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Products of Music
Get the full story on what makes a great music technology product, with 1-1 conversations from leading voices and founders. Hosted by Adam Wakeling, Product Manager.
Products of Music
The Secret Behind Empress Effects' Legendary Sounds
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Welcome to Products of Music, a podcast sharing inside stories and expert insights on product innovation in music technology.
In this episode:
Host Adam Wakeling speaks with Steve Bragg, founder of Empress Effects, about his founder story, approach to product development, the secrets behind the pristine sounds of Empress pedals, thoughts about the state of the market and much more.
Chapters:
00:00 Preview
01:21 Intro
02:25 Pedal pricing
02:20 Steve's founder story
05:45 Art versus science in design
07:45 Why surface-mount tech is best
11:25 Why Empress pedals sound 'pristine'
15:37 Chase Bliss Big Time sponsor
16:41 How the business is run (Lean)
19:18 How ideas come
20:55 Key product milestones
24:51 How features are chosen
26:18 Beta testing
27:32 What's surprising behind the scenes
31:50 What concerns Steve
34:00 Thoughts on AI
36:03 Challenge of starting a business now
38:04 Favorite Empress pedal
38:23 New pedal soon?
39:53 Most underrated Empress pedal
40:28 Steve's top 3 pedals of all time
42:45 Thoughts on future collaborations
44:04 Philosophy question
45:40 Surprising thing that impacts tone
46:40 An Empress pedal Steve would redesign
48:13 What makes an idea reach production
49:49 Smaller Reverb and Echosystems?
51:30 What makes the Para EQ pedal so good
52:37 Swapping Reverb & Echosystem firmware
55:18 Advice to aspiring founders
57:00 Outro
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