{"id":14405,"date":"2015-05-08T08:24:49","date_gmt":"2015-05-08T15:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=14405"},"modified":"2015-05-08T08:29:27","modified_gmt":"2015-05-08T15:29:27","slug":"sweetwater-presents-gearfest-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2015\/05\/sweetwater-presents-gearfest-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweetwater Presents GearFest \u201915 \u2013 June 12-13"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h1>\n

\"GearFest<\/h1>\n

Sweetwater Presents GearFest \u201915 \u2013 June 12-13<\/b><\/h1>\n

Sweetwater, the number one online retailer of music instruments and audio equipment in the U.S., will present GearFest \u201915, a celebration of musicians and the instruments and equipment they use to make and record music, on\u00a0Friday<\/strong>,\u00a0June 12<\/strong>\u00a0from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and\u00a0Saturday<\/strong>,\u00a0June 13<\/strong>\u00a0from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Sweetwater campus, 5501 US Hwy 30 W, Fort Wayne, Indiana.\u00a0GearFest is free and open to the public<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

GearFest, the largest music trade show open to the general public in the United States, combines a gear expo, entertainment events, flea market, and musical demonstrations, with seminars and workshops by some of the biggest names in the music industry. GearFest also means two days of great deals on the best music instruments and pro audio gear available.<\/p>\n

Sweetwater Founder and President Chuck Surack said, \u201cGearFest has become an extraordinary, one-of-a-kind event in the music retail business. Where else can musicians and music-lovers come to see, hear, enjoy \u2013 not to mention buy — what is usually reserved for music industry insiders at your typical trade show? We\u2019re also particularly proud to be able to produce this huge event in Fort Wayne, bringing people here from literally all across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"PerformanceGearFest will host a multitude of musicians performing and in workshops continuously on five different stages. Featured guests include Jeff \u201cSkunk\u201d Baxter, founding member of Steely Dan, and session guitarist for the Doobie Brothers, Eric Clapton, and Sheryl Crow; Deep Purple vocalist and bassist Glenn Hughes; Shawn Pelton, drummer for Sheryl Crow, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, and Van Morrison; bassist Nathan East, who has worked with Barry White, George Harrison, Sting, and Stevie Wonder; and, guitarist Mike Stern, who has performed with jazz greats like Billy Cobham, Miles Davis, and Jaco Pastorius. Other musicians include guitarists Mark Colcomb and Javier Reyes, keyboardist Steve Weingart, and many more.<\/p>\n

\"Glenn

Glenn Hughes<\/p><\/div>\n

Sweetwater’s Mitch Gallagher will host an historic panel discussion with three pioneers of synthesis and electronic instruments: Roger Linn, Tom Oberheim and Dave Smith. Technical Grammy award-winner Roger Linn invented the LM-1 Drum Computer (the first sample-based drum machine) in 1979. He later designed the Akai MPC60, which combined a sampling drum machine with a real-time MIDI sequencer. Dave Smith founded Sequential Circuits, and his Prophet-5 was the world’s first fully programmable polyphonic synth, as well as the first musical instrument with an embedded microprocessor. And Tom Oberheim co-designed the Synthesizer Expansion Module (SEM), a device that allowed musicians to simultaneously combine live playing and sequenced playback – a concept that pre-dated the MIDI revolution. They’ll share anecdotes and talk synthesis and electronic instruments in this informal roundtable discussion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A very special attraction will be Sweetwater\u2019s hugely expanded and just recently completed new 15,000 square-foot music store. GearFest attendees will experience one of the largest music instrument and audio gear stores in the Midwest, with the\u00a0largest on-site inventory of any music store in the country.<\/p>\n

Special GearFest features include hourly giveaway drawings for free gear totaling more than $70,000, from Gibson, Fender, Antelope, Focal, Roland, Yamaha, Moog, and many others.<\/p>\n

\"Jeff

Jeff Baxter<\/p><\/div>\n

More than 400 product lines, including all of the newest musical instruments, music technology, and audio equipment, will be on display in 19 tents and four semi-trailers. In addition, Sweetwater will offer once-in-a-lifetime sale pricing on many products.<\/p>\n

GearFest \u201915 will also offer\u00a0five Pre-GearFest AMPLIFIED Workshops<\/strong>, on\u00a0Thursday<\/strong>,\u00a0June 11<\/strong>, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.\u00a0 These workshops, which\u00a0cost as little as $79<\/strong>, include \u201cThe Craft of Songwriting<\/strong>,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cShaping the Sound of Worship<\/strong>,\u201d \u201cPursuing the Ultimate Guitar Sound<\/strong>,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThe Art of Studio Mixing<\/strong>,\u201d and \u201cSynth Tips and Tricks<\/strong>.\u201d Space is limited; for more details and to register, go to:\u00a0http:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/gearfest\/amplified\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Attendees can bring a guitar for a free restringing and setup<\/strong>, enjoy great food, and experience the newly expanded Sweetwater campus, including the new Crescendo Caf\u00e9, featuring coffee drinks and the best ice cream and sweets in the region.<\/p>\n

\"GearFest<\/p>\n

A musicians\u2019 flea market, where used equipment can be bought, sold, or traded is open to all. To pre-register to participate in the flea market, call (260) 432-8176.<\/p>\n

The entire GearFest \u201915 schedule of events is available online at:\u00a0http:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/gearfest\/schedule\/<\/a><\/p>\n

To speed up the registration process at the festival, you can\u00a0pre-register online<\/strong>; visit\u00a0http:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/gearfest\/register\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Out-of-town guests are encouraged to book hotel accommodations as early as possible. Travel and hotel information for Fort Wayne, IN, is available at:\u00a0http:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/gearfest\/hotels\/<\/a><\/p>\n

For more information, call (800) 222-4700.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About Sweetwater Sound<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Shawn

Shawn Pelton<\/p><\/div>\n

Founded in 1979, Sweetwater is the nation’s leading retailer in instruments and pro audio equipment for musicians, recording studios, broadcast, education, and houses of worship. Sweetwater’s customers can be found everywhere music is heard and audio is played, broadcast, or recorded, including recording, film, and broadcast studios in New York, Nashville, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami; in hundreds of thousands of home recording studios; and in schools and churches nationwide. Sweetwater’s founding and meteoric growth are built on a knowledgeable and experienced staff, outstanding selection and pricing, and above all, an unwavering commitment to customer service excellence in every situation. For further information, visit\u00a0Sweetwater.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sweetwater Presents GearFest \u201915 \u2013 June 12-13 Sweetwater, the number one online retailer of music instruments and audio equipment in the U.S., will present GearFest \u201915, a celebration of musicians and the instruments and equipment they use to make and record music, on\u00a0Friday,\u00a0June 12\u00a0from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and\u00a0Saturday,\u00a0June 13\u00a0from 9 a.m. to 5 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1058],"tags":[7600,7398],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14405"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14405"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14419,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14405\/revisions\/14419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}