The Baur&Brown Pickup System - For HandPan

The sharing of music, is arguably, just as important, as the creating of it.  The French poet, Victor Hugo, said: “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words”, and with the hugely popular modern day social media sites, such as Facebook, and YouTube, being all about communication - it’s only right that the sharing of music, is vastly more popular than ever.  With messages that could have been formed in no language other than that of music, spreading far-and-wide through the veins of the internet, to reach ears, hearts, and minds, that not so long ago, it would have been close-to-impossible, for your personal brand of sounds to connect with.

"If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

Ask around in the Handpan community for awhile, and you’ll see all manner of recording devices recommended, from the budget-minded Blue Snowball, to more professional solutions, like the Zoom Q8.

However, the following is the first recording/amplification device that we’ve come across, that has been designed, and built, specifically with the Handpan in mind...
 

The Baur&Brown Pickup system is described as being:

* Specially developed for the amplification and recording of the magical sound of your handpan. We spent a very long time experimenting with different microphones and pickups, untill we at last discovered and developed this optimal system. Our pickup transmits a pure and distortion free  signal  with only a minimal danger of feedback.

* When needed, it can be attached to the handpan in a few seconds and functions without gluing, hole drilling or any kind of adjustment to the instrument and, in the same way, can be quickly removed time and time again.

* The pickup is fitted with a 6.3mm jackplug socket. All you need is a normal guitar cable, and an amplifier. The pickup clings to the handpan without leaving any trace of residue, you plug in and off you go!

* It is of course ideal when playing together with louder instruments.  Just imagine, you can connect your handpan to all kinds of effects, for example: Echo, reverb, flanger,  distortion, wah-wah etc. You can even use a loop station, producing a basic rhythm to which you can improvise.’



For more information, visit the makers website: HERE

PanOz - The Australian HandPan Festival

Adrian J Portia will be performing at PanOz, 2016...
Following a recent post to this site from, Percusso, the maker of the Australian Handpan, the “Pi Handpan”, we’ve seen an increase in visitors to this site, from Australian fans of the Handpan sound, and those in search, of a Handpan made in Australia. 

One of the main pieces of advice often offered up to “newbies” in search of their first instrument, is, if possible, to attend an event, festival, or gathering.  This can provide those with little experience with Handpan a little education into what it’s all about, and will usually provide the opportunity for a little hands-on time, with a number of different makes of pan.  

PanOz - 2016

The PanOz Festival - 2016, is the first official Handpan festival to be held in Australia (that we know of), and is being put together by some well known names from the world of Handpan.  

In the tradition of some of the other larger Handpan festivals held around the world, such as the UK-based, HangOut, and its U.S. based counterpart, PanOz will feature live performances from some of the big-names in Handpan music.  Workshops for those looking to learn new skills.  At least one tuner on site, for those needing some work done.  And, as an added bonus, lotteries for the chance to win (or win the chance to purchase, as is sometimes the case) some highly sought after instruments (an Asachan, and a Halo, are mentioned in the PanOz promotional material, as prizes for 2016).  And the video (embedded below) suggests that the “Panless” are also welcome, meaning that if you have yet to get your hands on a Handpan, but are dying to, this could be a great chance to do so, in the company of some of the most experienced, and talented Handpan performers, and aficionados, to be found in the land of Oz.



You can find more information over at the official website: HERE.  As a point of note, tickets often sell out fast for these kind of festivals, so if you miss out for 2016, you can find them at Facebook: HERE, for news of subsequent events.  
© HandPans Magazine