Axe Fest West 2012: My takes and thanks

cobbler

cobbler

Fractal Fanatic
Axe Fest West 2012: My takes and THANKS!

Part ONE:

Saturday Oct. 6th

My thanks to everyone!

I think the Axe Fest weekend went tremendously well and surprisingly so with only 5 weeks preparation. It’s simply could not have been done without everyone’s cooperation and selfishness. Let’s get to it and I will go by the order in which the weekend took place.

Mark Day: Kicked us off with two killer songs. He tells me he was nervous not having his band behind him and I’m thinking nervous would be my sorry rear up there playing some intermediate song poorly. He rocked as usual. His band on last minute notice prepared a Journey backing track and as always Mark nailed it. What a way to kick it off!

Scott Peterson: He was one of our first contacts. How could you do workshop/show and not have Scott involved. His presentation was clear and insightful and if I came away with anything it was don’t overthink everything. Keep it simple and build outward. Don’t be afraid to experiment but also do not feel you have to hit every parameter to get to your desired destination. It was great to finally meet you Scott after so many hours on the phone and in the email box. What a tremendous first presentaion!

Cliff & Matt: Interchanged on several topics including Gain, Tone, Dynamics, and Advanced Parameters etc. Matt is a freaking buzz saw! You blink your eyes and he’s 20 feet from where he was just standing and three sentences beyond. Reminds me of back in the 70’s when… oh never mind. :) Cliff did an awesome job of explaining his thought process and touching on the technical side without losing us mere mortals in the process. I think many will be surprised with his humorous take on things. More on these guys later.

Wes Hauch: Though not my preference in style I was truly impressed with his expertise and drive. He definitely got the room amped up and thumping! He just shredded the fretboard and made it look easy in doing so. Well done Wes!

Lawrence Petross: Another of our first contacts. I have been following his TM posts since he first started and never have been disappointed in his offerings. His TM presentation followed the same suit. Very informative and he demonstrated just how powerful the TM feature is. Lawrence drove 6 hours to share his knowledge with us and we all benefited in the process. Was really great to meet you!

Cliff again: I really enjoyed the Amp Matching demo Cliff did here. We had originally ordered a Rivera Silent Sister Cab to do this with and it was not available due to logistic issues. A speaker and mic where placed in a big equipment travel box and away we went. He did an amp match of a Suhr Badger and it was spot on. A few tweaks here and there and you would be hard pressed to tell the difference. It was informative to see it happen in front of your eyes and have Cliff go through the settings and telling you their importance and what they were doing.

James Santiago: One of my personal favorites of the day. What a nice man. Oh so personable and willing to share his life story on chasing tone. Talk about obsessed. He is the definition. He showed pictures of how he has all these little post its and pen markings on all his gear over the years and the meticulous manner in how he gained his vast knowledge in micing cabs. His list of gear would make anyone drool. The people he learned from are a who’s who in the industry. Matt then tossed in one of his patches and accompanying IR and wow! Just WOW!!! He noodled out an Eric Johnson type tone that just sang. It was truly beautiful. He also mentioned how he will be sharing his patches and the 60+ IR’s that he has created already. He also mentioned he is in the process of creating 120 more from two different speakers. Obviously they will include multiple mics and positions. What a blessing for all of us! Thank you James!

Dweezil: I was fortunate enough to hang in a room with Matt, Cliff, James, and Dweezil last year for a couple of hours and you guys got to see why I call it a huge moment in my guitar learning life. Matt and Dweezil dissected his Dynaflange preset. Dweezil played some riffs and explained some of the difficulties he has encountered trying to reproduce Franks music. He and Matt even got the II to freak out with crazy tweaks to the multi delay block. Dweezil is one of the most down to earth celebs you will ever come across and was simply awesome in the Q & A portion. Dweezil, you are the man!

Tosin Abasi: So in walks this guy who to me looked like he was 20. He is actually 29. I am not sure what style you would call his as I haven’t ever heard anything like it before. Maybe a progressive metal-jazz-fusion-rock. I really don’t know. I do know this though. After I pulled my chin off the floor I looked around and saw everybody else had the same “what just happened here” look. He played an 8 string out of his Pearl City cab to the accompaniment of a backing track (created by him) over the PA. He answered a few questions the first of which was “what planet are you from” and then played a couple more tunes. Again, looking over the audience of about 100 people all I saw was shock and disbelief. You will see of what I speak in the videos. His fingers on BOTH hands were a blur and I am not exaggerating. And yet again, Tosin is one of the most friendly and warm hearted persons you will ever meet. It was truly a pleasure to do so. Thank you so much Tosin!!!!

