Products of Music

Welcome to Products of Music, a podcast sharing Inside stories and expert insights on product innovation in music technology.
In this episode:
Host Adam Wakeling speaks with John Snyder, Founder of Electronic Audio Experiments (EAE), about his journey, approach to product development at the company, tips for aspiring pedal builders, as well as his new reverb pedal with a pre-amp in the works.
To learn more about the company, visit: https://www.electronicaudioexperiments.com
Chapters:
00:00 Preview
01:10 Intro
02:10 EAE founder story
05:35 Dude Incredible V1
06:32 Sending V1
07:00 EAE's unique value proposition
07:40 Longsword pedal
08:53 Prismatic Wall pedal
09:45 Where ideas come from
10:45 Book recommendations for pedal design
13:15 Tips for beginner pedal builders
16:07 How to find out why a pedal sounds good
18:55 Art versus engineering
20:10 Chase Bliss sponsor feat. Big Time
21:10 How the Halberd was developed
24:47 Through hole versus surface mount
25:30 Noisy pedals
29:31 Sunn O))) in concert experience
30:32 New tube amp in development
36:30 New Hypersleep successor Reverb pedal
40:40 Big Time Chase Bliss collab story
46:15 Thoughts on trends and digital modelers 
51:03 Favorite EAE pedal
54:20 Most underrated EAE pedal
55:26 John's top 3 pedals of all time
58:50 New reverb pedal visual reveal
59:20 Plans on bringing back the Dude Incredible
01:01:54 Other pedal company shout-outs
01:07:02 Favorite Pile song
01:08:40 Outro
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Welcome to Products of Music, a podcast sharing inside stories and expert insights on product innovation in music technology.

In this episode:

Host Adam Wakeling speaks with Steve Bragg, founder of Empress Effects, about his founder story, approach to product development, the secrets behind the pristine sounds of Empress pedals, thoughts about the state of the market and much more.

Chapters:
00:00 Preview
01:21 Intro
02:25 Pedal pricing
02:20 Steve's founder story
05:45 Art versus science in design
07:45 Why surface-mount tech is best
11:25 Why Empress pedals sound 'pristine'
15:37 Chase Bliss Big Time sponsor
16:41 How the business is run (Lean)
19:18 How ideas come
20:55 Key product milestones
24:51 How features are chosen
26:18 Beta testing
27:32 What's surprising behind the scenes
31:50 What concerns Steve
34:00 Thoughts on AI
36:03 Challenge of starting a business now
38:04 Favorite Empress pedal
38:23 New pedal soon?
39:53 Most underrated Empress pedal
40:28 Steve's top 3 pedals of all time
42:45 Thoughts on future collaborations
44:04 Philosophy question
45:40 Surprising thing that impacts tone
46:40 An Empress pedal Steve would redesign
48:13 What makes an idea reach production
49:49 Smaller Reverb and Echosystems?
51:30 What makes the Para EQ pedal so good
52:37 Swapping Reverb & Echosystem firmware
55:18 Advice to aspiring founders
57:00 Outro
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Welcome to Products of Music, a podcast sharing inside stories and expert insights on product innovation in music technology.

In this episode:

Host Adam Wakeling speaks with Martin Kidd, Chief Designer and Co-Founder of Victory Amplification. We discuss his founder journey, perspective on Cornford Amps ceasing trading, the birth of Victory Amps and his approach to product development. We also have some quick-fire questions and community questions.

Chapters:
00:00 Preview
01:13 Intro
02:20 Martin's musical beginnings
03:30 Modding Marshalls
05:10 How Martin learned amp design
09:06 Building the first amp
12:00 The Cornford story 
13:45 Cornford ceases trading
18:00 Chase Bliss Big Time Event
19:15 Martin as Chief Designer, not CEO
22:15 Approach to product development
28:10 Product development early process
29:15 Martin's unique designs
31:58 Standing out in the amp market
34:52 Victory MKX and originality
38:25 Market concerns
42:06 Hybrid analog and digital
45:36 Victory PowerValve and digital products
47:55 Quick-fire questions
52:13 Advice to aspiring founders
55:10 Most difficult amp to design
56:13 Addressing the Lee Anderton 'drama'
58:54 The braille amps story
01:02:40 Outro
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Welcome to Products of Music, a podcast sharing Inside stories and expert insights on product innovation in music technology.

In this episode:

Host Adam Wakeling speaks with Brady Smith, co-founder of Old Blood Noise Endeavors (OBNE), about his career and founder journey, the approach to product development at Old Blood, as well as how he is reshaping business processes and operations to survive the challenges of running a small business in a niche industry.

To learn more about the company, visit: https://oldbloodnoise.com/

Chapters:
00:00 Preview
01:14 Intro
02:20 Brady's founder story
07:16 Keeley Electronics job
09:00 Birth of Walrus Audio
11:30 Quitting Walrus, founding OBNE
14:40 The OBNE way of product development
18:07 Chase Bliss sponsor section
18:57 Product development process
23:07 Brady's role at OBNE
24:26 EOS business model
26:30 Split with Seth McCarroll
29:40 Thoughts on the future effects market
31:35 Empress Bass compressor love
36:25 Future pedal opportunities
42:45 Friendship with Joel Korte
46:20 Quick-fire questions
49:55 Community questions
56:40: Outro
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Welcome to Products of Music, a podcast sharing Inside stories and expert insights on product innovation in music technology.

In this episode:

Host Adam Wakeling speaks with Francisco Cresp, co-founder and CPO at Neural DSP, about his founder journey, how the company approaches product development and inside stories from one of the leading names in digital modeling for guitar and other instruments.

Chapters:
00:00 Preview
01:15 Intro
02:36 Francisco's founder story
09:00 Working with Doug Castro
11:00 Neural DSP's product development
16:03 Chase Bliss sponsor section
16:47 User feedback mechanisms
19:05 John Mayer X development
23:02 Plugin compatibility challenges
26:10 How Neural DSP prioritises
27:42 Why a vocal plugin?
31:30 Quad Cortex for vocals
33:10 Analog versus digital debate
34:48 Tom Morello JCM800 differences
37:40 Love of analog synths
38:52 Synth in the Quad Cortex
39:08 Neural DSP as a target
40:36 Latest research projects
41:21 Gen AI in the Quad Cortex?
42:50 Challenges of capturing fuzz
46:06 Noise floors in capture tech
47:33 Quick-fire questions
51:30 FX captures?
53:52 When PCOM for Petrucci?
55:22 Interface gain at 0?
58:24 Software for Nano Cortex?
59:04 Outro
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