Musikmesse and ProLight & Sound 2016 to be massively overhauled

[Compyfox]

I saw this last night on Twitter, retweeted by the Musikmesse account, and was like "are you kidding me?! You're planning what?! You can't be serious, right?"
https://www.mi-pro.co.uk/news/read/majo ... 016/019912


Summed up:

- it's planned to switch the halls. So the so far fairly open and well spread Musikmesse will be cramped into the section where the "ProLight & Sound" resided up until now (switch from Halls 1 to 5, over to Halls 8, 9.0/9.1 and 11.0 - including the "event stages" in the inner yards)

- the "ProLight & Sound" will get the halls that the Musikmesse formerly occupied

- Both "Fair Sections" will be opened to the public(!!!) on all days (no "trade visitor exclusive days" anymore)

- The "ProLight & Sound" will run from Tuesday, April 5th to Friday, April 8th, the Musikmesse will run from Thursday, April 7th to Sunday, April 10th (and not from Wednesday to Saturday anymore) instead of running in parallel and being extended to 5 days (Wednesday to Sunday).





I have very, very, very(!!!) mixed feelings about this.

I've been to Musikmesse for several years, and the "normal visitor days" were always cramped as hell. You barely have time on trade visitor days already to properly start a conversation at a volume that is acceptable. For example: I tried to talk to people at the Sennheiser and Neumann booth - absolutely NO CHANCE! Too full, too loud. Steinberg?! No chance either (too cramped). Presonus? Only if you screamed. The one section in Hall 5.1 with the experimental and modular synths? You could barely even hear the gear on the speakers (for those that were standing next to them and only wanted to hear "what's going on"). The list goes on. Now imagine the show being hijacked with 13 year olds constantly being like "yo, I make sum phat beatz - how do I use this thing?!".

One of the better ideas came from ROLAND EU - they build a soundproof room for a hybrid drum set (acoustic set with triggers) to show the capabilites. The live section had similar rooms to show their mixing consoles. E-Drum sets and certain synths also offered headphone switches to "listen in". So it is(!) possible to keep the volume low and still show what's possible with their new gear. But back on topic.



What is also annoying me, is the planned switch of the halls.

The "ProLight & Sound" section is way smaller than the "Musikmesse" section. Both the yard and the halls themselves (but more than enough space for the Live and new Video Section). On top of that, this year the "ProLight & Sound" tried to win a loudness contest with live stages and sound tests in the connecting yard to Halls 8, 9 and 11. (I had to wear ear protection, since they tried to break 95dB SPL avg and 110dB SPL peak).

Then let us not forget Hall 3.0 (Acoustic Instruments) and 4 (Guitars), where you could barely be in there without ear protection, yet in Hall 5.1 - the "loudness check" people b*tched at booths that only go slightly into the the "red" (I was at the Slate Digital booth, 1m away from the speakers while Steven Slate was mixing on and then presenting the Raven Z3 desk - he was "warned" for being too loud, yet the speakers weren't so loud that you needed ear protection) but never even bothered to write tickets for the DJ booths (they were constantly over their limits!).

I personally also like the yard of the Musikmesse section more. It looks friendlier, there are some wells, smaller stages, more (and better) food stands, more places to sit and relax, more restaurants, etc.



The reason for the "full public days" is supposed to make it better possible for "consumers to test gear" and "integrate them better" - as if they do not already sneak into the trade visitor days. Musikmesse is not as strict as the NAMM after all. But switching the "Live Section" with the "Studio Section" and Instrument halls (Musikmesse with the "ProLight & Sound") with the argument that the "live section needs more space" is just bollocks IMO. I was in Halls 8 to 11 - and they still had PLENTY of room, while 4.0 (Guitars) and 3.0/3.1 (Acostic Instruments) and especially Hall 5.0 (Mics, Pianos, Studio) was cramped. And that already at trade visitor days!


It's BS enough that neither the PDFs, the App, nor even the floor plans on location were correct in any form this year (again!). No, open the event to the public, ignore the constant complaints in terms of loudness wars, and then switch the halls to cramp these people even more together so that they can continue their fight over "who is the loudest?!".

Additional to that - the new entrance would be "Torhaus" (S-Bahn/city train, not subway or "via foot" from central train station), and that is not really(!) disability-friendly in terms of getting into the halls. There is also less space at the entry. It's like an event area from the 70ies, while the main entrance area (Festhalle) feels like from the 2000's and modernized.


I've got one main question at this point:
What is wrong with the directors of the "Musikmesse" and "ProLight & Sound"?! I mean - what were they thinking?!

My better half told me today, that the Buchmesse Frankfurt (Frankfurt Bookfair) once also tried to sort the halls by "books by genre" instead of "by country". And that was reverted after massive criticism since people couldn't get their personal program and appointments done or couldn't find jack. So this is just nonsense IMO, just to try to get even "more visitors".



If this turns out to be really true - then I think I'll stop visiting Musikmesse, as I do consider this a drastic disimprovement, and removing the final charm of the fair. Sadly, it's one of the rare occasions in Germany (Europe even) where you can meet up with a lot of companies, fellows and friends without being a high class member of a secret society or something, or having a "special invitation".


What are your thoughts on this?
Does that switch make any sense? Do you agree with this?
Will you still go to Musikmesse/ProLight & Sound or will you boycott the event from now on?

[Compyfox]

Seems like I'm the only one that cares. Pity...


Here the new concept of Musikmesse 2016 - as official page:
http://musik.messefrankfurt.com/frankfu ... 16.html?nc

Still not too happy about it to be honest.

[tapper mike]

If I'd ever gone to namm or Musikmesse I'd feel ya. Turn out must be dwindling.

[Compyfox]

The switch of the halls and opening up "to the public" for all days is doing the fair no good IMO.

Like I said, it's hard as it is to talk to people on trade visitor days. The fair is not an Arcade stuck in a "free to play" mode, blasting Dance Dance Revolution on one end, and House of the Dead from the other.


But maybe that's just me.