Oral History -
Andy Leftwich began playing the fiddle at the age of six when his dad bought one from a local pawn shop. Andy grew up knowing he could always express himself though music and by the age of twelve branched out to play the mandolin after seeing a young performer at a festival.
Takaki Maeda was celebrating his 40th year with the Casio company while attending the NAMM Show in 2020, which was the perfect opportunity for us to sit down with him for his NAMM Oral History interview. His perspective on the growth and development of the company and its innovative products is unique because his role has been marketing vs. manufacturing.
DJ Sir Jinx’s uncle played an important role for him growing up and in inspiring his passion for music. His uncle possessed an eclectic record collection and a DJ equipment set up at his house. Sir Jinx soon developed his own style of DJing and went on to produce most of Ice Cube’s early albums as well as remixes for the group Rage Against the Machine.
DJ Revolution can still remember the first time he heard Grand Master Flash’s 1981 album Adventures on the Wheels of Steel and being blown away that this music was created with existing songs and with only records and turntables. His grandfather saw his passion and helped him build his own mixer and setup while explaining the mechanics of it to him.
DJ Evil E was thirteen years old when he heard the pioneering artist Grandmaster Flash, which inspired E to get his own turntable rig. As a young DJ, Evil E was inspired by a performance in Los Angeles by Ice T. As it turned out the two would meet and become collaborators on many musical projects over the next forty years.
DJ Melo-D saw his first mobile DJ set up during a middle school dance and was more interested in the set up than the dance itself. He begged his parents for a turntable and would seek out any DJs performing near him to learn all he could about style and techniques.
DJ D-Styles entered the hip-hop scene B-Boying and popping but soon realized his strength was in DJing. He has pioneered many different scratch styles and techniques over the years and has produced numerous break records. In 2002, he released Phantazmagorea, the first album created entirely from scratching.
Tris Imboden was just five years old when he saw a drumline at a local parade and knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Even though Tris is self-taught he would go to a local music store where he learned the ins and outs of music theory. An early break for him was when his band (Honk) was the soundtrack to the surf movie Five Summer Stories.
Davide Barbi is a co-founder and CTO of IK Multimedia, a software company he established with his friend Enrico iori. They created the first specialized guitar audio interfaces that culminated in 2010 with the iRig - the first iPhone and iPad guitar interface - and AmpliTube app.
Enrico Iori founded IK Multimedia in 1996 with his friend and partner Davide Barbi. Starting as a software company and becoming a pioneer during the growth of computer music led to today’s full in-the-box DAW systems.