conference presentation @ EMP

[jbf3]

Hi, all- A while back I started doing some research into the business/culture of boutique pedals, and Devi was one of the first interviews I conducted. In effect (no pun intended), my project stemmed from the emergence of the ILF community (though it wasn't called ILF when I started this...), and I've moved on to interview a handful of builders involved in this site. On Saturday (4/17), I'll be part of a panel at the Experience Music Project's Pop Conference http://www.empsfm.org/education/index.asp?categoryID=26 exploring the analog-digital dynamic in a range of music technologies. I'm going to be talking about my work on boutique pedals, and just wanted to throw that out there for anyone interested. Ultimately I think that the EMP folks will put the talks up on iTunes U, but until then here is a link to the Prezi I'll be using during my talk: http://prezi.com/a4ipisgrvvqn/. Poke around in it to get a sense of the visuals. Should you be interested, I've also been posting about my research periodically in my faculty blog: http://aaablogs.uoregon.edu/jfenn/category/research/fuzz-folk/

[Gunner Recall]

Very cool...just quickly flipped through it, will check it out again later.
Glad to see fatbacks godzilla demo made it in there (along with fuzzhugger vs firecrackers)

[jbf3]

Thanks for the feedback, GR. It was hard choosing which demos/vids to include as there are so many great ones out there. I love all of Fatback's demo (his Ottava Magus one was great, but I can't find it anymore...), and Tom's 'strength testing' is quite funny/wonderful. I'm hoping the range of vids I choose will give people at the conference a sense of the 'community' involved in small scale, hand made pedals (i.e. boutique...an odd word, but one that captures the creativity and commitment that I've seen in my research).

[Nychthemeron]

Very cool, but it seems like there are way more "boutique" builders than what you showed, though I saw a lot of Devi, Fuzzhugger, and a bit of Catalinbread.

[FuzzHugger]

The Prezi slideshow is very cool! http://prezi.com/a4ipisgrvvqn/ac_dc-emp/

btw, I did a couple Skype interviews with jbf3 for this project!
He's got a great job if it allows him to choose to research guitar pedals!!!

Hope the presentation goes well!

[jbf3]

Very cool, but it seems like there are way more "boutique" builders than what you showed, though I saw a lot of Devi, Fuzzhugger, and a bit of Catalinbread.

Yes, and that's an understatement! I'm only mentioning a few builders during this presentation (I only have 20min...), and during the project have only managed to work with a handful directly. I'll definitely be indicating to those present that there are tons of builders out there, which is a significant part of my interest in the boutique pedal world. I could easily spend the whole conference presentation talking about one builder (eg. Devi or Tom), and probably only cover a pedal or two (or focus on some other aspect of their contribution to the "culture" of pedal building), but I'm going for more of an overview...

Thanks for the feedback— it keeps me honest! There is nothing worse than academics mucking things up in their "reports" on the world around them...