Ron Dante Interview - The Voice Of The Archies - At MBLV09!

Mp3 audio of this interview is available below the text of the interview here.

Ryan Burger: Hi, this is Ryan Burger, the publisher of Mobile Beat magazine. We’re here with Ron Dante, known as the Mr. Archies or — how shall we know you, I guess?

 

Ron Dante: They usually call me the “Voice of The Archies.”

Ryan Burger: The Voice of The Archies. That’s what I saw. Fantastic. Introduce yourself, and then I’ll just ask whatever comes to mind.

Ron Dante: My name is Ron Dante. I’m a singer. I’ve been singing all my life. I was asked to be the voice of a group called The Archies years ago for their TV series that was on in the late ’60s-early ’70s, and we did all the music for it. I sang all the music. Every time you saw that red-headed, freckled Archie singing on the TV show, it was me, every Saturday morning for four years. I was lucky enough to do a lot of great songs and some of them became huge hits.

Ryan Burger: Fantastic. I watched the show a little bit; obviously I’ve heard the music and everything like that. So you’re sort of just the singing voice. You didn’t do the voice in their silly adventures and stuff like that that they did. You’re just uniquely the singing voice of Archie, then?

Ron Dante: Right. I was the voice that every time you heard the music. We did all the music on the East Coast; all the acting for the character voices were done on the West Coast in Los Angeles by character actors and things. But they supplied all the music. They actually animated to our songs. So whatever the song was, “Bang-Shang-A-Lang,” “Jingle Jangle,” they would animate to those lyrics, and you’d see The Archies dancing and singing.

Ryan Burger: So it wasn’t the other way around; sort of like — I was a big fan of the Monkees. I was watching when they came back in the mid-’80s. It seemed like their songs were written to fill the script, to a degree. Yours was the other way around.

Ron Dante: Yeah. Ours was the dance of the week or the song of the week or the Giant Jukebox would play a song that everybody could dance to on the show and at home. We tried to once in a while get conscious. We wrote a song called “Mr. Factory” about the factories polluting things. We got a little ecological on some of our songs.

Ryan Burger: That was what people did during the days. Yours was probably a calm version of what other people were writing and singing at things. It’s a way of getting a message out, too.

Ron Dante: Yeah. We tried — we knew they were young viewers; mostly pre-teens and early teens. So we tried to write and sing for that generation, for that group of people; not hit anybody over the head. Mostly it was fun music, good old-fashioned rock and roll that a lot of the kids, it was their first exposure to pop music was through The Archies’ TV show. We would have a song and a dance every week, and before they were even listening to radio, they were watching TV as young kids.

Ryan Burger: Yeah. And “Sugar, Sugar” being the biggest one that hit on there, what other were the big ones in your Archie portion of your history? We’ll get into all the things you’ve done since then, but what else were the ones that really punched?

Ron Dante: Well, the very first single we released with the very first series of shows was called “Bang-Shang-A-Lang,” which went Top 10 and sold almost a million records. People really responded to it. It was written by this great songwriter, Jeff Barry, who wrote “Be My Baby” and “Da Doo Ron Ron” and “Leader of the Pack”, “Hanky Panky”. These are all his hits. So they brought in one of the best writers of the ’60s to write for The Archies. So “Bang-Shang-A-Lang came out. The next one was, of course, “Who’s Your Baby?” And then a big one for us was “Jingle Jangle”, which was a follow-up to “Sugar, Sugar.” We sold two million records, “Jingle Jangle”, and it still gets played to this day right behind “Sugar, Sugar” on some stations.

So we had some really big ones, and it went on for four years. We had six albums out over those four years; our Greatest Hits and stuff. And every day, Archies gets played two or three hundred times a day on oldies radio stations around the country. It’s in the heavy rotation, which I’m very pleased about that.

Ryan Burger: It’s still shooting out there. Since I’m looking a little bit through your bio, which everybody can see on your website, RonDante.com, you didn’t stop after The Archies, by any means. Your history with The Archies continues on and you still come back and do more stuff with them and everything, but you moved on to more behind the scenes a lot more. Did you go straight into the producing side or did you continue to release other stuff after that?

Ron Dante: I did go into the production aspect of it. Before I did The Archies, I was a jingle singer, and I sang lots of commercials. I sang thousands and thousands of commercials. I was the voice of McDonald’s and Dr. Pepper. And on one of those spots — I did The Archies, of course, so people wanted the voice of The Archies on those commercials — I met a singer named Barry Manilow, and I ended up producing him. And through that connection I became Mr. Producer all through the ’70s and early ’80s, producing of course all the Barry Manilow hits, from “Mandy” to “Copacabana.” But I also produced Irene Cara, the “Flashdance” and “Fame” girl. I worked with Pat Benetar. I did “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” and “Heartbreaker”, “You Better Run.”

I’ve worked with wonderful classic people. So I really got behind the scenes a lot after that. I really loved the idea of being in the studio with musicians and great singers. I actually produced and worked with John Denver and Ray Charles, at one point. So I had a very, very eclectic career, and I was very pleased to be able to actually perform sometimes and other times be in the studio, producing.

Ryan Burger: The flip side of the equation. You always see actors that move into the production side of things, producing their own movies, stuff like that. So it’s a natural progression, because you know what the artist wants in a production value and then you also know what the record label wants, you’re able to connect a lot more. So I can understand the move into producing, definitely.