What a great way to end a long day one! Stay tuned for day two and the shout outs to all the others behind the scenes that made this all happen.
 
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Very cool. Very descriptive and pics were great too!! Almost imagine myself there!!!
thanks!! The video will be fun!

So drooling to check out and dissect James patches and ir's after checking out his work!

I know the performers had a matrix for monitor. How did the QSC's do?

I love mine
 
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Me too Dramelot, that clean tone was indeed something special.

The Zappa demo was fantastic too. He didn't even seem to dial in what *he* was looking for, but once I realized what he was doing, I recognized that FZ tone immediately. Looking forward to trying them out.

Scott, I actually didn't take a lot of pictures. (By my standards) Shot maybe 90. Mostly because of double bursts to obviate blinking eyes and what not. I did trigger the strobes quite a bit trying to dial them in. The light in that room was challenging because it was - well - a hotel ball room - and one without a lot of choices if you know what I mean. Anyway, glad you enjoyed.

All that just to get the Mark Day face. :p
 
Craig, Great report and thanks for the kind words!

One thing people might not know is that Craig took 2 weeks off work to do this thing, was the shipping depot for a LOT of gear; was up till the wee hours of the night on Friday and then up VERY early on Saturday to make all this come off. Kerry was hanging banners at 2am on Friday. These guys put their heart, soul and sweat into this - and paid for a LOT of it out of their own pockets. They are owed a tremendous round of thanks for everything they did.

endgroove, great pics! Thanks for sharing!!
 
Part TWO:

Sunday Oct. 7th

User Introductions: We started out day two with user introductions. We could not have done this on day one with the 80+ people in the room There were about 20 people there to start the day Sunday and Matt passed around the mic and everyone introduced themselves and gave a little explanation on how they used the Axe. One lessons learned item for next time is to have badges made. I know I missed a couple forum members that I was looking forward to meeting.

Carl Rydlund: Another of my personal favorite presentations. We could have spent all day going through this guy’s credit list. Can you say IMPRESSIVE? Carl talked about his career in the film industry. He gave us a history on the path he took to get there and then went into the changing landscape of how business is conducted today. I particularly liked the part where he slapped the bridge of his strat and then let the sound decay for 4 or 5 seconds and says. That paid for my gear in (fill in the year). Classic! He was a very personable man with decades of experience, knowledge, and interactions with the who’s who in the industry. I would love to get him and James in a room together and just sit back and soak it all in. Thanks for an eye opening presentation Carl!

Cooper Carter: Mr. Solo a Day himself honored us with several of his classic solos and fielded questions from the crowd. Cooper missed his flight Saturday morning and went through five stand-by scenarios to join us. How cool is that? I remember myself and Scott P talking and saying we wish we had our s**t together half as well as this guy does at his age. His future is BRIGHT! I always thought he had to have done his videos with multiple takes to get them so spot on. He proved otherwise. He simply picked up the guitar and shredded on demand. Was great to meet you Cooper!

Bishop Cochran: Bishop took the stage with several of his guitar creations and gave us a quick how-to-do on personally setting up your guitars. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the luthier business and was very informative. One of his tips that I never considered was holding your guitar in the playing position as you adjust the neck to allow for gravity as opposed to doing it with your guitar flat on a table. He also showed a neat little way to dress your frets (providing they just needed a touch up and not major repair). Thanks Bishop for the tips and tricks!

Rig Room FRFR field trip: We then took a field trip next door to the rig room and went through a FRFR demo of all the offerings. There has already been much discussed about this. Cooper played a high gain riff followed by a clean riff followed by a blues type backing track as Matt pointed to the monitors and Tommy switch them. I am not going to go into all the aspects of the room and capturing techniques etc. It was just awesome to see so many options all in the same place at one time. A first as far as I know. Tommy “Tequila” Hebenstreit deserves huge kudos for setting this up. Simply awesome!

