Music Blog

This weekend, Westone Music will be attending the first annual Iron Girl Triathlon event in Boulder, CO. It will consist of a 1/4 mile swim, 17.2 mile bike ride and 3.1 mile run. Our favorite part is that we have sponsored several women to participate in the event. Last Irongirl post we introduced you to Nina Story, a singer/songwriter and Westone endorsed artist, who is part of the Westone team competing this weekend. This week we want to introduce you to Lauren Cyran.

Lauren Cyran is a native to Baltimore, Maryland, who now calls Colorado Springs home - well for the time being! You see Lauren is a proud army wife and they have a cool saying that "Home is where the Army sends you." Her husband is attached to Fort Carson in Colorado, but just recently left for Afghanistan. We are so proud that she has stepped up to the challenge of competing to her personal best when so much is going on in everyday life - to include a full-time career in government consulting with a leading consulting firm. The beauty of Irongirl is that these are not professional tri-athletes or Olympians or anything of the sorts. These are everyday women who are steering through careers, kids, and outside stresses, like deployments! To help with her training, we set Lauren up with a pair of iCustoms for her iPod earbuds and a pair of Westone 2 True-Fit earphones. Lauren has competed in several marathons and half marathons and talks below about how her Westones have helped her stayed focused in the gym and on the bike.

Go Lauren!

We'd like to congratulate Suzy C. from North Carolina on winning the first of the Carnival of Madness prize packs. Suzy will be receiving a sign copy of The Sound of Madness and a Westone 2 True-Fit Earphone. There is another drawing on August 31st, so don't forget to enter here.

On Sunday a few members of the Westone Music Team flew out to Virginia Beach from Colorado Springs to meet up with the Carnival of Madness Tour and Shinedown for their Monday night show at the Virginia Beach Amphitheater. I mean if you are going to fly out somewhere for a tour you are a sponsor of, who doesn't want to go to the beach, right?! Kids, Mom's, Dad's, Grandma's and Grandpa's this show is a spectacle to behold. A great line up including; 10 Years, Sevendust, Puddle of Mudd, Chevelle and Shinedown all complemented by a big stage, lots of lighting, killer video and sound! From the opening riffs of Sound of Madness to the melodic vocals of Second Chance at the end, this concert was amazing! Major props to the crew making this show happen, this is a hardworking and talented group of people.

Along with our tour sponsorship we are doing a special give-away. By going to westone.com/shinedown you can enter to win a pair of Westone 2 True-Fit Earphones and a signed CD by Shinedown. We're doing two drawings during the tour. The first will be August 3rd and the second on August 31st. Make sure to get your entry in!

We'll be posting some pics of the Shinedown set in our Photo Album.

Check out Westone Music being featured in the news of our hometown, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Here's the image from the article, featuring Lynn Kehler, president and CEO, holding an awesome looking pair of ES5's! 

 

Did you know that we got our start in a log cabin in the Rockies?

Did you know that Westone Music was sparked from audio engineers representing the rock bands Rush and Def Leppard calling Westone asking for custom in-ear monitors?

Did you know that Westone grew from providing custom-fit hearing earpieces to the hearing healthcare industry? And - that we have been making custom-fit earpieces for over 50 years??!!

Did you know that we developed custom hearing earpieces to the Air Force for fighter pilots and still continue to provide them with the latest technology today? 

The article touches a little on each of these reasons why we call ourselves "The In-Ear Experts" and more.

The article reads, "In June, a group of Westone employees set up a 'silent band' in Tokyo for dozens of Japanese music technology reporters. To listen to the band, the reporters put in Westone’s new ES5 earphones, and as one Westone designer put it, “we rocked their pants a little.”

The article continues, "No wonder. The ES5, a hand-made earpiece made to order for the buyer’s ear, has five speakers per ear and was developed for both professional musicians and dedicated music junkies."

Even though the article titles us a hearing aid maker, which we're not, we'll let it slide! Thanks for our friends as CSBJ for the shout out.

Check out the article by Monica Mendoza at: Westone Music Products in CSBJ

This August 28th, AFLAC will be hosting it's first annual Iron Girl Triathlon in Boulder, CO. It will consist of a 1/4 mile swim, 17.2 mile bike ride and 3.1 mile run. Here's the cool part, these are not super athletes, Olympians or professional tri-athletes. These are the women like the rest of us; army wives, single parents, moms, career women, grandmothers, sisters, housewives, soccer moms...you get the idea.
This year Westone is sponsoring a group of 4 women from different walks of life to run the race. Each week we will featuring a different team member with a short bio, video of who they are in their daily lives and why they want to do the IronGirl. We've set them up with a pair of iCustoms for their iPod earbuds and a pair of Westone 2 True-Fit Earphones and set them loose.

This week we are featuring Nina Storey. Nina, a native to Colorado, is a singer/songwriter currently living in L.A. Her voice has recently been described as “...half Janis and half Alanis, and whose arresting delivery is three parts Virgin Mary and one part Dirty Harry..." and "with a voice of fire and quicksilver, Nina Storey is preparing to announce her arrival.“ Nina describes her new album "So Many Ways from:me to:you" as 21st Century Soul — mashing Old-School Soul with an Indie Singer/Songwriter edge. Make sure to check out Nina's tunes and show dates on ReverbNation!

Westone Music Products and Shinedown are teaming up on the Carnival of Madness tour to give away two pretty sweet prize packs. Two people will win a pair of Westone 2 True-Fit Earphones and a signed copy of Shinedowns', The Sound of Madness CD. On Tuesday August 3rd, the first winner will be selected and the final winner will be selected on Tuesday, August 31st at the end of the tour.