Ron Dante: Yeah. Producing is cool because as a singer, I produce records from the singer’s point of view; which is great because a lot of producers are very technical. They know the board; they know the amplifiers; they know the technique. But they don’t remember that the most important thing is the song and the singer. So I produce from the song and singer point of view. At least people get the impact of the song and the vocalist.

Ryan Burger: Wow. You still production-level stuff? What have you been doing the last –?

Ron Dante: Yeah. Over the Christmas time I produced a brand-new Archies album called The Archies’ Christmas Album featuring Betty and Veronica. I bought in two teenage girls to be Betty and Veronica. Danielle Van Zyl and Kelly-Lynn were Betty and Veronica. I, of course, sang the voice of Archie on our Christmas album and it did really well this Christmas. People rediscovered The Archies from the Christmas album, especially the High School Musical group and the Hannah Montana gang, because that’s what I kind of aimed that album for.

So I went right back in, and this summer we’re probably be putting out The Archies Go Country. We’ll be doing a country album in Nashville with The Archies again. So I do that, and I get called to do different commercials and different production things. I’m always working with new and up-and-coming artists. I like to keep my hand in the production. Even though I perform at least two or three times a month, I still like to come back and produce in the studio because that’s really where I love to be, also.

Ryan Burger: Well, coming up, you’re going to be performing with us at the Riviera Hotel at Mobile Beat Las Vegas that will be occurring possibly before some people hear this. But for those that are coming to the conference, tell us a little bit about what to expect of your time on stage with us.

Ron Dante: Well, I am just so excited to be a part of this show. It’s going to be so hot. It’s going to be a great, great night with lots of different types of music. I’m pleased. When they see my show, they’ll hear some of my Archies music; they’ll hear a couple of rock and roll tunes. I even had a group in the ’60s and ’70s called The Cuff Links, which we had a big hit record called “Tracy”, which a lot of 30-year-old girls named Tracy were probably named after my song.

So I’ll be doing “Tracy” also that night. It’s just going to be a very cool night. We’re going to be at the top of the Riv, in Las Vegas, with lots of people who love music and want to have some fun. So I’m really looking forward to that night.

Ryan Burger: That should be cool. You’ll be there signing autographs. We have copies of the new Christmas CD and some of the other stuff for people to pick up if they want to, I assume?

Ron Dante: I will be bringing all that stuff. I’ll be bringing CDs, The Archies new Christmas album, my classic album, the Best of The Archies with all our hits on it. I try to bring those things along because inevitably people also would like to find it. They see the artist; they would love to get something to remember the night by. So those things will be right by me.

Ryan Burger: Very cool. And then I understand you’re going to hang around a little bit with us on Wednesday; probably give us a place to sit and talk with people, anyone wants to sit and reminisce about stuff. It sounds like you really enjoy just talking with the average person. We were talking before we even turned on the Record button with this stuff; you just enjoy what you’ve done and your impact on things, and you like to talk about life in general, it sounds.

Ron Dante: Well, I’m really pleased that I was blessed to be able to do what I love all my career. And to meet the fans of the music or people that were impacted by something I did, it’s great. That really is the icing on the cake. It makes it all worthwhile. Because you go in the studio, you don’t get to meet the people that are enjoying the music. So I love to meet fans. I love to meet the people that play the music. It’s something I enjoy a lot.

Ryan Burger: Okay. Well, for those that are not going to be coming out to the conference, give us one short phrase or something, if they’re to remember who you are, who you’ve been, how would you describe yourself to the average person, or the mobile DJs out there that are probably listening to this, if they don’t get to meet you and find out your vibe and everything?

Ron Dante: Well, music has been my life totally since I was 14 years old, when I formed my first group. Of course, Archies, Cuff Links, and all my artists that I’ve produced are part of my legacy and part of what I do. But I love to keep current and I keep on top of things that are happening now. So if it’s happening in music, I’m on top of it.

Ryan Burger: Very cool. Thank you for joining us and make sure to come on out to Mobile Beat Las Vegas to check out Ron, Otis Day and the Knights, Vanilla Ice, our whole smorgasbord of styles of music, going through the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, and even a touch of ’90s at the Mobile Beat show. Come and meet everybody and find out what the DJ industry is all about.

Thanks for joining me, Ron.

Ron Dante: Pleasure being here.

Check out more information on the conference at http://www.mobilebeat.com/las-vegas-dj-show/ and Ron’s appearance on Tuesday night.

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Jim Barnhart Interview For MBLV09

Mp3 audio of this interview is available below the text of the interview here.

Ryan Burger: This is Ryan Burger, the publisher of Mobile Beat magazine. As part of our ongoing series of finding out about the artists that DJs play at their weddings and other events they do, we’re here with an up-and-coming Christian artist, Jim Barnhart, who’s going to be joining us at the Mobile Beat Las Vegas show coming up in just a few weeks.Tell us a little bit about yourself, how you got into the business.

Jim Barnhart: Well, I started playing some guitar when I was about 16 or so, and from there — I never really thought about playing guitar and singing at the same time. It took me forever, or felt like, anyways, to start actually playing the guitar and being able to actually strum chords good. And then after a while, I just began to progress and progress, and then I began to write some songs, some different words down. So then I just put one and one together and got into doing this. It kind of just all happened.

