Gearspace Explained

Gearspace.com
Type:Private Company
Location:London, UK
Area Served:Worldwide
Industry:Music Production
Homepage:https://gearspace.com/

Gearspace is a website and forum dedicated to audio engineering. Gearspace is one of the largest resources for pro audio information, with over 1.6 million monthly visitors from 218 countries.[1] Originally established in 2002 as Gearslutz, the site rebranded in March 2021.

History

In 2002, Julian Standen and Meg Lee Chin, both musicians and audio engineers, created the site, which is widely regarded as a top online resource for music production knowledge and discussion.[1] The site has been described as the "best place … for help with your interface, DAW, signal path, or just about anything else."[2]

In 2018, the website was ranked by Alexa.com as the 7,360th most popular website in the world.[3] In 2020, it had over 1.6 million monthly visitors from 218 countries.[1]

Behringer Lawsuit

In mid-2017, Music Tribe, the parent company of music equipment manufacturer Behringer, pursued legal action against synthesizer manufacturer Dave Smith Instruments (DSI) and a number of the website's forum participants, including a DSI employee, for defamation over various statements made in forum discussions that alleged that Behringer copies other companies' products and exhibits other questionable business practices.[4]

Name change

On January 6, 2021, Cameran Davis started an online petition at Change.org encouraging the website to change its name from Gearslutz. Site co-founder Standen announced later the same month that the site would be undergoing a name change, stating "the word-play pun in the name has gotten old and it is now time to move forward".[5]

On March 29, 2021, Standen confirmed that the site would be renamed "Gearspace.com".

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Northern Vermont University Alum Takes On Offensive Company Name In Pro Audio Industry, And Wins!. Northern Vermont University. northernvermont.edu. 17 January 2022. 5 February 2021.
  2. News: Reverb Picks: The Best Forums. 21 October 2013. reverb.com. Reverb.com LLC. 2018-09-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20181104010345/https://reverb.com/news/reverb-picks-the-best-forums. 4 November 2018. dead.
  3. Web site: Gearslutz.com Traffic, Demographics and Competitors. www.alexa.com. en. 2018-09-17. 2018-09-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20180916195844/https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/gearslutz.com. dead.
  4. Web site: That Time Behringer Sued Dave Smith Instruments & 20 Gearslutz Users For A Quarter Of A Million Dollars. synthtopia.com. 20 June 2018. 17 January 2022.
  5. Web site: McGlynn . Declan . Popular Music Production Forum Gearslutz to Change Name Following Online Petition . DJ Mag . 20 January 2021 . Thrust Publishing Ltd . 31 May 2021.