emaidel
11-20-2008, 09:14 AM
the Stanton "Vibemaster."
The Stanton what?
I'm certain no one hear has ever heard of this item (thank goodness!), but its creation makes for an interesting tale. First a little background...
Throughout his lifetime as the sole owner of both Stanton and PIckering, Walter Stanton surrounded himself with a cadre of "yes-men" who fed him a daily diet of nonsense and silliness he wanted to hear. For anyone outside that circle, it was nothing less than getting yourself fired if you dared to disagree with any of these folks, or to criticize them in any manner whatsoever.
When I joined Stanton back in 1992, the company was a mere shadow of its former self, and the cadre had been reduced from around 9 to a total of three. One of these three was the Swiss-based Director of Sales for Europe. I'll call him "Fred," though that's not his real name.
Fred was a longstanding company employee, and a first class a$$-kisser and back stabber.That Walter respected him to the degree that he did always puzzled me.
One day, in what must have been the result of a drug and/or alcohol-induced stupor, Fred came up with the idea for the Vibemaster. The company had a small, but highly profitable side business manufacturing "M.I.T.'s" which, as best as I can recall stood for "Magnetic (or Miniature) Inertial Transducers." These MIT's were used in the old-fashioned, around-the-ear hearing aids, and were that portion of those hearing aids that rested on the bone behind the user's ear.
Fred determined somehow that DJ's didn't really have to hear the music when they were beat mixing, but only the beat, or bass. Moreover, they didn't need to hear it either, if it could be felt throughout their bodies. If the MIT could be used in a device that rested on a DJ's sternum, and sent powerful, deep bass frequencies through that sternum, then the DJ would feel a powerful, visceral vibration throughout his body and be able to beat mix from the feel of the bass, and get a physical thrill out of the experience as well.
So far so good, if a bit far-fetched. When Fred came from Switzerland to the U,.S to give a presentation with the Vibemaster prototype, I have to admit I attended that meeting with an open mind. The MIT was attached to the one end of a plastic headband (from a cheap set of stereo headphones), and the other had a rubber bumper attached to it. The DJ wore this device across his shoulder, with the MIT resting on his sternum, and with the rubber end designed to keep the whole thing from moving.
As the Vibemaster ran off the headphone output of a DJ's mixer, it also needed a step-up device since the output from that jack was too little. An external power pack (about the size of a pack of cigarettes) was needed, and it had an AC adapter that plugged into the wall. The power pack on the prototype was about the size of a hard-cover novel.
And so, Fred made his presentation, waxing poetic about the "wonders" of the Vibemaster, and the "enormous profits" the company was sure to receive from the success of this new and amazing product. Then, each of us in the room tried out the Vibemaster.
Not only did the Vibemaster fail completely to deliver anything remotely close to deep bass, it produced an annoying "buzz" in the middle of one's chest, and refused to stay in postion. As there was no HF cutoff, one could actually hear the Vibemaster, and it sounded much like the 89 cent headphone that used to come with small transistor radios.
Rather than stand up and say, "This is a piece of S***" and sure lose my job in the process, I suggested that we take the Vibemaster to a local, and very supportive, Stanton dealer and get their opinion. We did that, Fred made his presentation to a very receptive audience, and the folks at that dealership each tried out the Vibemaster. None said anything to Fred, but all told me that he was "certifiably nuts" if he things this "stupid POS" ever has a chance of selling. They even went so far as to suggest I offer it to their neighboring retailer - an adult bookstore - and suggest that it be worn on an entirely different part of one's anatomy.
Still, it was clear that Walter Stanton continued to believe in Fred's claims that the Vibemaster was a viable product, and production commenced. Realizing the potential catastrophe that was lurking, I took the prototype on a week-long trip across the U.S. to all of Stanton's key dealers for their opinions. I made a deadly earnest presentation to each of them, but got identical results from all: "You're out of your mind if you think this thing will ever sell." And that was the nicest thing most had to say!
In a very carefully worded report to Walter Stanton, I stated what each of the dealers had to say (leaving out the profanity, but making it clear just which words were being left out) and listed the annual business each of these accounts was giving the company, so as to provide substance to their claims. And, it worked!
Walter issued a statement that the Vibemaster would be manufactured by the company, but sold and marketed exclusively in Europe. The U.S. dealer cost (not resale) was going to be $180, meaning that dealers would have to sell the Vibemaster for around $300 to make a decent profit.
Not one Vibemaster was sold. Ever. Yet, "Fred" continued to talk of its viability, and how "misunderstood" the product was. And, despite the enormous cost of tooling and manufacturing it, Fred still had Walter's ear. Go figure...
