In its celebratory third year, Pensado's Place and Vintage King are teaming up to produce Nashville Gear Expo 2015, a gear and music-making exposition in America.
Gear Expo 2015 Nashville attendees will demo gear, talk directly with manufacturer reps, watch live interviews, mingle with celebrity guests, listen to live music, win prizes, enjoy local food trucks and meet Dave Pensado and Herb Trawick of Pensado's Place. This free event goes down at Vintage King's award-winning facility in the Berry Hill neighborhood on Saturday, Sept. 26, from 10am to 4pm.
The Gear Expo special guests include top artists, engineers, producers and industry notables who represent the Nashville music community. The day will also feature an Electronic Instruments For Stage & Studio panel that will feature live performances by industry pros using Moog, Native Instruments and Ableton instruments.
"Getting high profile musicians, producers, engineers and gear makers together with block party-goers is ideal," said Chad Evans, Vintage King Nashville's national sales rep and Gear Expo co-producer. "It's like a mini-convention, but in a more relaxed and fun setting."
Panels are slated to include:
• WARRIOR PRINCESS: Career Paths for the Ladies, with Carma Bandstra (The Blackbird Academy), Roxanne Ricks (Audio-Technica Artist Relations), Sharon Corbitt-House (partner/manager, All Good Factory, and VP/Studio Operations, Grand Victor Sound) and Beverly Keel (Chair, Dept. of Recording Industry at Middle Tennessee State University, and noted journalist)
• MARKETING WITH TODAY’S MEDIA: Building Your Brand and Audience, with Will Thompson (Habitual Social), Eric Allen (Social Media Manager, Vintage King Audio), Nicki D (EMMY®-nominated Country Music Host), and Producer Ray (Producer, The Bobby Bones Show)
• ELECTRONIC JAM: Machines for Studio and Stage, with Jeremy Ellis (Native Instruments Maschine Guru), Oliver Dodd (Moog Master) and Christian Crux Thomas (Ableton Certified Trainer)
• NASHVILLE’S FINEST: Producers & Engineers Behind the Hits, with engineer/mixer/producer Ryan Hewitt (The Avett Brothers, Red Hot Chili Peppers), engineer/mixer Vance Powell (Jack White, Elle King), producer Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Tom Waits), producer/engineer Dave Cobb (Shooter Jennings, Oak Ridge Boys, Sturgill Simpson) and engineer/mixer Justin Niebank (Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts)
• SHOT CALLERS: Industry Titans, with entertainment attorney John Mason (counsel for Reba McEntire and others), Tony Brown (legendary producer and former chair of MCA Nashville), and John McBride (Owner of Blackbird Studio and The Blackbird Academy)
• MEET THE MAKER: Breakthrough Product Developers – a series of conversations with manufacturer reps throughout the day, led by Pensado’s Place co-hosts Dave Pensado and Herb Trawick
Additional panelists and events are being added. Aside from the panels, Audio-Technica will offer the “Microphone Guru” booth, and iZotope will be making a special product rollout. Also featured will be thousands of dollars of giveaways throughout the day, from such brands as AVID, Ableton, API, Chandler Limited, Audio-Technica, Ultimate Ears, G-Tech, iZotope, Pensado’s Place and more. The event will also be the culmination of a busy week for the Pensado team in Nashville, as in the days leading up to Gear Expo, Dave Pensado will be teaching at The Blackbird Academy.
The list of sponsors has grown since the last Gear Expo, and this year’s event features some prominent names in professional audio, M.I. and audio education. Title sponsors are Vintage King, The Blackbird Academy, Audio-Technica, AfterMaster Audio Labs, The Recording Connection, iZotope, Studio202DC and AVID. Premium sponsors include Ableton, API, BOSS, Chandler Limited, Electric Thunder Studios, Empirical Labs Inc., Focusrite, Genelec, Jackson Ampworks, M1 Distribution, Magnatone, Moog, Neumann, ProMaster HD, Purple Audio, Roland, Rupert Neve Designs, Transaudio Group, Unity Audio and Universal Audio, with more to be announced as the event draws near.
"We are very excited to return to Nashville for our third annual Gear Expo," stated Shevy Shovlin, Gear Expo Producer. "Last year was the biggest pro audio block party that Music City had ever seen, and this year we are going to top it. We are going to have a blast providing hands-on educational information and demonstrations that you cannot find anywhere else. See you on Sept. 26."
For more information, visit gearexponashville.com.
To RSVP, visit gearexponashville.com/rsvp_form.html.