Matt Picone: Matt Picone finally got to deliver his “Levels” presentation that was slipped from Saturday. He went through a solid hour explain the adjusting of levels between presets and within presets. He explained the significance of our hearing with respect to speakers and surroundings. He talked about the Fletcher Munsen variable and adjusting at gig levels. He talked about level-dependent block and consistency in using the tools properly followed by a Q&A session. I will have more to say about Matt in part three of my report. I cannot possibly say enough to recognize his contributions and passion. You ROCK Matt!!!

David Sorlien: David (scrutinizer) then did a demo of his Lemur Ipad Axe Editor application. He did a stellar job of showing us his impressive creation that he has spent hundreds and hundreds of hours creating. He showed several ways to connect through your PC or Mac and demoed its use with several blocks. It’s a sweet app and the presentation ended with Matt proclaiming he was definitely going to dig into to this and see what it is all about. That says it all in my opinion. Well done David!

Matt Button( Matrix): Our last presentation of the day was by Matt Button of Matrix Amplification. He talked about the differences between their amps and wattage to ohms calculations. Matt is a very cool guy and was the one responsible for bringing me the Curly Wurlys! Sweeeeeeeeet! Thanks for everything Matt.

Mark Day: Mark started us off so why not him to close us out? Mark played his Journey tune to the backing track created by his band and it was a fitting end to two days of awesome presentations, demos, and performances by one and all! Thanks again Mark. You are the best!

Stay tuned for part three of my takes and thanks where I will acknowledge all those who took part behind the scenes to make this weekend successful. We pretty much went through the whole weekend with nary a glitch and it could not have been possible without the many contributions from all...
 
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Great recap! Looking forward to the videos that come from this weekend of awesomeness (and the future possibility of an AxeFest East)! Thanks guitar loads!
 
Dramelot said:
Carbon copy my previous post.
And yeah the comment about Cooper, We are sure to hear allot from him in the future!
Click to expand...

I kept telling cooper to audition for anything and everything, and he says I would even play for Bieber. As ma@ said to me about Tosin, I would also say to Cooper your not the future you are the now, so cooper go make it happen.
 
cobbler said:
Cooper Carter: Mr. Solo a Day himself honored us with several of his classic solos and fielded questions from the crowd. Cooper missed his flight Saturday morning and went through five stand-by scenarios to join us. How cool is that? I remember myself and Scott P talking and saying we wish we had our s**t together half as well as this guy does at his age. His future is BRIGHT! I always thought he had to have done his videos with multiple takes to get them so spot on. He proved otherwise. He simply picked up the guitar and shredded on demand. Was great to meet you Cooper!
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for the kinds words! It was an absolute pleasure meeting you, as well! What a killer event you organized for us all! I was honored to be a part of it.

Dramelot said:
Carbon copy my previous post.
And yeah the comment about Cooper, We are sure to hear allot from him in the future!
Click to expand...

You are too kind. Thanks, man!

scottburrow said:
I kept telling cooper to audition for anything and everything, and he says I would even play for Bieber. As ma@ said to me about Tosin, I would also say to Cooper your not the future you are the now, so cooper go make it happen.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Scott! I will do my very best and then some.

And sure, I'd play for Bieber lol I'm positive it would be a blast. Huge tour, great sound, top-level band? Sign me up.
 
Cobbler, can't thank you enough for the detailed play by play. I sure hope when Axe Fest East happens we are also graced with the presence of a number of you who attended the West Coast show. I am bummed I could not attend but am looking forward to the videos.
 
Part 3: Behind the scenes.

Last but not least. To all the persons behind the scenes that mad it all happen…

Tone Merchants: One of the first people we contacted was Rob Navarrette asking if we could use the Tone Merchants site for a little get together. As the event grew we decided to coordinate it alongside the LA Amp Show and we asked Rob if he would be able to help sponsor the event. He didn’t even blink and off we went. I got to meet Rob for the first time over the weekend and it was a pleasure to hear his opinions on the industry. In the small world category, it turns out he went to that lame $%# cross town rival high school of mine. I guess I can’t hold that against him. Thanks so very much Rob!

Matrix Amplification: Andy Hunt was also kind enough to help sponsor the event. Matt Button, and Pete were all present the entire weekend and Matt gave an informative presentation on the Matrix products. Both Andy and Matt flew all the way from London and what more can I say, they brought the Curly Wulrys with.

