METAlliance (TM): Bringing High Quality Audio Back From The Not Dead
METAlliance's ™ Jim Pace compares the public's indifference to audio quality to wine. People who like wine know to buy a bottle over a box if they want what's good [as a wine connoisseur, I refuse to buy boxed wine until a reputable company like Boone's Farm starts boxing up their fine product]. A lot of amateur audio consumers don't know a Bogner from a Behringer or a Neumann for a Nady.
The Pro Partner Group is a group of manufacturers partnering with METAlliance ™ to allow them to grade their products and stamp their logo on METAlliance ™ approved products. Check out the video to see where to look for these stamps.
Remember, kids: Good audio never dies, only good musicians who overdose on black tar heroin. Don't do drugs.
PHIL RAMONE: I think this is an appropriate time to talk about our partners, and our partners are people who are people who are going to be part of what we call the pro partner group. If I may, I’d like to say thank you for starting up with this meta-organization. First name is Audio-Technica: Mike Edwards.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
PHIL RAMONE: Cakewalk. Cakewalk with Carl Jacobson.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
PHIL RAMONE: There’s a company called GML.
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
GEORGE MASSENBURG: [LAUGHING]
PHIL RAMONE: I wonder if -- And it’s kind of George MAssenburg.
GEORGE MASSENBURG: How did he get in there?
PHIL RAMONE: I don't know how he got in there.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
PHIL RAMONE: JBL Pro: Peter Chaikin.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
PHIL RAMONE: Where are you, Peter? Lexicon: Jeff Phillips.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
PHIL RAMONE: Manley Labs. Manley Labs: EveAnna Manley
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
PHIL RAMONE: Millenia Media: Joel Silverman.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
PHIL RAMONE: Where are you, Joe? There he is. Royer Labs: John Jennings.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
PHIL RAMONE: How come this feels like a Grammy day here? Sanken Microphones: Minoru Kobayashi.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
AL SCHIMITT: Not bad. Not bad at all.
PHIL RAMONE: Yeah. And Universal Audio: Bill Putnam.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
AL SCHIMITT: Hey!
PHIL RAMONE: And now it’s my pleasure to introduce you to the head of our little group here, Jim Pace.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
JIM PACE: See, I can handle the microphone pretty good. Just some background and a little more clarification because I know there are some basic questions you’d probably like answered. The METalliance is those seven founding members. The pro partners is an alliance with manufacturers in conjunction with the METalliance to try and elevate the quality of product and differentiate for those people who are going to make these purchasing decisions so that can have an idea of what’s right, what’s just not marketing. It is an open invitation to manufacturers. These are not the only manufacturers that are going to be part of this. We actually have more manufacturers who we’re working with now, and you will see more announcements about more manufacturers that you’re running into. What we hope is it starts a ground well, and the basic concept is for the good of industry, for the good of music, if we can educate the people who buy the products at a show like this that their product can be better. Their ears will understand that. They’ll expect more in the product they buy. It sounds like a stretch but it’s not. If you’ve got 50 million people who make music in their home and 10% of them say, “You know, I work hard for this. I want my product to be better,” that’s 5 million people, and the industry requires this sort of push, and who better to do it than this austere group of men.
So, over the coming weeks, you’ll see more announcements about more manufacturers. You’ll see the METalliance logo on products that have been certified. You’ll see more appearances by the group. They’re available for seminars, teaching events, video. We’ve got all sorts of ideas by our manufacturers and partners to help us start this momentum and start this what we hope a movement to elevate the quality of the music, sound. There’s no reason we can’t do it. It’s not about distribution anymore. It’s not that you have to have the music stepped on as much as it is right now. In my own neighborhood as an example, there’ll be fiber to my door over the next few months. So, it’s not about bandwidth. It’s not about delivery anymore so why not? And we think now is the time. There’s a perfect storm here. There is a need, and if you draw a parallel to the argument that -- Well, if the argument is people won’t understand or don’t value it, well people understand the difference between a very good bottle of wine and a box of wine. They understand that. They pay for that difference. They just need to be educated. They need to realize this and enjoy the art form in the way that it was intended to be, and today for the first time, you can hear it exactly the way they hear it in the studio. You just have to know how. So, I’d like to thank you all for coming.
We have press releases up here. We have brochures with background on the alliance and different people. We will actually start some questions I guess for any questions and answers. You got some questions on up for the group? Would you guys all come up? Yeah. Questions?
ED CHERNEY: I think also I want to mention that , you know, in Rolling Stone and you’ve seen the death of -- the death of good audio, and we don’t think it’s true, and we’re here to say that great audio is not dead. As a matter of fact, we’re going to resurrect it and make it important again.
ELLIOT SCHEINER: It’s not dead.
ED CHERNEY: It’s not dead, and we’re not dead...yet.
[METALLIANCE MEMBERS LAUGHING]
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