Ryan Burger: Everything came to you as blessed by the gifts that you had, and you had to tell people about it; thoughts in my mind. Did you used to play other people’s music, then just started having a feeling in yourself that you wanted to create on your own? How did that come to you?

Jim Barnhart: Really, I started playing in church. My grandpa’s a pastor in Arkansas, and he allowed us to just jump right in there. And from the very beginning, as soon as I started playing, he just let my cousins or whoever jump up on stage, turn our guitars all the way off, and just act like we’re playing. And really, just kind from that. That’s what I learned, really, was just following other people; like following the other guitarists and stuff.

So really it just kind of went from there. Then I began writing my own stuff and playing my own stuff. Then I led worship for a while, and still do that now. But mainly, it really just all fell in place. I really feel that God has blessed me and called me to do this. It just kind of all fell into place when the time was right.

Ryan Burger: Well, obviously people can check you out on the Web. What’s your Web address, if you could just mention it for everybody so they can check you out a little bit in advance of seeing you at the show?

Jim Barnhart: It’s JimBarnhartMusic.com.

Ryan Burger: Very cool. And I was listening to the music myself, I’ve got a little bit of a vibe as to what your style’s like. But describe it for all the people that are out there, compared to some other artists, either in the mainstream or in the Christian realm, as to what your music is like, what your feeling is like, and what you’ve written and sang.

Jim Barnhart: I really can’t compare much. I don’t compare myself to anybody else. It’s kind of like an own style. It’s more acoustic stuff. I write all my stuff with my guitar. Like whenever I do shows, right now it’s all acoustic. So as far as like comparing it, though, to anybody else, I don’t really know who to compare it to. But I would just say it’s acoustic, felt stuff, like a lot of worship type. So it’s real intimate lyrics.

Ryan Burger: It just comes straight from the heart. There’s no doubt about that.

Jim Barnhart: Just from the heart, yeah.

Ryan Burger: How’s the word getting out about you? Are you getting out there to a bunch of different churches? I can’t even remember how we found out about you.

Jim Barnhart: Actually, the Internet’s been helping me a lot. I’m really still just getting started and just getting going. I’m learning this whole music business. Like, once I got into it, it just kind of all happened again, just like playing guitar and writing and everything; just happened with the music business and everything. Whenever I recorded my album, it just happened. So really I’m just starting to get out there.

I’ve been touring around. I live in Vegas now, so I’ve been going around to the churches around here, and then I’m planning some stuff back in Arkansas, where I’m originally from, for later on in March. So really, the Internet’s been helping me a lot, and then just word of mouth, really.

Ryan Burger: Wow. So the word is spreading. A question for you actually just popped into my head. I’ve heard a lot of people say that contemporary Christian music is God’s music. But at the same time, God created all music; it’s just what the message is about. How does that hit you, as the difference between what’s considered regular Top-40 music and your style and similar people that have extra meaning in their music?

Jim Barnhart: You know, I personally listen to all different kinds of music, because like you just said, music itself is of God, and it’s God’s music. It’s like a lot of the lyrics and a lot of the words that people have put to go with the music has actually just kind of turned and went away from the actual music. I personally enjoy all different types of music, and really I don’t condemn anybody for not listening to just Christian music or anything like that. It’s just like a personal preference, I feel.

Ryan Burger: Cool. Jim’s going to be joining us at the non-denominational Christian Fellowship coming up at the conference; just to try to get a bunch of Christians and non-Christians that want to hear a little bit more of your music and of God’s word. I assume you’ll be playing a couple songs for us at [inaudible], so I’m actually going to talk about it after this interview.

But you’ll just basically be sitting down with your guitar? As you said, you’re totally acoustic with everything and playing from your heart, right?

Jim Barnhart: That’s what I do. Whenever I play my music, it’s just sharing straight from my heart. And so whether I’m playing my guitar and singing or just speaking, it all comes directly from my heart. That’s why I do what I do, is because my heart is over-full of love and compassion.

Ryan Burger: Fantastic.

Jim Barnhart: It’s who I am, I guess. It’s just me.

Ryan Burger: And you’re able to express it through musical talents given to you by Him. Understood completely.

Well, if you want to find out more about Jim’s music, check out JimBarnhartMusic.com. And you’ll find out more information and hopefully a lot of people see you at the show and somewhere down the road. When you’re a superstar and everybody’s hearing your music, we’ll hopefully be talking some more then.

Jim Barnhart: That sounds good. I look forward to it very much.

Check out more information on the conference at http://www.mobilebeat.com/las-vegas-dj-show/ and Jim’s appearance on Thursday morning

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Pioneer Perspective - Karl Detken and Davey Dave

If you are a regular attendee at the Mobile Beat conferences, you no doubt have seen or even met Karl Detken and Davey Dave, the faces of Pioneer Pro DJ on the tradeshow floor. Karl, who has been with the company for
16 years, is Director of Product Planning and Artist Relations for Pioneer Pro DJ, while Dave came to Pioneer three years ago, after stints with a number of other DJ gear manufacturers, to fill the position of Senior Manager for Marketing. Mobile Beat publisher Ryan Burger sat down with these two product specialists-to talk about how Pioneer fits into the big picture of the mobile DJ world and how the company continues to lead in producing high-end equipment for discerning DJs, among other things…

 Ryan Burger: This is Ryan Burger, the publisher of Mobile Beat magazine. We’re here with the faces of Pioneer, the guys that everybody sees at the mobile DJ conventions, be them the Mobile Beat Las Vegas show or one of the other conventions.

