The Perfect Strap Lock Systems
Feb 23, 2011 Uncategorized
Strap locks. Love them or hate them every guitar and bass player I know uses them and pretty much hates them as much as they love them. All strap lock devices perform the same basic function; they keep your strap from popping off and your instrument from crashing on the ground. But one thing they also have in common is that the screws are one size too small and, inevitably, the button (lock and all) pulls right out of the body. Next we’re breaking out the wood glue and toothpicks to make the smaller screw fit. You would think that the manufacturers would have fixed this small, but fatal, flaw. But the design remains the same. Well… that is until now.
Eons ago I proposed a better strap lock solution: a device that slides over your existing strap button that locks your strap in place. Someone must have overheard me in a bar because the fine people at Dunlop and D’Addario/Planet Waves both came up with different takes on my design. (Yeah, yeah, yeah… I’m sure a million other guitar players invented this, too. But this is my blog!) Anyway, I’m not usually one for writing product reviews, but he’s my take on these awesome new products.
Dunlop Ergo Lok and Lok Strap
The Dunlop Ergo Lok and Lok Strap are small, plastic devices that kind of look like washers with a wing nut on top. The Ergo Lok or Strap Lok both work pretty much how I imagined the perfect strap lock would work. You put the strap on the instrument, twist the “wings” to open the lock and place it on your strap button, and twist the wings to close the lock. Simple and done. Unlike the other strap lock systems, these are not married to one instrument. You can pop them off one instrument and on to another one with very little effort. These sell in 2-packs or multi-packs, and I’ve even seem them individually in case you lose one. Compared to other strap lock systems at $15-30 bucks, the price is right starting at $3.
Planet Waves Lock Strap
The Planet Waves Lock Strap has a locking device similar to the Dunlop system, but it is built in to the strap ends: you get a strap and lock in one product. You twist to unlock, place the strap on the guitar and twist to lock it in place. Simple and done. Again, there’s no need to change your guitar’s hardware or mess around with screw and you’re not married to one guitar. Just unlock and put the strap on another guitar. Priced at $20, the Planet Waves Lock Strap costs about the same as a strap without a lock.
The Verdict
The Dunlop and Planet Waves systems both have their plusses, but I think that Dunlop edges out Planet Waves. The Dunlop system can be used with your favorite strap or any strap by any manufacturer. With Planet Waves you are limited by their strap selection. Either way you go you win. They are simple to use and won’t harm your instrument. You be the judge.
Ergo Lok and Lok Strap by Jim Dunlop
And The Grammy Goes To…
Feb 14, 2011 Uncategorized
Last night, to the surprise of many, the Grammy for “Best New Artist” went to Esperanza Spalding. To Recording Academy members this really isn’t a surprise. Justin Bieber may be a talented kid who can sing and play drums, he was not the best in the field. And, remember, this isn’t a popularity contest. She may not be popular, but Esperanza Spalding is a hard working, talented singer, bass player, composer and songwriter, and according to the members of the Recording Academy, the best new artist.
The Grammy Voting Process: One Voter’s Perspective
Feb 13, 2011 Uncategorized
Tonight is the 53rd Annual Grammy Award Show, with the pre-telecast award ceremony starting at 4pm ET. This yearly event continues to disappoint as performers who are clearly not the best take home the awards for “Best of” in categories in which they are nominated. Not only is this frustrating and disappointing as Recording Academy voting member, it is doubly frustrating as music fan. So, why does this happen year after year? The answer is simple: the sheer volume of submissions, and the Grammy process itself, make it impossible for the best in any category to really win. I’ve been a voting member for almost 6 years, and I thought it might be interesting to walk through the Grammy nomination and voting process and give some insight as to why this happens.
The Grammys and the Recording Academy
First, to understand the Grammy Awards you should know about the organization behind the awards, the Recording Academy. The Recording Academy (the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences or NARAS) is made up of the the people that create and produce records not the people who write the songs. The membership includes singers, instrumentalists, producers and recording engineers. And, with few exceptions, the Grammys are awarded based on performance, production and technical merit with a couple of awards going to songwriters. The Grammys are not like the People’s Choice Awards, where fan favorites should win, only the technical best should win.
