Sweetwater recently surpassed 100 million views on its YouTube channel, with subscribers to the channel now exceeding 137,000.
Sweetwater launched its video effort in December of 2008, with a part-time videographer and a part-time producer. Today, housed in state-of-the art studios completed in 2016, and designed by esteemed acoustician Russ Berger, the video staff includes five videographers, a creative director, and three content providers. In 2017 the department will produce approximately 900 videos.
Sweetwater founder and president Chuck Surack said, “Our video efforts are an extension of our long-held commitment to being the experts in all things audio, from musical instruments to pro-audio gear. It’s a vindication of our video strategy to reach such a huge milestone in only nine years.”
Videos fall into four general categories: product demos, “how-to” videos, case histories, and interviews with industry professionals — musicians, audio manufacturers, and pro-audio users of renown. Most Sweetwater videos are product demos and are embedded on the appropriate product pages at Sweetwater.com.
Sweetwater’s editorial director, Mitch Gallagher, has been the principal subject of Sweetwater’s videos from the beginning, providing the most informative interviews and product demos in the industry. His videos are posted three times a week on Sweetwater’s YouTube and Facebook pages.
More recently, Sweetwater hired two extremely accomplished musicians to expand its video capacity. Guitarist Don Carr toured with the Oak Ridge Boys for 24 years, and drummer Nick D’Virgilio, one of the founding members of the popular progressive rock band Spock’s Beard, has toured with Genesis and Tears for Fears, as well as Circe de Soleil. Both Carr and D’Virgilio serve as session musicians in Sweetwater’s studios, as well as doing eight or more product demos each week.
Many Sweetwater product demos feature vendor product specialists and clinicians who visit weekly for Sweetwater’s training sessions for its Sales Engineers.
The video team also provides real-time coverage of NAMM and AES conferences, among other industry events, often producing as many as 100 videos for a single event.
Interviews with artists have included Joe Walsh, Peter Erskine, Mike Stern, Stanley Clarke, Joe Satriani, Thomas Dolby, Rick Nielsen, Bun E. Carlos, Avenged Sevenfold, Periphery, members of Megadeth and Anthrax, Nathan East, Alan Parsons, BT, Jonatha Brooke, Marcus Miller, Lzzy Hale, Adrian Belew, Victor Wooten, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Billy Sheehan, Steve Stevens, Chick Corea, Steve Morse, Ben Folds, Robbie Krieger, Tony Levin, Don Felder, and many others. Producers/engineers include Chris Lord Alge, Jack Douglas, Ken Scott, Mick Guzauski, Sylvia Massy, George Massenburg, Ed Cherney, Jacquire King, Frank Filipetti, Elliot Scheiner, Bruce Swedien, Jack Joseph Puig, and a host of others.