Dave and Karl, introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about how you got into this whole business.

Karl Detken: My name is Karl Detken. I’ve been with Pioneer for 16 years and I’m the director of product planning and artist relations.

Davey Dave: This is Davey Dave. I’ve been with Pioneer for three years. I’m the senior manager for marketing.

Ryan Burger: How did you both get into this business? From what I remember and what you’ve told me before, you guys were both DJs before you got in, so it’s not like you came through an electronics background or something like that. You guys are DJs.

Karl Detken: Yeah, that information is completely wrong, Ryan. I was actually not a DJ –

Ryan Burger: Were not. Okay. Sorry.

Karl Detken: — when I came to Pioneer in 1992.

Davey Dave: I was a scuba instructor as well.

Ryan Burger: Scuba instructor. Okay.

Karl Detken: He was a Jello scuba instructor, which was a specialized field.

Anyway, I was in music in a touring kind of original band, and discovered about Pioneer’s open position for, at that time, their karaoke products division, and they needed somebody that would be licensing music and programming their music and getting it pressed — at that time, on laserdisc — and since I came from a musical background, I took the job and have been here since.

Ryan Burger: Wow.

Karl Detken: He was kidding about the scuba instructor.

Davey Dave: So, I started out with Pioneer three years ago. Before that I’ve been DJing since 1983. I discovered Pioneer when I first saw the CDJ-700 players and DJ-500 back in 1998, I think it was. Since then, I knew I wanted to work for this company because I knew they were the best, but I didn’t know how to get to them. So I basically hounded and harassed and stalked Karl at every show from about 1999 up until three years ago and begged him for a job. And I’m not even joking about that.

I always knew Pioneer was the leader and I wanted to work with them. I worked for previous companies in the electronic industry, and finally three years got to hook up with Pioneer.

Ryan Burger: Back on you, Karl. I originally met you when you were “Karaoke Karl.” Was that kind of a thing they put you into for you to learn the industry? I had just assumed you had come from within and then moved into Pioneer, but it seems like obviously I’ve got it backwards.

Karl Detken: Yeah, a little bit backwards. First of all, I’ll tell you how the name came about. But I started with Pioneer in ‘92, worked on the karaoke product; about ‘95, ‘96, my then Japanese boss said, please go do karaoke and learn about the industry better, and I thought that was a great idea.

So I went and I found a local bar and I said, hey, I’ll do your karaoke for $50 a night. And at that time, I thought, wow, that’s great; pay for my beer and have a good time singing. And after a while I just got to loving the industry and the product. And it also helped me in the development of our songs and selection of our songs.

The “Karaoke Karl” name came about somewhere about 1997, ‘98. Pioneer — at that time, I had been involved in product placement in a lot of movies; My Best Friend’s Wedding, Frasier — TV and movies that would use our karaoke for a certain karaoke scene. There was a movie being done by Sony Pictures at the time with Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt [sic] called “Duets”, and they had called me in to do a script reading and make sure it was accurate and realistic, which I did. They found out I was doing karaoke at the time at a local club every Thursday night. They came down, unbeknownst to me, the producers; one of them being Bruce Paltrow, who is Gwyneth’s father, and Kevin Jones. They came down and said, how would you like to be in the movie? We’d actually like to add realistic guys that are doing. I said, well, let me check my schedule; Gwyneth who? Of course I said yes. And that’s how the name came, because that was my name in the particular film; Karaoke Karl.

Ryan Burger: And Davey, yourself I know you’re still very active. I know you disappear for overseas gigs all the time. You’re very active still in the club/DJ community.

Davey Dave: Yeah, I’m still an active DJ. I play in a two-man group called UberZone, and we pretty much tour around the world. We hit various countries throughout the year; Australia, a couple times of year, various places in Europe, Japan, Korea, all over. So I’m still very active in the club scene, definitely.

Ryan Burger: Okay. We’ve heard how each of you guys got there. How about Pioneer? Karl, you’ve been around for the [inaudible]; I’m sure Davey knows the whole story. But I mean, Karl, tell us a little bit more about you — Pioneer made the move from karaoke players, those big laserdiscs and all the stuff like that, into what is now the top professional gear that everybody’s loving?

Karl Detken: Well, Pioneer has actually been around since 1938. They started off as a speaker company in Japan, and moved into hi-fi and car audio products in the ’60s and ’70s; probably became a world brand somewhere around that time as well.

They introduced the first car CD player, the first car cassette player, and a bunch of firsts; plasmas and all these different things. But like you said, we were in karaoke. We actually brought karaoke to the United States, which we apologize to everyone publicly right now for bringing that craziness. In ‘88 we brought it. About 1993 or so, we started — one of the things that we noticed is that many wedding DJs were using our karaoke for their weddings and bar things, and so we started looking at the DJ industry a little bit closer and seeing what products we could evolve into that might lend themselves to being strong in a DJ marketplace.

