Best Pro Audio SWAG

[EveAnna Manley]

Nobody at our factory ever has to buy clothes because we are all kept well clothed in pro audio t-shirts.

Among my fave audio swag are my vintage Focusrite "Not the Rite Red" chairman Mao t-shirt, as well as their "Red Zepplin" beer.

I get a lot of use from my tc electronics yellow-lens wrap-around shades, especially useful for a night ride.

I have a very rare Mercenary t-shirt that sez "Daves Not Here" on the back.

On heavy rotation is also the Empirical Labs "Distressed Yet?" and a nice MIX magazine fleece. And of course, if you don't have a "Pro Jules" t-shirt, then you ain't nobody.

What's ya'll's fave audio swag?

[Charles Dye]

The digi black egg shakers from two + three AES's ago. I've used 'em on a bunch of records. One of the most practical.

[willie]

my vote goes to my manley labs coffee mug.

[Curve Dominant]

The little rubber pouch that came with a compressor I ordered from Mercenary last week took the cake.

The pouch said "HUH?" on the side.

Open it, and there's a set of earplugs inside. LMAO.

If only I had those 15 years ago.

[joeq]

an Acoustical Impulse Generator -model zero from Arcoustics. Got it at an AES many many years ago and I still use it all the time.

It's a clicker- the kind that sometimes comes in the shape of a frog.

[Jules]

My Manley mug is cool, so is my Mercenary mug..

Mini leatherman from BASF at AES Amsterdam was cool, I had to lie and say I was a tape user, Mr Bonsai hooked that one up for me!

But number one swag has to be the weird 'paper flat' mints from the SSL stand at the LA AES, followed by the Pro Tools 5.1 mints in a cool blue case at the same show.

Those flat mints were fun, they stuck to your tounge like scotch tape (celoptape) and caused a fun panic in victims untill they realised it was starting to disolve....

[e-cue]

I don't know who was responsible, but I once saw a "Professional Uses For The Alesis Adat" book. It was about 500 completely blank pages. To this day, I wonder if Fletcher had any involvement. Hardly 'swag', but worth a chuckle.

[Fletcher]

The "9098i" leather jackeet AMEK gave me [see photos of same on the Manley website... it's the leather I wore when we putted to Nova Scotia a couple years ago]...

It's been a running joke around the house that if it weren't for BASF, we'd be running around naked. Shorts, sweats, seatshirts, T-shirts, demin jackets... everything but shoes. There have been times when the wife and I have looked at each other and somebody had to change what they were wearing... [me]... the quantity, as well as the quality [good longsleeve T-shirts are awesome, good heavy sweatshirts are better!! We are in the Northeast after all].

I have a great old very warmNeumann sweatshit... but alas it now has a couple of holes in it..... too many years and too many miles and not enough Neumann sales (to garner a new one)... the collar is torn and frayed... it's seen much better days....

As for manufacterers thinking about SWAG... or even studios for that matter... sweatshirts are good, sweatpants are good... T-shirts if they say something pretty outragous on them [we got out "We're not happy 'til you're not happy" shirt from a studio called "Big Blue Meenie" in Jersey City]... things that not every mook will have the balls to wear, or SWAG you can walk into a bar room feeling like you're special for wearing it is the SWAG I like best.

Then again... my old gray Neve (a Siemens Company) coffee mug is very often the highlight of my morning.... in fact it needs a refilling, but if I think of anything later, I'll post it.

[AudioGaff]

I don't about best, but the most usefull swag was the beer bottle and can openers I got from TC Electronic and Eventide. I'm into and collect hats/caps myself.

[Jay Kahrs]

Best and most useful? A reel of 2" SM900 and SM911 from Emtec at the last show. I have a few of their T-Shirts which I really prefer to the Quantegy ones. Those shrank and started to wear out pretty quickly. I really dig my Seymour Duncan coffee mug too. Yeah, clothes are always good, mostly cause I hate spending money on them. I'd rather buy new gear or go on a vacation.

[Dave Martin]

Mercenary's "We're Not Happy Til You're Not Happy" is near the top of the list (I was wearing to a session the other day and it caused the studio manager to fall out of her chair onto the floor), the Manley golf shirt (the same studio manager thought I was making a testosterone statement - she even saw the needle on the VU meter as part of that ), and the Manley and the Waves coffee cups get the most use.

And the little mints that come from that new expression media school were nice.

[Jax]

SWAG clothes are almost akin to Trekkie dorkness. That mixerman garbage being peddled at psw is a joke.

In the late 80's (thanks Tipper Gore) I had a shirt that said "**** the PMRC" with a full torso size closeup pic of a pussy with a cock in it.

I proudly wore it at gigs with my band.

fuuck

[Kamurah]

Haha....lol

I clicked on this topic because in my line of work (I'm in the Navy) a SWAG is a "Stupid Wild Assed Guess" and usually denotes some assessment that may or may not end up being correct. The term derives from an old heuristic that goes "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle them with bullshit"

Usage:
"Where's Osama?"
"Well...if I had to SWAG it I'd say under a rock somewhere near these coodinates....."

I was thinking I was going to hear some great engineering stories about SWAG's that you guys had to make.

Oh well.....free crap is cool too.

:eek:

[Fletcher]

SWAG is kind of a naval term... it stands for "Stolen Without A Gun"... it comes from the days of the sailing ships... these days it can mean damn near anything... including 'Stupid Wild Asses Guess'

[Drumsound]

The Mercenary earplugs are great. I always get a chuckle out of "huh" on the case.

