V-MODA and Roland Announce Huge Merger
V-MODA headphones have been adopted by over 40 percent of the world’s Top 100 DJs. But even before so many performers picked and personalized the headphones, which have found an equally organic popularity among audiophiles and music lovers, V-MODA has always had club culture deeply ingrained in its DNA.
Company founder and CEO Val Kolton traces the spirit of V-MODA back to a summer spent clubbing in Ibiza in 2002, musing on the potential for electronic music to become the popular music of the future.
This led to a product line premiered in 2004 and culminating in the award-winning, patent-pending dual-diaphragm driver of the Crossfade M-100 and subsequent Crossfade Wireless, which assures midrange and treble clarity while reproducing the subsonics of the genre’s foundations, many of which were created by instruments including Roland’s TR-808 and TR-909 Rhythm Composers.
Now, 12 years after V-MODA launched—and just in time to celebrate 808 Day today—fate, a handshake, and some lawyers have resulted in a merger between V-MODA and Roland, two companies deeply invested in the production and reproduction of advanced audio. V-MODA will retain its brand identity following the merger, with Kolton taking on the additional role of consultant in product design for Roland’s dance, DJ and electronic music division.
We caught up with Kolton to discuss the recent merger and V-MODA’s decade-plus legacy of customizable, military-strength “hearwear” and audio synergy.
As a DJ/producer and fan of electronic music, how deep does your relationship with the sound of Roland go?
The first time I distinctly remember hearing an 808 was the reversed beat in the Beastie Boys’ “Paul Revere.” Later, as I would download software for production, I started to dig deeper into the 808 and 909 drums you’d find in all the programs, which were the language that so many of the defining house, techno, and hip-hop songs of my life spoke. Roland gear not only helped shape genres, it created some, like acid house with the TB-303 [Bass Line synthesizer].
How did those sounds help shape the direction of V-MODA and lead you full circle to collaborating with Roland?
Starting in 2008, when I was tuning the original Crossfade LP headphone, I used Ableton Live to play back test tracks and loops of 808 and 909 samples, because they’re the framework of so much modern music. For each headphone we’ve made, I listened through hundreds of variations of drivers, ear cushions, etc., and those drum kits have been a vital part of my playlists.
Years later, in 2014, Roland approached us and told us about when they were developing the Analog Circuit Behavior technology in the AIRA TR-8 Rhythm Performer. They said they had taken the TR-808 and TR-909 sounds it generated to Tokyo’s E Earphone, where you can try any headphone you can imagine. After testing everything in the shop, they picked the Crossfade M-100 as most faithfully reproducing what they intended the TR-8 to sound like. They found us, and this led us to design an AIRA edition of the Crossfade. Not long after, we were sharing deeper thoughts on the future of live performance in DJ sets and making more products together.
How does the merger with Roland affect V-MODA’s direction?
The V-MODA brand ethos has always been about allowing musicians and music fans to express themselves through our headphones, and combining our Milan design studios, L.A. sales, and artist relations team with Roland’s engineering resources and laser-precision production will only increase our quality control, product depth and global breadth. The Crossfade’s sound signature has been enthusiastically embraced by music lovers and producers and will be something we will continue to refine through the feedback of artists and audiophiles. The merger won’t change how our products evolve, just how we are able to fast-track their evolution.
What is in the near future for each brand?
What I can reveal for V-MODA is that we will be launching our first Bluetooth speaker in the fourth quarter, in time for the Christmas season. We took our time to come up with an innovative speaker that will be as iconic as the Crossfade and please all types of listeners. And then on 9/09 [September 9], Roland will be announcing some special products, and it will be a day all music lovers around the world should watch. Roland has always been a thought leader in allowing musicians to morph their sound, and V-MODA has always been about enhancing DJ sets, so I’m excited to be involved in more than one road map that will shift the direction of music performance and playback and make future memories.
For the official announcement and additional information, visit the official V-MODA website.
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