We decided to develop a DJ CD player, kind of a tabletop. A lot of people think it was the first tabletop ever released, but it actually wasn’t, because 10 or 15 years prior, Technics had made an ill attempt to release a tabletop CD player, but it didn’t have very good pitch and instant start wasn’t available back then, so it didn’t do very well. We were actually the second guys to actually develop this tabletop CD player with a large jog dial on the top, kind of emulating a turntable. It was the first looping player with seamless loop. There were many looping players that had a little bit of a delay, but it was the first seamless looping player. First player with something called Master Tempo, which kept the key of the music while the speed went up and down.

So it had a lot of firsts, and we entered that market in 1995 — January of 1995 at the NAMM show, we introduced that product. We did fairly well with it because it was a new technology. And at that time it was funny because we were still kind of committed to karaoke, this particular DJ tabletop CD player also had a karaoke output. So it would play CD-G discs as well. And after that we discontinued the CD-G because we started focusing just primarily on DJs and club DJs and mobile DJs.

And basically that was the first five years of releasing mixers and different CDJ. About 2000, 2001, I think we revolutionized the world by introducing the CDJ-1000, which was the first realistic scratch-emulating CD player. It has become the standard in the world. We sold our millionth CDJ last December, and it’s quite an accomplishment for Pioneer that we’re very proud of. And our mixers are also very much a standard in the nightclub and a lot of the mobile DJ industry.

So that’s kind of the history and kind of a brief short version.

Ryan Burger: Okay. Well, Pioneer’s known for being patient; engineering the product the perfect way. You may not be the first on the market to have something, like for instance, the CMX rack-mount CD players, the DVJ-1000s, obviously, and your new MEP unit out; there’s been video mixers but nothing like this. Does Pioneer plan — is it kind like a corporate philosophy that they plan it that way to do research? I guess I want to understand things and let everybody else understand a little bit where Pioneer places itself.

Karl Detken: Yeah. Pioneer has always been very — one of the values is always to have quality product, and that’s come down from our car electronics, home electronics, our plasma electronics things — everything we do goes into much R&D. Usually for DJ products it’s two to three years of development from the time of idea and inception to the time it actually hits the market. In that also is one period of testing, both at the factory — they have some incredible testing rooms where they put them through 150-degree heat, below freezing room temperature, dust testing rooms — and all of that goes through months and months, often six months of just some heavy testing before it goes out to market.

And one of the reasons is not just because of the philosophy of having quality product that is going to withstand everything out there, but also because from a DJ standpoint — Ryan, as a DJ, you know as well — there is no chance of turning back the hands of time to redo that first dance of the bride and groom if your CD starts skipping. And I’ve seen over the last 10 to 15 years the demise of many, many [inaudible] has been because they come to market too quickly and they haven’t tested long enough. So what happens is it gets out there, it fails, and it fails at the most inopportune time. And it’s embarrassing to the DJ. You lose their loyalty.

So it’s kind of the reason that we are always a little bit behind the curve of technology. Some people always wonder why are you taking a year longer than everybody else to release whatever video or mp3 or whatever. It’s because we want the product to work flawlessly as much as it can. That’s kind of the reason why.

Davey Dave: Yeah. It’s very interesting that not only in our market but other markets as well, other industries, that everybody’s trying to be first to market with new technologies and things. Pioneer’s not the first, but they do have the best, and that’s something I’m very proud of as well, to represent that philosophy.

Ryan Burger: That’s obviously you were hounding Karl versus someone else out there; because you knew you wanted to be involved with a product that was the tops.

Davey Dave: Exactly.

Karl Detken: Now, mostly all of our products have been successful, with the exception of — and even these products — the VJM-700 and the DMP, first mp3 player to hit the market — those were the only things that were discontinued very quickly.

Davey Dave: Oddly enough, the DMP was the first to have that technology, so they should have wasted.

Karl Detken: Yeah. It was a little bit ahead of its time, but I think that part of the reason of our success on any product is the fact that when people buy it, they know they’re buying quality product that they can rely on.

Ryan Burger: Gotcha. Where do you see things going in the next couple years? Is the average mobile disc jockey going to be going into video content? Are they going — where is it going?

Karl Detken: Well, for us there’s really kind of three markets that we’re always looking at. There’s the club market, which Pioneer dominates with probably 90 percent of market share. There’s the mobile DJ market. And then there’s the hip-hop market. And I think for us our philosophy and our goals still remain the same, which is that we are still pursing video. We think video’s the future. How it plays out into the mobile DJ industry, we are continuing to look at that. The club industry is a little bit easier to kind of visualize and see how that does work for that.

So we’re looking at things like controllers, or products that control software, and not just our software that’s out there, but a universal controller for all softwares. So we’re developing products like that and also still pursuing the video market.

Ryan Burger: Gotcha. Well, where are things going in the next couple months? What are we all going to be looking forward to seeing with the Pioneer nameplate on it? Have you got something in the pipeline you can tease us on a little bit?