The Stanton what?
I'm certain no one hear has ever heard of this item (thank goodness!), but its creation makes for an interesting tale. First a little background...
Throughout his lifetime as the sole owner of both Stanton and PIckering, Walter Stanton surrounded himself with a cadre of "yes-men" who fed him a daily diet of nonsense and silliness he wanted to hear. For anyone outside that circle, it was nothing less than getting yourself fired if you dared to disagree with any of these folks, or to criticize them in any manner whatsoever.
When I joined Stanton back in 1992, the company was a mere shadow of its former self, and the cadre had been reduced from around 9 to a total of three. One of these three was the Swiss-based Director of Sales for Europe. I'll call him "Fred," though that's not his real name.
Fred was a longstanding company employee, and a first class a$$-kisser and back stabber.That Walter respected him to the degree that he did always puzzled me.
One day, in what must have been the result of a drug and/or alcohol-induced stupor, Fred came up with the idea for the Vibemaster. The company had a small, but highly profitable side business manufacturing "M.I.T.'s" which, as best as I can recall stood for "Magnetic (or Miniature) Inertial Transducers." These MIT's were used in the old-fashioned, around-the-ear hearing aids, and were that portion of those hearing aids that rested on the bone behind the user's ear.
Fred determined somehow that DJ's didn't really have to hear the music when they were beat mixing, but only the beat, or bass. Moreover, they didn't need to hear it either, if it could be felt throughout their bodies. If the MIT could be used in a device that rested on a DJ's sternum, and sent powerful, deep bass frequencies through that sternum, then the DJ would feel a powerful, visceral vibration throughout his body and be able to beat mix from the feel of the bass, and get a physical thrill out of the experience as well.
So far so good, if a bit far-fetched. When Fred came from Switzerland to the U,.S to give a presentation with the Vibemaster prototype, I have to admit I attended that meeting with an open mind. The MIT was attached to the one end of a plastic headband (from a cheap set of stereo headphones), and the other had a rubber bumper attached to it. The DJ wore this device across his shoulder, with the MIT resting on his sternum, and with the rubber end designed to keep the whole thing from moving.
As the Vibemaster ran off the headphone output of a DJ's mixer, it also needed a step-up device since the output from that jack was too little. An external power pack (about the size of a pack of cigarettes) was needed, and it had an AC adapter that plugged into the wall. The power pack on the prototype was about the size of a hard-cover novel.
And so, Fred made his presentation, waxing poetic about the "wonders" of the Vibemaster, and the "enormous profits" the company was sure to receive from the success of this new and amazing product. Then, each of us in the room tried out the Vibemaster.
Not only did the Vibemaster fail completely to deliver anything remotely close to deep bass, it produced an annoying "buzz" in the middle of one's chest, and refused to stay in postion. As there was no HF cutoff, one could actually hear the Vibemaster, and it sounded much like the 89 cent headphone that used to come with small transistor radios.
Rather than stand up and say, "This is a piece of S***" and sure lose my job in the process, I suggested that we take the Vibemaster to a local, and very supportive, Stanton dealer and get their opinion. We did that, Fred made his presentation to a very receptive audience, and the folks at that dealership each tried out the Vibemaster. None said anything to Fred, but all told me that he was "certifiably nuts" if he things this "stupid POS" ever has a chance of selling. They even went so far as to suggest I offer it to their neighboring retailer - an adult bookstore - and suggest that it be worn on an entirely different part of one's anatomy.
Still, it was clear that Walter Stanton continued to believe in Fred's claims that the Vibemaster was a viable product, and production commenced. Realizing the potential catastrophe that was lurking, I took the prototype on a week-long trip across the U.S. to all of Stanton's key dealers for their opinions. I made a deadly earnest presentation to each of them, but got identical results from all: "You're out of your mind if you think this thing will ever sell." And that was the nicest thing most had to say!
In a very carefully worded report to Walter Stanton, I stated what each of the dealers had to say (leaving out the profanity, but making it clear just which words were being left out) and listed the annual business each of these accounts was giving the company, so as to provide substance to their claims. And, it worked!
Walter issued a statement that the Vibemaster would be manufactured by the company, but sold and marketed exclusively in Europe. The U.S. dealer cost (not resale) was going to be $180, meaning that dealers would have to sell the Vibemaster for around $300 to make a decent profit.
Not one Vibemaster was sold. Ever. Yet, "Fred" continued to talk of its viability, and how "misunderstood" the product was. And, despite the enormous cost of tooling and manufacturing it, Fred still had Walter's ear. Go figure...