I just took a tour of the Electro-Harmonix factory in Queens, New York and came away with an interesting bit of information. Their lead web guy, Scott Matthews, has created a number of systems to connect musicians and EHX products in ways that I’ve never seen on other conventional music supply sites.
EHX is famous. They’ve been making pedals and effects since 1968 and the sounds their pedals produce have been heard in countless recordings in the last few decades. But how is the average Joe supposed to share his experiences with the pedals? Or, more importantly, how does the professional or amateur guitarist supposed to know how to use the pedals and which pedals to buy?
To tackle this problem, Scott created a media sharing system that allows folks to submit videos of their own performances using the devices. More importantly, he has also introduced Effectology, an abundantly cool series created with musician Bill Ruppert who recreates classics sounds – synths, harmonicas, harpsichords – just with the pedals.
Scott even built up a forum for the series complete with feedback from Bill himself. The are also reaching out to web-savvy artists like Jack Conte who creates amazing mixes using EHX pedals and acoustic instruments.
So why is this so special? Pop over to any other music equipment site and you get a picture and a description. Some folks like Diamond are trying this tact as well, with mixed results. But for a small company like EHX to embrace the techniques of e-marketing with a passion adds value for everyone. EHX gets sales from folks who might want to try to make their guitars sound like a chorus of angels while folks get to hear – and understand – the vague and murky world of pedal acoustics. Win-win, people. Win-win. Instead of trying to create buzz with Twitter and Facebooking their board meetings, EHX is creating content to share with the world and, because of their niche audience, they can be appreciated and see real return.
Man that voice box is amazing.
Jack rocks :) He was my roommate at Stanford for 3 years and his talents go way beyond music. Random fact – he’s also the voice of all the male teenagers in the Sims 2.
Wow! can you hook us up with him? might be a cool interview
Sure – who should I email? You can reach me at syam AT cs.stanford.edu
I’d imagine he’s going to stumble upon this article soon enough, though :)
I was first introduced to Jack’s music/videos through Pomplamoose and can now appreciate his talents even more with videos like this. EHX owes artists like Jack a great deal for creating these vids and promoting their products.
Sweet. Reminded me of Auto-tune the News. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCCuOrRzoSc
Or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGhsbRb_pqE
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I stumbled on jack’s voicebox youtube video clip from a music blog I follow. I was so blown away, I bought a couple of his songs from itunes and then the next day bought the voicebox itself.
That guy is a monster talent really.
“Or, more importantly, how does the professional or amateur guitarist supposed to know how to use the pedals and which pedals to buy?”
It’s called getting off your lazy fat @$$, go down to your local music shop and try the freakin thing out.
I really do think this is a great idea but you may run into an issue. Like, the first video doesn’t explain what kind of head & cabinet this guy is running his guitar through as that can affect the end result as well.
@sYgnal,
The musician is active over in the EHX forums where he’s giving more details on exactly what he did, and answering questions — so, if you really are curious, you can certainly ask there!