Karl Detken: We can’t share anything that’s too far down the road by 2009, but there are some really, really cool things coming out in 2009 that the market has been asking for and wanting that will again set Pioneer as the pioneer in the industry. But probably close to the time that this podcast airs, we will have released our new headphones, the HDJ-2000. They will be our highest-end headphones that come to market, with better fidelity, better audio quality; new materials that are being used, alloy metals that are just virtually indestructible; new foam padding similar to the memory foam that’s used on mattresses that you spend $3,000 for. We’re developing products with that. It’s a better sounding, more comfortable, lighter type of headphones that we’re hoping is going to be something that the market wants.

Davey Dave: And Ryan, you were talking about the different markets that we target. This is actually a product that’s going to expand our market share because it’s not only going to be perfect for the professional DJ but also for studio use as well, for like monitoring your mixes in the studio via headphones. So it’s the perfect headphones — high-end headphones for studio use and professional DJ use as well.

Ryan Burger: So, yeah, that hits across your three marketplaces you mentioned earlier, plus adds the studio side to things. Understandably, yes.

Okay. Last thing I really have for you guys is where do you want Pioneer to be known? I guess Dave, it’s more in your area because you’re the man that gets the word out about the great things that are developed. How do you want Pioneer known in the DJ marketplace?

Davey Dave: I want to maintain — well, Pioneer wants to maintain its high-end brand image. We’re viewed as the Lexus, the Mercedes of the DJ world, and we want to maintain that image and show that we justify our price range with quality and reliability and durability and unique feature set. We just want to maintain that high brand image in all product categories?

Karl, you want to add to that?

Karl Detken: Yeah. I think we’ve already kind of made our mark in the DJ history, or the DJ world by introducing the CDJ-1000 in 2000, which — a million CD players is quite a lot. I don’t think any manufacturer can even come close to that, and that says a lot. I think Pioneer is what you would call, back in the ’80s and ’90s, the Technics 1200 and even now the Technics 1200 is the standard turntable for a nightclub DJ, and that I think is where we’ll be in the annals of history for DJ products. The CDJ-1000 will be what revolutionized DJs to go from hardcore vinyl to that medium, and it’s still being used and probably will be used for several years to come.

Ryan Burger: Absolutely fantastic. And in general, if anybody that’s listening to this wants to catch and meet Karl or Davey, the best place to see them will be the upcoming Mobile Beat Las Vegas show. Check out MobileBeat.com for more information on that.

Thanks, guys.

Karl Detken: Thank you.

Davey Dave: Thanks. I’ve got to go back to my scuba lessons now.

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QSC: A Chronicle of Quality - Quilter and MacKenzie Interview

Audio file down below transcript

Driving force Pat Quilter and marketing maestro Evan MacKenzie speak about the QSC tradition and new directions in powered loudspeakers.From one of those mythical-sounding-but-true beginnings in a small Southern California shop, to its current position as one of the leading amplifier manufacturers in the world, QSC has always maintained focus on high quality and truly serving the needs of working entertainers. The co-founder and current PR man discuss the company’s origins and continuing development.

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Vanilla Ice Interview For MBLV09

Below is the full transcript of the interview that appears in shortened form in issue #117 of Mobile Beat Magazine.  Rob Van Winkle (stage name: Vanilla Ice), will be performing at the Mobile Beat Las Vegas DJ Show.  This is also available in audio form at the bottom of this post.

 

Ryan Burger:            This is Ryan Burger, the publisher of Mobile Beat magazine. We are here with Rob Van Winkle, also known as Vanilla Ice, and we want to find out a little bit more about him and what he’s been doing lately, what he did in the past, and what he’s going to be doing at the Mobile Beat show coming up in Las Vegas, February 2009.

 

                                    Rob, not to totally go there, but I want people to understand — I understand a little bit about how your musical style has moved with you through the years as to how you have changed. I guess if you could start back there as to how they found you and the world found out about Vanilla and Rob and everything about it, and then go into what you’ve been doing lately. Go for it.

 

Vanilla Ice:                Well, I wrote “Ice Ice Baby” when I was 16. Before that, I got into music basically by growing up to different music than white kids would grow up to. I got real interested in the funk, Roger Troutman of Zapp, to be specific; groups like Parliament/Funkadelic, Earth, Wind & Fire, Rick James. And then the movies came out, Break Beat and Beach Street. I was heavily influenced by all of that whole movement, and used to have a mirror in my room, and I used to look in the mirror and basically practice dance moves and stuff.

 

                                    We would go out to these underage high school keg parties and I would battle kids from other schools and stuff like that, sharpen my skills up; go home during the week, practice some rhymes with different stuff. I was so into it. I would just eat it, sleep it, drink it.

 

Ryan Burger:            It was everything that you were, and you came on stage as to what your personality was like.

 

Vanilla Ice:                Absolutely. Everything in the beginning was all me, the songs, “Funky Music,” “Ninja Rap,” all these songs. I landed a small record deal before anybody really knew of me, other than my neighborhood, out of Atlantic called Ichiban Records. For three years I was the opening act for the opening act for the opening act for the opener. I would get in where I fit in and basically, anywhere, anytime that I could do my thing, I would try to shine. And it paid off. I landed this record deal and sold 48,000 copies.

 

                                    After that — that was about three years — I went on the Stop The Violence tour with Ice-T, Stetsasonic, EPMD, Sir Mix-A-Lot. So that was a big deal. Ice-T pretty much allowed me to open up for that show, which was huge for me at the time. One thing led to another, we sold 48,000 copies, and then EMI picked up my contract and bought out my contract from Ichiban Records. Pretty much everybody knows the story from there. The record went number one first, and then we put a video out. I think everybody thought I was black, because rap music was so black at the time. It’s a good compliment that the song was number one before anybody knew what color I was, so that didn’t have anything to really do with it.

