedals on the market today that seems to provide any sound or tone you are looking for. But what if there isn’t? What if you still can’t find that perfect tone that you resonate with? Do you settle for the closest thing? Or do you take matters into your own hands? Brian Wampler, CEO of Wampler Pedals, decided to take matters into his own hands. Over a decade ago, he realized he just could not find...
Blipblox - Encouraging the Future of Music Through Creativity and Audio Exploration
June 01, 2018 13:00 - 21 minutes - 29.8 MBThese days it seems like there is an early learning process or product for everything, and it keeps targeting children at a younger and younger age. Except for the keyboard and “touch and learn” type educational toys for kids, there never seemed to be anything that truly developed a child’s imagination or nurtured their love of music and audio creation. Until now. Introducing the Blipblox, a synthesizer and beatbox designed to promote creativity and audio exploration for children as young a...
SMASHmouse - Giving You the Power to Kick It to Click It!
May 25, 2018 13:00 - 32 minutes - 44.6 MBAs technology and music continue to mesh and evolve, musicians sometimes find themselves in new and awkwardly frustrating situations. For example, when attempting to learn to play the guitar, while watching video lessons, and trying to play or record on the computer, it can feel like we’re expected to grow another limb just to be able to manage all of the fancy new ways we need to multi-task. With SMASHmouse, there’s no need for a third arm. Just add your feet! Robb Dillon, inventor of SMAS...
Frettable - Combining Artificial Intelligence with Songwriting
May 18, 2018 13:00 - 25 minutes - 35.8 MBWriting a song entirely by ear on your guitar and having a robot turn it into sheet music for you: sounds a bit like science fiction right? Now with Frettable, the future is here! Frettable is a new app for your smart phone or tablet that allows you to record your music and get it automatically analyzed and transformed into sheet music. Behind the app is a powerful, advanced AI engine that will immediately write the sheet music for you to save and print. It’s truly polyphonic, handling bot...
The Drum Wallet - Expanding Your Drum Sounds with the Flick of a Stick
May 11, 2018 13:00 - 32 minutes - 45.1 MBEvery drummer in the world has their own unique way of setting up their drums, tuning their heads, and voicing their opinions on what sounds best and why. From those who love to over-muffle their kits to the purists who prefer getting a drum to sound the best it can without adding rings, gels or other unnecessary sound-altering products, the variations and range of sounds is almost endless. Luckily, any drummer out there doesn’t have to settle for just one sound during a whole set or a whol...
Signal Flow - Making Stage Plotting & Setup More Efficient
May 04, 2018 13:00 - 31 minutes - 43.1 MBAre you an audio engineer who’s part of a team that’s responsible for setting up stages night after night, weekend after weekend? Do you feel like everyone on the team is always repeating themselves and having trouble trying to stay on the same page with how the stage is laid out and what device is plugged into which channel? Where does the audio madness end?! I have good news for you: Denver, Colorado-based superheroes Joey and Mike are here to rescue you! While fighting this very evil...
Fano Guitars - Crafting the Ultimate Boutique Guitar at the Highest Standards
April 27, 2018 13:00 - 33 minutes - 45.9 MBAfter working for 30 years at one of the biggest names in guitars, it can be hard to accept and adapt to a change like retirement. So what's the alternative to that? Did you say start a new business, acquire an existing line of popular guitars, and keep the passion going? That’s exactly what we were going to say! Jack Schwarz joins us this week to tell us about his lifelong love of guitars (or as he puts it, his life’s addiction), his 30-year tenure with Fender Musical Instruments Corp., a...
DrumLite - Giving the Drummer Some With LED Lighting
April 20, 2018 17:00 - 27 minutes - 37.4 MBDrum solos and stick twirling 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. So what’s a poor drummer to do? Light ‘em up! (without starting on fire!) Jeff Sevaldson, co-founder of DrumLite, joins us in this episode to tell the story of how DrumLite started in their college dorm room (move over Facebook!), why everyone from local drummers to national acts love their products, and what they’ve...
Welch Tuning Systems - Simplifying the Way We Tune Our Drums
April 13, 2018 17:00 - 34 minutes - 46.9 MBWhat 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? You get Welch Tuning Systems! Welch Tuning Systems CEO Samuel Welch joins us in this episode to share his story of how his frustration when tuning his drums came to an end with the creation of his single-point tuning system. Using a bass guitar tuning peg, he and his team eventually figured out how to replace the multiple tuning...
ToneAlly - Behind NAMM's 2018 Best Teaching Tool
April 06, 2018 17:00 - 31 minutes - 43.4 MBWhat’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? Tony McNally, popular drummer and inventor, joins us from his studio in the UK to share his story of how he came up with the idea for the ToneAlly, the success he’s had with it so far, the feedback and testimonials he’s received from some of drumming’s major players, and the incredible experiences he’s had at NAMM and bringing the pro...
Mukikim - Music and Childlike Wonder for Adults and Kids
March 30, 2018 17:00 - 27 minutes - 38.3 MBAre you a parent looking to get your kids started on piano or drums but either can’t afford to purchase yet or don’t want to purchase one yet due to size and volume? Or are you a music industry veteran looking for a fast, convenient and affordable piano or drum option to take on the road with you? Mukikim, a toy brand based out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has released a line of portable tabletop musical instrument products called “Rock and Roll It!” that allows you to do just that: rock out d...
SN3 Innovations - Achieving True Sound Activation Mode in Entertainment Lighting
March 21, 2018 02:12 - 27 minutes - 37.9 MBEpisode 12h> Are you a DJ or lighting technician who is sick of not having "true sound activation mode" on your fixtures? Greg Notaro, co-founder of SN3 Innovations Lighting Entertainment, joins Matt Jacoby of Octave Media in our first-ever podcast episode of Behind the Backline. After meeting Greg at the 2018 Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, California this past January, we learned a great deal about the limitations that come with most professional entertainment lighting products on the market...