Tone Alchemy: Terrance Standifer went far and beyond the call of duty. He was responsible for getting us the PA system, the wireless mic systems, and the mics used for the amp matching demos. He also helped provide our demo guitarist for the gear room. This even would not have happened without Terrance’s efforts. It’s that simple. Thank you Terrance! It was a pleasure doing business with you.

Edan Baehman: You heard him all day long. He played tirelessly in the gear room and filled in some transition moments in the presentation room. Wow can this guy play! He also drove 6 hours to the event and was instrumental in its success. You rock Edan! Thank you for your tireless devotion!

The Gear Companies: Without the gear we are pretty much a bunch of goobers hanging out in a ballroom twiddling our thumbs. A lot of companies loaned us the equiptment to make it all happen. In no particular order I would like to thank Harmon International (JBL), QSC, Best-Tronics, Port City, Carvin, Pedalboardlabels, Tortex Dunlop, Lehle, Shure, and Killer Graphix. Thanks for your kindness and generosity!

Sukh Ryatt: Sukh from Pedalboardlabels went above and beyond! He created multiple sets of kicktags and overnighted them to me so we could dress up the many MFC-101's. He actually let us debut what will be his V2 kicktags using some prototypes. And they looked sweet! He also supplied some looper stickers that I handed out to some lucky attendees. Sukh you are the man and I am proud to call you my friend!

The Volunteers: Desiree Porter, Nathan Edwards, Anson Mayweather, and Deja Tate. You all met them at the door! They helped the event organizers do all the dirty work and were always available throughout the two days. Great job each and every one of you!

Scott “Iscottk” Kissel: Scott traveled down from Washington State and was all over the place with a helping hand. Every time I turned around there he was with task done asking “what else can I do to help?” Scott, you were a huge help getting everything set up. Huge kudos to you!

Tommy “Tequila” Herbenstreit: Tommy took on the task of setting up the awesome switching system in the gear room. What a daunting task and he pulled it off spectacularly. What a huge benefit to be able to switch between dozens of speaker combinations rather than having to do the cable switching tap dance. And let me tell you, if we had any extra time I wanted to get him on stage to play a few tunes. He has a laid back style that had many in the other room asking “who is that playing next door?” Tommy, you were a huge part of the weekend’s success! Thank you so much!

Scott Burrow: Scott brought one of the three projectors and cameras used. He tirelessly manned one of the cameras for the entire event. His enthusiasm and generosity was typical of what made this event both possible and a success. I am so glad I got to meet you and get to know you.

Sean Strickland: What would an Axe Fest be without the javajunkie present? Incomplete would be my answer. Sean was one of the first people we asked to come and he had a conflicting schedule. I was bummed. Some things changed and he was able to attend and we were all the beneficiaries. Sean helped run the mixing board and made the stage was run smoothly. I am so glad you were able to come and I was able to meet the guy who has helped me so much over the years. Huge thanks Sean!

Jack Donaldson: I just do not have enough words to thank this man appropriately. We were perusing the registrant list when Kerry says look at his email. It had videovisions in its name. I was really stressing the whole video thing. I was simply going to toss my camcorder on a tripod and let it run. I called Jack and he volunteered to help out. And help out he did! Are you kidding me? Talk about going beyond the call. Jack stood the whole 20 hours and ran not one but two camcorders. I am heading over tomorrow and we are going to start editing the video from three cameras. He brought his equipment, expertise, and just went about his business bothering nobody. We are all in his debt and should ANYONE and I mean ANYONE criticize any aspect of the forthcoming videos you will be hearing from me and it won’t be pretty. Jack, you are the best! I am so glad I made the call and it’s not because of any video. It having the pleasure to meet and work with you! I am looking forward to learning from you in the upcoming days too!

Fractal Audio: What can I say here? No Fractal no event! First let me thank Ryan Buckley for his efforts throughout the event. He pretty much ran the gear room and did so expertly. Cliff Chase? Do I even need to go into details? We would not have gathered without his creations. He supported everything we tossed at him. How cool is that? He also did several presentations and answered all questions thrown at him. I thought we would be lucky to get 20 minutes out of him. We got two days! Thanks FAS! Thanks for trusting in us Cliff!

