Dr. Jean Timberlake  

Jason T. Powell

English Composition

24 April 2001

 MARS

      “Hey have you been to MARS lately?” my cousin Sean asks every time he sees me.  “Nah, man you know I don’t make too many trips up to MARS anymore.  I’m still paying off the stuff I got on my last trip” I say. “Man you have got to make it back up there!” he tells me.  “Well suit yourself.  Stay here if you want but I’m going back to MARS.” He says as he heads off.  It’s not too long after he leaves that I start reminiscing about my last trip there and with no twisting of the arms I’ve decided I’m going back to MARS.

    MARS stands for music and recording store.  Just like it says on the person sized big red letters with yellow trim on the sign at the entrance MARS is both literally and figuratively the musicians’ planet.  Whether you are an amateur or professional maker or producer of music MARS is your one-stop-shopping place for all of your music and recording needs. When most people hear the word MARS they think little red planet.  If there is one of these stores in your city and you are one of those people mentioned above this is the place that comes to mind first when you hear the word MARS.

  MARS is about the size of football field.  Barely an inch of space is wasted.  It has whole individual rooms the size of most regular music stores filled with drums, keyboards, digital samplers, reverbs, signal processors, effects machines, turntables, laser lights, fog machines, cables, violins, cellos, saxophones, carrying cases, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, cymbals, microphones and so much more.  They even have a room dedicated to, of all things, drumsticks. 

  Whether you are a sound tech, instrument repair person, acoustic or electric guitar player, or a disc jockey being in MARS is better than being a kid in a candy store.  In the candy store you just get to look and can’t taste anything until you’ve bought it.  Not at MARS though.  Just about every single item in the store is yours to play with.  “Hello may I help you?”, “Would you like me to get that down so you can try it out?”, or my personal favorite, “Let’s see if we can crank that up for you.” are just a few of the things you’ll hear said by the associates who work at MARS.  You don’t have to wait till you get home to see if that new amp really puts out 600 watts or goes with your equipment.  You can bring your gear in and hook it right up.  Some sales guy looking for his next big commission won’t greet you or pretend like they are going to help you out when you are at MARS.  You’ll be assisted by one of your fellow music makers who talks on your level and knows their stuff. 

     It’s hard to walk into MARS and not hear some one trying out something in one of their fabulous rooms.  Very often you will see or hear someone trying out the latest piece of hardware or software they’ve got on display, bringing in a guitar for some new strings or to get it tuned, or someone just banging away on a drum set for no other reason then because it makes noise. 

     Whenever I go to MARS I usually head toward the disc jockey, digital recording, sound and lighting rooms.  I’m going to test out one of their new compact disc players that can speed up or slow down the disc you’re playing.  This new disc player is supposed to be able to actually make the band play faster and the singer sing faster without altering the voice like when you speed up a record.  I pull out one of t he disc I brought with me and pop it in the disc player.  With all the lights and buttons in the room I feel like I’m commander of the starship Enterprise.  I lay my hands on the controls of the disc player and prepare to experience one of the miracles of modern technology.  I adjust the controls to make the musicians on the disc play faster and slower and sure enough it works.  I turn the volume half way up as  I stand right in front of a twelve inch 600 watt speaker and oh does that bass drum feel good.  Man I need to get out of here.  In fact I shouldn’t even be in this room.  What in the world was I thinking coming here?  I’m still paying off the stuff I got on my first trip.