So what do you need to do? Well watch the video below!

The Westone Music team is super excited to extend their congrats to Will H. on winning our ES5 email drawing contest with Music Connection. Will won a free pair of the newly launched Elite Series 5 (ES5) from the July contest we ran with Music Connection. Be sure to check back this week for a new contest from Westone Music Products with Shinedown and the Carnival of Madness tour!

Westone Music is proud to be a sponsor of the Carnival of Madness Tour featuring an amazing line up; Shinedown, Chevelle, Puddle of Mudd, Sevendust and 10 Years!! The tour starts in Jacksonville, Fl and works it's way across 26 different cities. Below is one of the promo videos that will be playing on the screens during the tour. A special giveaway will be happening as well, more on that once the tour gets going!

This past month has been all buzz about Westone artists, Tenth Avenue North. From a new album release, to a Dove Award, to new announce tour dates; Tenth Avenue North is on the move.

The first single, “Healing Begins”, off Tenth Avenue North’s new album, The Light Meets the Dark, reached No. 2 on the iTunes charts (for Christian and Gospel Songs) and sold more than 4,800 downloads in the first two weeks! Provident described the album upon its release with, “Rarely has a new band delivered an album with more emotional punch than Tenth Avenue North’s 2008 debut Over and Underneath. Musically inventive and lyrically compelling, the song collection helped earn the band its prestigious New Artist of the Year accolade at the 40th Annual GMA Dove Awards, one element that propelled the band to headliner status for the all of 2009. As evidenced by immediate impact at radio and at iTunes this week, Tenth Avenue North’s follow up The Light Meets the Dark is proving to be one of the most highly anticipated albums of 2010”.

 

Here is one Westone group who is truly about the message, the music, and the sound. Even, following the hit single “By Your Side” receiving the prestigious Song of the Year honor at this year’s GMA Dove Awards, the musicians of Tenth Avenue North have remained true to their message and mission, regardless of their quick success. “It’s been kind of crazy I guess when you think about it,” Donehey says with a smile. “In a lot of ways, we don’t feel like anything has changed. When we get up on a stage, more people are there to see us play and more people are familiar with the songs, but the objective really hasn’t changed. The objective is for people to encounter truth and be changed.”

 

Westone Music Products has also found out that in addition to performing a closing slot on the 2010 Winter Jam tour and recently opening for Casting Crowns, Tenth Avenue North will resume a headlining tour in the fall, after its summer festival run. Check out http://www.tenthavenuenorth.com/tour for a show near you. You never know; we might just be there too!

Westone Music Products is excited to announce the latest in our lineup of custom-fit earphones, the ES5. The ES5 was designed to deliver sound quality, clarity, and response comparable to monitors with more drivers – at a much more affordable price. Featuring five balanced armature drivers with a passive crossover for unmatched and comprehensive sound reproduction, the ES5 is the clear choice for the most discriminating musician and for any personal listener looking to upgrade with a high-end, well-balanced custom earphone.

More info here.

Special thanks goes out to Barry Rudolph from Music Connection magazine! Barry is a L.A. recording engineer and has worked with just about everyone--from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Pat Benatar. We wanted to send him a special shout-out for reviewing the Westone 3 True-Fit earphone. We especially like to hear things like, "...after you switch over to the good stuff, you'll wonder how you tolerated those crappy-sounding ear buds you've been using all this time!! Highly recommended!"

Be sure to check out the full review at Barry's New Toys Directory: New Toys: Westone 3

The Westone Music team will be heading to Chicago this weekend for the annual CanJam International Meet put on by Head-Fi.org. This is always a great weekend of catching up with friends, other vendors and seeing what the new toys are going to be this year in the audiophile community (yeah we are geeks too)!
This year we will also be hosting a Product Announcement Party. All we can say right now, is it's custom and it's pretty dang sweet! The few that have a set have been raving about the depth of sound and clarity. If you are going to be at CanJam and want to get in on the invite only party, just click here and tell us why you should be at the party.

 

 

Why are we at Westone Music excited to share with you MercyMe's new album, "The Generous Mr. Lovewell"? Not just because within the first week, 87,000 albums were sold, and  "Mr. Lovewell" debuted at #3 on billboard, or because of the great reviews from USA Today, Billboard, or Christianity Today, but because the album is simply awesome!

 

On MercyMe's website, the band is quoted saying,  "Hitting the top 5 on billboard is huge! There are much bigger mainstream labels that are scratching their heads wondering how a "Christian" album pulled this off?"

 

Reviews:

“MercyMe’s sixth studio album is a well conceived and beautifully executed record that celebrates the power of love to change the world. Frontman Bart Millard and the band have crafted a set of tunes that are sonically engaging and musically substantive. Music with a message has never sounded more lovely.”-Billboard

“MercyMe ups the musical ante with a whimsy-filled concept album about a balloon-carrying character who encourages people to, well, “love well,” using everything from random acts of kindness to intentional, determined commitment. The title track recalls Mr. Blue Sky-era Electric Light Orchestra, and the rest ranges from inspirational ballads to synth-pulsing anthems.”
- USA Today

You can read more on MercyMe’s website to follow the album’s success, the tour, the blog, and more news from the band. www.MercyMe.org

 

Check out MercyMe’s photo stream blog, to include: guitarist, Barry Gaul, in a Westone 1959 t-shirt!  http://www.flickr.com/photos/mercy_me/4549509601/