Scott Isaksen: Scott started the whole thing off by asking me if I could come over and show him some tips & tricks. A forum post later and off we went! It ballooned from a local get together to a 100 person event with very little issues. Scott also was the SoCal Depot for many shipments. He also helped run the mixing board. Thanks Scott. But come on man, how many guys named Scott can you have in one room?

Kerry Lehrbass: Kerry was one of the first guys to respond to Scott’s forum post. From the time he came aboard we knew it this was going to go beyond a little garage gathering. He and I spent many late night hours going over everything. Simply put, this event would not have happened much less at the success it did without his involvement. In another “it’s a small world” scenario it turns out we grew up a mile apart in our youth. It was a pleasure working these last 5 weeks with you! Thank You just doesn’t seem adequate enough.

I left one special guy for last. I don’t think it’s any secret who.

Matt “Admin M@” Picone: When Tosin finished a song someone in the audience asked what planet he was from. I ask what universe is this guy from? When I called Matt and asked if he was coming to town anytime soon as it would be good to coordinate our “little” gathering he mentioned Cliff and him were going to be at the amp show in a month. The planets aligned and we were all sucked into Matt’s universe. He is a black hole of energy, ideas, industry connections, and all around goodness. I met Matt 4 years ago and we became friends pretty much on the spot. When he took our idea to Cliff and they agreed to not only sponsor but help coordinate we went from a local gathering to an “event”. I could go on for pages about all the contacts and artists that he brought aboard but you already know from the descriptions of the weekend. Everyone who was there knows how tirelessly he works. He is non-stop energy and limitless knowledge. I am proud to call you my friend Matt and this weekend was a testament to your passion for your profession and your commitment to us. We all benefit because of you!

I know I have rambled. I also fear I have left out a few persons so please forgive me if I have. Axe Fest was a huge success in my humble opinion and beyond the great presentations and performances, what I took away from it most was how the community came together and almost seamlessly pulled it off!

Thanks to ALL. It was a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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Very well done on this, cobbler, and thank you for providing the impetus to get the whole thing together. Can't wait for the video. Seriously. Thanks!
 
Cobbler - you were amazing and taking 2 weeks off from work to make it happen is incredible dedication. Thank you so much for your dedication to the event - it was well worth flying out from Atlanta to attend and meet everyone. You made the event a memorable one that sets the bar for those that will follow. What an inspiring group we have here.
 
Craig, thank you for the kind words. I had a blast making what contributions I could. I feel obliged to echo some comments made about how hard you worked to make this happen, taking two weeks off work. I know that you and Kerry spent quite a bit of money out of your own pockets to cover a lot of the expenses. Thank you for making this happen! I had an amazing time.
 
Here it is the following Saturday morning at 4:05 am and I wish that I was getting up, to go to the ballroom, to get ready for the days festivities, I really enjoyed it that much. Strange thing that happened when I got home is that my work was a little sweeter, my home life was a little more exciting, because of meeting all of you, you gave me a fresh perspective that I really hadn't had in a real long time, so thanks.


Thanks everyone for making the first Axe-fest 2012 a big success. I made a lot of friends and honestly this event has changed my perception of everything, from Fractal a small company, with great employees, to Cliff a wickedly smart ordinary average guy, that had a great sense of humor and passion for what he has made, after all he's just a musician like the rest of us.


Then there is Matt Picone
I'm kind of speechless about this guy, a fellow vegetarian and just great all around dude. The good thing is that I told this to his face, he just sat their all humbled, what a gentleman. I have decided that I want to be like you when I grow up matt, in my respective field of course.


Craig, Kerry, Scott, thanks so much for letting me help wherever I could. I got so much more out of it, because I got to physically participate. Next year I will help even more if you need it.


My last thanks is to Groovenut.
dude, you are a wealth of knowledge, and I feel I have made a new great Az friend. Thanks for making the trip with me and educating me along the way. We'll make the effort to go out to dinner with the wives next month, so be prepared for the call.

funny side story, I bring a suitcase full of cloths a couple projectors a big camera a regular photo camera, a small video camera, two iPads, and a back pack and he brings one small duffel bag. I said thats all your bringing, he says yep. I said I brought way to much stuff, and he says wryly so your just prepared is all... Classic

I have more to say, and I will some other time, because now at 4:30am, my wife wants me to start cleaning the house.



Back to the real world



This leads me to a great question. Now that we have made deep friendships on this forum, there needs to be a way that we could chat in real time.
 
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