NAMM 2006 Show News

Alexander University Buys www.soniccontrol.com

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Based on recommendations of friends of the late Sonic Control founder, Ryan Miglierina, Alexander University Inc has purchased the web site with the contractual mandate of fulfilling the young founder's vision of seeing www.soniccontrol.com become a leading web magazine for composers, songwriters, engineers, producers, and music educators, both professional and amateur. “By pre-defining his target audience, Ryan created a clear road map that leads to a solid publishing foundation for both readers and advertisers,” said Peter L. Alexander, CEO of Alexander University Inc.

While still several months away from a full site redesign by Too Good Studios of Dallas, Texas, Alexander has already begun editorial changes that fits Alexander University's publishing mandate of, “Learn It Right the First Time.”

First, Sonic Control has started four new support forums for the new GigaStudio 3.0. Three forums are moderated by game composer David Govett, who co-wrote the GS3 manual. The fourth, dedicated entirely to GigaPulse, is moderated by nine-time Grammy Award winning engineer Larry Seyer, who created the Larry Seyer Reverb for GS 3, and sampled GigaPiano II, both of which come with GigaStudio 3.0. Each forum leader and major writer will be given his own web page on the site to help promote them and what they're doing outside of Sonic Control. “Our clear editorial objective is to have experts available like Dave and Larry, who both “do” and teach, and who know the program well enough to help teach users, in a forum setting, how to get the most out of their GigaStudio 3.0 investment,” explained Alexander.

There are three additional specific technical forums for the virtual samplers HALion from Steinberg (makers of Cubase) Native Instruments Kontakt, and Sonic Implants with the SI fourm being manned by SI Marketing Manager Al Joelson. Remaining forums cover studio issues, sampling CDs, and discussions among composers. “We're looking for competent guys to handle HALion and Kontakt who can give us the same quality we have at the GigaStudio forums with Dave and Larry,” stated Alexander.

Second, Sonic Control will have in-depth reader-friendly reviews, demonstrated by the first of three in-depth reviews of GigaStudio 3. Alexander said that Sonic Control reviews would be written in a more NY Times story format, compared to other reviews which are written in a technically driven, peer-to-peer manner. Text layouts are designed to be read by using larger point newspaper type in a smaller column, allowing the reader to see the full text in a single glance. “One of Sonic Control's purposes is to bring new buyers into the MIDI arena by making things simple and easy to read, rather than alienating potential customers with geek-speak,” remarked Alexander.

Third, and perhaps the most editorially innovative is the addition of a music business industry section that focuses on those companies who are publicly traded. To do this, stock market quotes are posted of Adobe (owners of Cool Edit Pro), Apple (Emagic Logic), Avid (Pro Tools), Guitar Center, Microsoft, Sony (Sound Forge/Acid), and Pinnacle, who recently sold Steinberg (Cubase) to Yamaha. With this list, a music industry money market fund has been created on paper, with the results reviewed the Monday of each new week. Next, PR pieces are searched for on each company, and where appropriate for the Sonic Control audience, posted. One such release is comes from the Yamaha Corporation describing details of the Steinberg purchase from Pinnacle Systems which includes Steinberg's global sales. “Ultimately, we'll expand by reporting on Teac, Roland and Yamaha who are also publicly traded in Japan.”

Sonic Control has added an editorial commentary section called Roaring Lambs, a title which came from the late Emmy Award winning sports producer Bob Briner. The January Roaring Lambs editorial focuses on lessons to be learned from the recent Pinnacle sale of Steinberg to Yamaha.

Alexander has also revamped the advertising section by taking full advantage of the web's multimedia power. Advertisers can post MP3 and video demos along with participating in special ad sections, NAMM announcements and postings, e-mailings and more. Sonic Control also provides advertisers with the unique feature of daily reports showing ad impressions and click-through. “This way advertisers can see how effective their ads are, whether or not they should be changed, and how a change affects ad response,” explained Alexander, a ten-year veteran of the American advertising industry.

For more information, please visit http://www.soniccontrol.com or http://www.alexanderuniversity.com.