I am up late and just checking out some reviews of the KickPort. It is pretty funny to me what some folks have to say about the KickPort when they are not drummers who play gigs or record in a studio, or rehearse in a garage or room and/or or really play drums at all. and of course there are those who are just so close minded that they believe something as simple as the KickPort cannot possibly dramatically improve their sound. Doesn't everyone want to try and improve their sound...? isn't that the nature of music and being an artist...? Hmm...
So people keep coming to us wanting desperately to know about the "science" of the KickPort and don't seem to care what the KickPort sounds like to the human ear. Having never tried it, some people poo-poo it and say it doesn't really do anything. OK... well then... I wonder why Kenny Aronoff, Stephen Ferrone, Kevin Rapilllo, Doane Perry, Dennis Chambers, Gerry Brown, Jonathon Moffett, John Blackwell and the rest of our esteemed artist family think it's amazing and use it live and in the studio. Ask Seppo from TRS Custom Drums who just exhibited his drums with the KickPort at Toronto's MIAC Show last weekend... ask him if his drums and the KickPort were a big hit. He just asked for 20 more...
Well... To everybody out there I can honestly say that the KickPort demonstrations at the various musical instrument trade shows ARE truly impressive. True the KickPort afterall is just some "plastic, rubber and foam." So why is the KickPort booth packed with people "oohing" and "awe-ing" all day? Well... only because people can hear the amazing things the KickPort brings to a kick drum - real simple. I am pretty amazed by it too even though i have heard the KickPOrt thousands of times. Sam is still amazed too. We both get that smile... why...? only because it sounds great... and it feels great - that's why. it's a better sound...more musical... more of a statement from the drum itself and the artist playing it... And why? well only because there is invariably better sound and better playing from someone who feels the better sound... goes hand in hand...
Take a look at Drummer Cafe Bart guy and see if you can figure out if Bart is actually a drummer and out playing gigs, and/or doing sessions and/or rehearsing with a band as a drummer. I understand from Bart that he fancies himself as a "scientist" who investigates various products and evaluates the products' validity. The question that i have is whether he factually is as competent a judge as the high profile drummers i mentioned earlier and other drummers and engineers who have spent time to understand the great qualities of the KickPort. Maybe the only difference is that most pros and other drummers using the KickPort are not making videos!
What is surprising to me is that Bart Elliott and some like him actually have a platform to which folks pay actually attention. At the Nashville Summer NAMM Show a few weeks ago, I invited Bart to check out the demo at our booth. I don't think he was even interested enough to hear us demonstrate the KickPort and/or discuss his experiences with the KickPOrt and how possibly he may have missed something quite special. I have left a message for Bart... we'll see if he calls back!
It is my belief that the KickPort offers a glimpse into the future of drums and drum design. Ultimately, it is very simple how and why the KickPort works. The reason is of course that the KickPort is based on simple science and that science has been around. It just was not applied in the way Sam applied it prior to. And that is why we were just issued a Patent for the KickPort.
But the Patent and science ultimately doesn't mean all that much... it is the ART that is important. The KickPort is a different color, a different brush, a tool if you will to express your art... the true sound of your drum... your tone. It is as simple as that.
So the people that are coming to us as "scientists" finally are less important as the true artists who are out playing gigs, sessions and/or rehearsing in their studios and garages... entertaining and expressing themselves.
Sam and I are artists - our heart and soul is in The KickPort and our company KickPort International. All y'all scientists can figure out your own science as you will or will not anyway.
We toast all the "Artists" in the world. We believe we can make your kick drum sound better...we are even quite sure of it at this point!
Cheers... off to bed with you now
jb