The best SWAG I ever got was a Waves Gold bundle. It's OK to have a gear-pimping job sometimes!

[zero beach]

ART [applied research & tech] denim jacket that says
"10TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR". I got for $8 bucks at a thrift store
and a wooden Taylor guitars drink coaster to keep coffee stains off everything

[Dave Martin]

Originally posted by zero beach

and a wooden Taylor guitars drink coaster to keep coffee stains off everything

The biggest problem with those is that they eventually curl, twist of break. But they look cool for a while, and Taylor's making a useable advertising item from something that would otherwise be tossed.

[OzNimbus]

I once got a T-shirt from a death metal band I recorded. It read in huge bold letters: "GET VOILENT." I'm not making this up.


Then I had to tell the poor bastards to go get new shirts made up.

[EveAnna Manley]

The Comlubia greek week t-shirts one year were also a big hit at my school...

[Tim Glasgow]

i have a huge t-shirt collection. Gear, bands, bicycle races, you name it…

i have an old Yamaha t-shirt that says "when you know how they're built…" on it. i've been meaning to finish the sentence with a marker and draw an NS-10 under it, but i haven't yet.

my "i am not rory tate" t-shirt i made for AES last year is pretty cool, as is my Metric Halo shirt, the vintage Korg Wavestation shirt, and of course, the obligatory Mercenary "food groups" shirt. i wanted to get a "corporate rock" version at the above AES, but it didn't work out. My Apple ][ era "Apple Forever" shirt gets honourable mention.

But the coolest by far is my vintage red Korg PolySix synthesizer shirt, and my even more vintage baby blue small Roland shirt from the early '80s.

It's vintage - that means it's "warm" and kinda smells funny.

--t
[london, canada & echo cañon, nyc]

[Jay Kahrs]

But, no audio T-shirt collection is complete without the R.A.P. "My tape machine can beat up your DAW" T-shirt. Everyone loves that one. I also have a shirt from Sabine (I think) that says "feedback sucks" on it and I never wear it to a gig, usually because when I do there are massive feedback problems. Like the time that one guitar player insisted on using his acoustic guitar without a pickup and the only mics around were SM57's. Should I mention the monitors were louder then **** and the horn section? Ugh, bad gig.

[Fletcher]

A couple of other favorite came to mind earlier... Dreamhire sweatshirt with a zipper, Dreamhire duffle bag, the longsleeve "Ardent Recording" t-shirt with the embroidered logo, the "Big Blue Meenie" staff sweatshirt that says "shut up or I'll bash your ****ing head in" on the back [Big Blue was the source for the M-A "we're not happy 'til you're not happy" t-shirt]... the Motown beach blanket, the glove leather Aerosmith "Pump" tour jacket, and the "Voodoo Lounge" tour sweatpants [managed to snag two pairs of those!!].

Yeah... so the pay sucks in this industry... but at least we're well clothed [as long as you're not allergic to cotton]. Now if someone would just start swagging real jeans and sneakers, I'd be set for life.

[David R.]

Favorite swag is the little pen light from BASF (I think!), great for looking behind the racks. So many t-shirts that some have graduated to car washing status.

Not to slam Alesis 'cause I still use adats sometimes, but the mug that they used to send out with the adats leaks.

[toledo3]

I like my Digital Domain coffee mugs.

[AudioGaff]

The blue MiniMaglite flashlight with the dbx logo for checking the back of racks, and the Lexicon beach towl that covers the front of my effects rack.

Do dealer banners count as swag? I have large showroom dealer banners for Alesis, Crown, JBL, dbx, Lexicon, and Eventide.

[rmx16]

My favorite is my "Every day above ground is a good day" Show Power shirt I got while I was working the Stones "Steel Wheels" show.

Rob

[Mats Olsson]

Originally posted by Fletcher
Now if someone would just start swagging real jeans and sneakers, I'd be set for life.

Back in the 80's I worked on a couple of tours that was sponsored by Levi's. Several pairs of jeans, jackets, t-shirts and so on.

I have also worked with a calypso band that was sponsored by Swedens largest beer company. (you figure out the nasty details on that one...)

/Mats

[microsoftsucks]

Seems like half the bands I work with get a yearly sponsorship grabbag of Diesel or Levi's jeans, and Converse or Vans sneakers. At CMJ, Levi's had a room at the Chelsea... any CMJ performers/attendees could walk in and get fitted for jeans, jackets, etc. Fletcher, maybe you need to pretend you're in a mod or indie-rock band to fill out your wardrobe!

Best SWAG I got?

I once did a session w/ the band **** (Matador Records). They gave me a used t-shirt from a Catholic School that they'd found at a thrift store.

On the front is the school's logos and letters: IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.

On the back, the band had hand-screened an image of two school-kids dancing alongside the band's name in big letters: ****.

(BTW, what's up with the peeing squirrel?)

[microsoftsucks]

Some of our record label events (record release parties, etc) are "sponsored" by two local breweries: Tremont Brewery (Charlestown MA) and Mercury Brewing's Ipswich Ale (Ipswich MA).

Our local mountain biking club is often sponsored by Harpoon (Boston).

Tape Op Con 2002 was sponsored by PBR.

Beer companies LOVE to give out free beer. It only takes a phone call to get a few free kegs or cases.

[Jay Kahrs]

I have the house gig at a brew pub and they don't give away any free beer. Well, the owner doesn't but some of the cooler bartenders hook me up.