 

                                    We were selling a million records a week pretty much, and the impact still today just amazes me. I could never predict that or expect that. It kind of took on a life of its own, and it was amazing. I think at the time, the most sold records was like Run DMC, and they went gold, and that was huge for rap music. Here’s my record, crossing over for the first time ever to a pop station for a rap song, which I never expected, and it just blew up beyond anything anybody could ever expect and the impact was amazing. I’m still amazed by it today.

 

Ryan Burger:            Well, I know the mobile DJs that we work with — and I still do a little bit of events regularly, myself — we can still pop out “Ice Ice Baby,” “Play That Funky Music,” we can play that at a high school dance, and they’ll go crazy.

 

Vanilla Ice:                Yeah, the song is very universal. It’s amazing that it’s stood the test of time because a lot of songs during that time people have forgotten about. This one they haven’t. It’s a part of their life and I think it’s tattooed to their memory forever. People are going to be like 80 years old — like 80-year-old people right now, they’ll say to you, “Oh, I don’t know that rap crap you’re listening to. I listened to Sinatra,” you know, because that’s what they grew up on and that’s what they remember. But I think when this generation gets to be old (inaudible), “Ice Ice Baby,” they’re going to remember it forever because it (inaudible) clothes they were wearing, who they were dating, what car they were driving in high school; they had the big subwoofers in the back of the car.

 

                                    It was right in that time when systems came out in cars where people were having bass and CDs had just came out. It was a good time, you know? People were dancing, the economy was great — it was a good time and people are going to remember it forever, you know?

 

Ryan Burger:            I graduated from high school in 1990, so I’m right in that, with the C+C Music Factory, with the MC Hammer, that kind of stuff; and the average attendee at our convention is about my age. They continue to play the music they remember because it was their time perfectly with stuff.

 

                                    You were saying that Roger Troutman — I’m not familiar with Zapp — was one of your musical styles. What other stuff — like Earth, Wind & Fire and stuff kind of hit you? What were some of the other artists we were talking about earlier?

 

Vanilla Ice:                Yeah. My main influence was Roger Troutman from Zapp. He’s the guy who invented the Vocoder before Peter Frampton even did it, where he sticks a tube down his throat and makes that sound. I went to a concert — I snuck in on a fake ID — and it was the most amazing concert I’ve ever seen in my life, so it was very influential to me to go see this guy pull out a guitar and he had these tubes he sticks down his throat and he does that “wah-wah” sound.

 

Ryan Burger:            Your musical styles, you moved from rap into rock into all kinds of different stuff. You were saying when we were talking earlier off the microphone that it’s just your style of music. Did you just kind of flow through these things as different things happened in your life? Explain that a little bit more for me.

 

Vanilla Ice:                I guess. I didn’t have a plan or anything. It did lured me to the sound of the funk. Like I said, I went and saw this concert — I snuck in on a fake ID — it was Roger Troutman and he influenced me in a big way. The guy was doing a guitar solo on stage, he had this girl up there with her legs spread and he was acting like he was doing sexual acts on her. And all of a sudden the lights went out and there was this explosion and everybody thought that they blew a breaker in the building or the electric went out or something. And bam, all the lights come on and the stage was empty, and you’re like, what the hell just happened? And then here he is in the back of the crowd standing up like a magic trick, and a spotlight on him doing a guitar solo. It was amazing. The guy was just so funky, and I used to just watch any kind — I grew up watching Turbo and Ozone, the movie Break Beat and Beat Street and all the boogie stuff. It was big, man. And then Egyptian Lover came out and I started breakdancing. That’s pretty much what influenced me.

 

Ryan Burger:            How would your moves into some of the other styles of music — I mean, you just wanted to get a little bit harder; change up what you’re doing a little bit when you moved into some of the harder guitar/bass and the rock side of things?

 

Vanilla Ice:                I met Ross Robinson, who like I said, produced Korn, Limp Bizkit, the Deftones, Slipknot. He’s a huge producer and great, great, great friend of mine. I basically feel like I owe him my life because the guy saved my life. We sat down and had a very heart-to-heart talk, and explaining to me — I talked in-depth about things that I never would talk about with anybody and opened up pretty much to him, and he was amazed by it. He said, “You need to write about it.”

 

                                    And I said, “No, this is depressing. I don’t really want to write about his type of stuff. People want to hear music to be happy and have a good time. I don’t think this is the type of music that would do that.”

 

                                    And he says, “You know, you’re not understanding it. You need to use your music as your therapy, and use it to exorcise your demons; use it to do everything in life.”

 

                                    I said, “Really? Okay.” So he opened up a whole new musical adventure, like I said earlier, to basically — I wrote this record. Basically one of the songs I can’t even perform it, can’t even listen to it. It’s called “Scars”, and it’s the most amazing song ever because it’s so emotional to me. And I made this record and it’s had a huge impact. It sold very well with no radio play, which is an amazing complement; and I could sell millions of records right now without radio play so I don’t have to kiss any radio ass. And I don’t have to make radio-friendly records, which are kind of lame these days, you know?