There are 3 phases of the Grammy voting process, and I’ll go into each one. As a voting member, there are some aspects of the process I am not allowed to reveal, but you should get the general idea. Now, let’s look at the Grammy process.
Part 1: The Submission Process
The Grammy process starts with submissions. The submission process is fairly straight forward. Pretty much any commercially released album or song released within the nomination period can be submitted for nomination consideration in one or more categories. Submissions must be made by a member, but the performers, producers and engineers that created the works do not need to be members. Anyone can win. So, if you have a band with an album out on iTunes, you can ask any member to submit your album for consideration.
Based on the huge number of nomination choices in each category, the number of initial submissions that the Grammy review team has to review must be overwhelming. But the Grammy team actually does listen to, catalog and review each submission for completeness and accuracy, and to make sure that they belong in the categories in which it is submitted.
This is where the reviewers make sure that a fiasco like Jethro Tull being nominated for “Best Heavy Metal Performance” doesn’t happen again. But, mistakes do happen.
Part 2: The Nomination Process
After all the sorting and categorizing is done, the nominations lists are distributed to the voting members. All members get to make nominations in the general categories, like “Best New Artist,” “Album of the Year” and so on, but we are limited to making nominations in only a handful of other categories. Being a rock musician, and mainly a fan of all rock-based music, I typically make nominations in the “Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals,” “Best Hard rock Performance,” “Best Metal Performance” and the like. I really have no business voting for “Best Rap Song,” “Best Improvised Jazz Solo” or “Best Gospel Song.”
The nomination process is the most difficult part of the Grammy Awards process for members. Why is it so difficult? The sheer volume of submissions is too much, and there is no access to the submitted recordings. This year there were over 600 submissions to review for “Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals.” Of the over 600 submissions, I think I heard of about 20% of the bands, and actually heard only 10% of that 20%’s albums.
With a very short time to return nominations it is impossible to review all the submissions in all the categories, much less this one Grammy category alone. I know. I’ve tried. The Recording Academy does not make the recordings available for review, and discourages the submitters from campaigning and giving away review copies to voting members. One year I worked my way through the list of submissions, looking each one up on iTunes, MySpace and Amazon.com, and made it halfway through the A’s before, like many members, I gave up and started looking for anything familiar.
While reviewing the submissions, we will come across the occasional “Jethro Tull” scenario; a submission that is clearly in the wrong category. I’m not sure I can give away the complete details, but this year a certain super-popular, hipster, indie band from Brooklyn that was certified Gold in 2008 for their debut album, was submitted in the “Best New Artist” category. Bands can only be nominated for “Best New Artist” during the year that establishes the band’s public identity. Ultimately this band did not receive the nomination. This year the “Best Metal Performance” category included several mainstream rock bands and like the past few years all the “Best Alternative” categories were full of mainstream band submissions.
After all the nomination votes are in, the votes are tabulated and the top 5 in each category become Grammy Nominees.
Part 3: The Voting Process
The nominations list is sent out to the voting members, and we’re back for more voting. Like the nomination process, all voting members can vote in the general categories and in just a handful of other categories. This is a much easier process than the nomination process. There are less to choose from in each category, and for the last several years the Recording Academy has worked out licensing deals with virtually all the nominees and provided a portal for voting members to listen to all the nominated music before sending in our votes. We submit our votes and wait for the winners to be revealed at the Grammys.
Part 4: And The Grammy Goes To…
So, that’s it. Now you know the process from start to finish and have a good idea why the “best” does not always win. With number of submissions to consider for nominations, is it really a surprise that whichever bands are currently over-saturating radio and television are the ones getting nominated and winning the awards? I know I make my best effort to listen to as much as I can, but I can’t speak for other members. But, the nominations list does speak loudly.
Would you be able to vote for the best in each category? How would you change the process to make it more fair and balanced?
