- Music and Pro Audio Festival Draws Record Crowd -

Sweetwater Sound, the third-largest musical instrument and pro audio retailer in the world, has announced that GearFest 2010 was an even bigger success than expected, breaking every record established by previous GearFests. Sweetwater’s annual GearFest is the nation’s largest end user-oriented music and pro audio festival, featuring exhibits from manufacturers; workshops, clinics, and seminars; live demos; special performances; a musician’s flea market; and much more.

More after the video highlights below. Can't see them? CLICK HERE to open the video in a new window.

 This year’s two-day event, which took place June 25 and 26 at Sweetwater’s campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana, provided even more opportunities for thousands of musicians, engineers, and producers to participate in the festivities, with customers traveling from all over the world to participate. Overall attendance at GearFest was up by more than 50% and onsite sales for the two days also exceeded the previous record by more than 50%.

Feature events included the Producer Forum, an all-star panel of producers led by Sweetwater Editorial Director Mitch Gallagher in a wide-ranging discussion of recording topics, the story behind Gretsch Guitars with Fred Gretsch, and a presentation by acoustics expert Russ Berger on home studio acoustics. Other highlights included producer/engineer Fab Dupont’s workshop on mixing, acclaimed producer/engineer Jacquire King’s seminar on mixing with plug-ins, and recording engineer/producer Ross Hogarth’s presentation on recording techniques. GearFest wrapped up with a seminar featuring renowned daytime television stars/recording artists Kurth & Taylor who gave a special concert and discussed how they created their DIY album and video releases.

In total, GearFest included more than 40 workshops and seminars on guitar, recording, and live sound, music creation with computers, acoustics, songwriting, and how to use electronic instruments. Guitar virtuosos David Grissom and Greg Koch and dozens of other nationally known performing artists performed on the latest new guitars, keyboards, and electronic drums.

More than 170 manufacturers of musical instruments, music technology, and audio equipment were on hand to give GearFest attendees a look at the latest gear. In addition, hourly prizes were given away, along with three grand prize packages totaling more than $75,000 worth of equipment.

For those who couldn’t attend GearFest in person, videos, photos, and hourly updates were posted to Sweetwater’s FaceBook page, as well as to YouTube and sent via Twitter.

Sweetwater Founder and President Chuck Surack remarked, “There’s literally nothing like GearFest in the entire country that is free and open to the public. We’re thrilled that hundreds of manufacturers and thousands of customers came out to enjoy this amazing event with us.”

 A highlight of Sweetwater's recent GearFest 2010 was the Producers' Panel, where Sweetwater Editorial Director Mitch Gallagher (far right) led a wide-ranging discussion featuring recording industry luminaries (left to right) Geoff Daking, Fab Dupont, Ross Hogarth, and Dusty Wakeman.