 

                                    It allows me to just do whatever I want musically without having any stipulations, any rules. That’s why I found out that music should be about the music. It shouldn’t be about gimmicks; it shouldn’t be about image; it shouldn’t be about white or black; it should be about anything other than the music. I mean, a great song is a great song and nothing else really matters, you know? The way the industry has taken over today with American Idol, with all these acts, they have to have an image behind them. Hell, they’ll even have somebody else that’s like an older producer, musician, somebody else write the words for them, do the music for them, choreograph the dance moves, show them how to dress; and in the end, you have this artificial thing, you know? It’s just not real.

 

                                    I don’t think that’s what music should be about. I’m very against all that. American Idol’s great to watch on television; it’s good for ratings; it’s good for commercials. I’ll even watch it and be entertained by it. But in the end, I’m a musician and I wouldn’t think that that’s what real music is about. I think real music’s about people who wrote the song, expressing the song; and I want to hear that person feel it, you know?

 

Ryan Burger:            It’s more of a storytelling kind of a thing.

 

Vanilla Ice:                It’s more personal than it’s got. Now it’s all just so impersonal and so artificial that the new music’s just kind of lost in the cracks. The good music that’s really written and heartfelt is kind of lost in the cracks, you know? It shouldn’t be. It should stand out. It should be its own.

 

Ryan Burger:            I didn’t know what I expect out of this interview — you’re very deep on your music and I’m thoroughly impressed with it. I remember when I saw you in Des Moines, you wanted things to be perfect. On what is yours, you wanted perfect; you want it your style, so I can see that completely.

 

Vanilla Ice:                It should reflect the person. That’s what I’m saying; the artist. Today it’s just a bunch of puppets out there reflecting somebody else’s ideas. It’s all artificially created by the record companies or whatever.

 

Ryan Burger:            It’s canned in corporate and done to sell not emotional.

 

                                    Move up to what in February, everything’s going to be like. We have you coming out to the MoBeat Las Vegas 2009 show. Describe what the show is like for everybody. I saw you here and some of the other people might have seen stuff, but the vast majority of the people that are going to be listening to this and reading about this in our magazine do not know what Vanilla Ice’s show is like in general. Can you give a little bit of synopsis without giving away anything too big and exciting as to what your shows are like?

 

Vanilla Ice:                Well, it’s very high energy. Obviously, we take them back to the old school, of course. We have fun with it, you know. We’ll do “Ice Ice Baby” and the “Ninja Rap”, we do a remake of that. We do “Play That Funky Music”; maybe a couple other old hits, and then we’ll do some stuff from the mid-’90s that I did off of Mindblowin’ Records, like “Hit ‘Em Hard” or “Oh My Gosh,” stuff like that. Then we bring some of the new stuff — and not necessarily in this order — we play some of the rock stuff. I have a full band that I travel with; a DJ and a drummer and everything. Basically we have pyrotechnics flying all over the place on stage, sparks and water flying everywhere.

 

                                    We have a themed set, so if you see the set, you’ll see — and I never play the same show twice. Everywhere I go I play different shows. We never have a set list. We call songs out. It keeps it interesting for all of us and we can have fun doing it. People request things; we’ll do those songs, too. We just have a whole bunch of different things we can do. It keeps us on our toes and it makes it fun for us so we don’t just get into some boring routine.

 

                                    It’s a very exciting show. People will definitely be impressed, I’m 100 percent sure, because I play 100 shows a year and I’m pretty confident that anybody that comes out here who doesn’t or haven’t seen — and I know that everybody knows the name but they might not know what I’m up to today. Some people think I do a rock show, which I did do; a rock tour. But the new tour, like I said, is completely different than all of it. We have a little bit of everything in it. We take you, like the first question you were asking, from the beginning to the current, and we do it in a way that works well together.

 

Ryan Burger:            It sounds like it’ll definitely be a big rollercoaster ride of night for everybody. You’ll be the captain in charge and we’re all just going to have fun with you for an hour, hour and a half there. I don’t know what else to say, but I’m thrilled to have you at our show. We’re stepping things up every year for these mobile DJs that know your music and want to have a good time in Las Vegas. We’re going to have a lot of fun come February.

 

Vanilla Ice:                I love coming to Vegas, so I’m definitely looking forward to it. Great city.

 

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Issue #117 of Mobile Beat Magazine Ships

New feature for each issue of the magazine, “The Dan Walsh Show” - Dan talks with you about what is coming in the next issue that is at the press now.Issue #117 November 2008 Ships - The Power of Light

SPECIAL FEATURE:
- Spotlight on MBLV09 - Info-packed DJ show preview section!

A Different View of DJ Lighting:
- Coming Out of the Dark… How to create ambiance beyond the dance floor
- Power Hungry (Better, safer ways of powering your lights)

Also…
- Marketing Mini-Seminar: Info and advice on branding, standing out, business blogging and more
- ProDJ Publishing Book Preview: Guerilla Marketing Companion for DJs by Andy “Cubbie” Powell
- Website tune-up tips
- The Scoop: speaker, DJ mixer, headphone and media controller reviews

Other Highlights:
- Great Holiday Music
- More Green Ideas for Your Business

+ ADJA News, regular columns and Much More!

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