The first question we have to ask ourselves is; Why did you think that you could have a meaningful relationship with another human being and continue to pursue your music dreams? Of course there is no good answer to that; anyone involved in the arts is going to have a high degree of passion for their art as well as for the people that they care about.
So the real question becomes; How do I keep my private life and my art of creating and recording music in balance? Yes, balance is the key. But how do we attain that balance? Jeez, this is starting to sound like a bad Kung-Fu movie… OK, then it must be story-time.
How The Problem Developed
Several years ago, my friend J. Chris Griffin, NYC mixing engineer (Madonna, The Corrs, Janet Jackson) shared with me some of the difficulties he was having balancing the demands of a very successful career mixing top caliber recordings against having time with his lovely wife, Janet. He would find himself in the middle of a music project that was due within the next day or two and wind up staying in the recording studio, mixing the tracks until midnight or later in order to get it finished.
Since Janet works normal hours, typically she had already gone to bed by the time he came home each night, and she was up and gone before he awoke. I’m sure that by now we have all correctly identified Chris and Janet’s problem.
Portable Laptop Recording Provides the Solution
The solution for Chris, who uses
Digidesign’s Pro Tools software, was when Digidesign allowed their sister company, M-audio, to market and sell a compatible version of Pro Tools with their small and inexpensive portable audio interfaces. Now Chris had both audio quality and laptop portability, which allows Chris to go home at a reasonable time for dinner, and afterwards continue working on his mixes with laptop, audio interface, and headphones in place, while Janet contentedly sits on the couch next to him and watches TV or reads. The next day, Chris dumps his work onto his larger system in his mixing studio and is ready to go. Most of the recording and sequencing software that is currently in use today, such as Ableton Live, Cakewalk, Propellerheads Reason, Bias and Steinberg Cubase, allow for the same level of recording portability as well as recording quality.
But How Do You Get Your Laptop Recording Studio From Point A to Point B?
The ability to safely and easily transport and protect your recording studio project to allow you to work anywhere, anytime, anyplace, is where Namba Gear comes in. Simply put, Namba Gear makes great mobile recording bags and studio backpacks to get your musical life’s work safely and securely from point A to point B.
In fact, Chris recently took a mix of one of my songs, titled Looking For the Chinese Way, to Sweden with him and fine-tuned my harmonies (the na-na-na part) and mixed my vocals on the plane… and yes, Chris does use a Namba bag.
As working musicians and dj’s, our designer’s know that you need best quality materials, thicker protection for your laptop recording gear, ergonomic design that doesn’t break your back when you load up the bag, and just a touch of a fashion statement (it never hurts to make a great impression does it?). With musician friendly features like Cable Management and Secrect Stash Pockets, I really think our designers are creating these bags for themselves. But you know, that is perfectly fine with me.
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