One of our fave rave jocks, DJ Muggs, is posting a daily blog from the first stop of his tour, which starts in San Francisco at the Hard Rock Cafe on 8/31. He'll be blogging about his thoughts and experiences for all the world to see, so if you've been wondering what makes a guy like this tick—a guy who's DJed for Cypress Hill, produced House Of Pain and KRS-One, and worked with Tricky—this is the place. Click here to check it out...

Posted by Gaz at 12:21 PM | Permalink

Eric Krasno is a music addict. Don’t trip on me; that’s what it says in his official bio. He makes music everyday—it doesn’t matter if he’s at home in New York City, or out on tour with his band Soulive. Between Soulive and his production crew, The Fyre Dept., Eric has worked with mega-stars like Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, The Fugees, Dave Mathews, The Rolling Stones, Talib Kweli, Wu-Tang Clan, The Beatnuts, The Roots, John Scofield, Joshua Redman, Derek Trucks, Robert Randolph and many others.

“I'm lucky that I can do what I love as my job, and I plan to do it for the rest of my life if possible,” Krasno confirms. And of course, another key element in his plan is Mackie gear. As a long time fan of Mackie mixers and recording equipment, Eric and Soulive have most recently been recording up a storm with an Onyx 1640 small-format mixer, an Onyx 800R mic preamp, and the legendary HR 626 studio monitors.

Mackie’s humble interviewer had, shall we say, “a headache” on the day of the interview, and was in no mood to beat around the bush with this interview. First angry question:

That Onyx 1640 mixer is coming in handy?

Oh yeah, for sure. We’ve been using it for several different setups. Lately we’ve been using it as part of a mobile recording rig for a writing project Soulive’s been working on up at my mom’s house in Vermont.

Is any of that work gonna show up on a record someday, or just stay as demos?

Yeah, we got a lot of good stuff at the Vermont sessions. Its funny, because we originally intended it to be a get-away-from-it-all writing session, but the sound we got from the Onyx ended up being so good, we’re gonna use some of those demo tracks as masters. We’ll probably go into the studio to re-cut the drums and a lot of the vocals, due to the acoustical challenges of recording in my mother’s house of course—not because of the Onyx.

Hey, it worked for Led Zeppelin…

We got a really good vibe up there and it came out sounding really good! We want to bring the Onyx 1640 on the road next time we go out, because it is such an excellent front-end and mixer for a small portable studio.

Glad ya like it Kras, but The Onyx series of premium analog mixers ain’t just a one trick pony, pardner.

Oh yeah I know! Our original intent was to use the 1640 to record live shows, which we did. Now we want another so we can rig up an in-ear monitor mix too. Before we go out on the next long tour, we’re gonna do a couple of days of just setups and rehearsals, so we can get the Onyx dialed in for both applications.

How has it been going from traditional stage monitors to using the in-ear setup? Did it creep you out at first?

It’s cool. We’ve been doing a lot more vocal stuff, and that’s where the in-ear setup really shines. You get the clarity of the vocals, which really helps the singing—like you can actually hear yourself. (laughs) We’re a pretty loud band onstage because we just like to hear what’s happening for real. The universal law of PAs dictates the louder the band, the more vocals get lost from the floor wedges and side-fills. When you up the gain of the monitors to compensate, the whole thing just gets worse! So with the in-ears, we can actually reduce our onstage volume, which just makes everything clearer.

Is it weird having those things in your ears? They make my ears itch like hell!

It is a little weird at first. To be honest, most of time I wind up taking one out because I like to hear some of the “space,” ya know what I mean? We’ve been working more ambient mics into the mixes—we’ll actually have a couple of mics onstage pointing at nothing in particular.

What about your studio?

I have an Onyx 800R [8 channel premium mic preamp], which is working out great. I’ve been using it for all my drum programming. I separate the eight outs from my MPC and go straight into the 800R, and it sounds great—the 800R gives everything a nice analog warmth. I’m using it for vocals too, and that’s where the sound of the preamps really critical.

Don’t let me stop ya—tell us about the Onyx mic preamps!

They definitely sound fantastic. I can totally tell the difference when compared to the mic pres on the Digi 002—the Onyx 800 just blows it away. They sound sweet no matter what I put into them: drums, guitar or vocals. I especially like the Instrument input on the front of the 800R. I just plug my guitar in and instantly have a great sound.

You’re a guitar player of some renown. What instruments do you favor these days?

My main axe is an Ibanez AS-200, and I use that for pretty much everything I do. But I’ve got a bunch of random guitars, Strats and stuff like that, but I always come back to the Ibanez for both live and in the studio. I’ve also been getting into bass a great deal, and I just got a ’74 Fender P-Bass.

I hear a hint of effects pedals in your playing.

Oh yeah, I use tons of stuff! There is a company called Pigtronics (www.pigtronix.com) that makes some great effects, and I use all of 'em. A Tube Screamer is something I always use, as well as effects by Maxon and Godlyke (www.godlyke.com). I’m pretty into the DigiTech Whammy pedal these days too.

What about amps?

I use Mesa/Boogie Lonestars —they’re great, I love ‘em.

Boogies give me anxiety. They have too many knobs, and the more I twist ‘em, the worse the sound gets!

I was totally on that exact same page! But the Lonestar is more basic in its setup. It has two channels, and each channel has its own set of controls that are identical. I hated all those pull-knobs and switches on previous Boogies—I was more like “just give me a bass, treble, mid and volume knob, and forget the 17-position switches and bias adjustments!”

Word around the office is that you have a nice pair of Mackie HR626s…

Yeah, I’m lovin’ those! Originally, I had them in my home studio, but I really liked to bump ‘em hard (laughs) which didn’t make me very popular with the neighbors. We have them in our Soulive studio now, and they’re just fantastic. They really give you the full spectrum of sound. You can really feel the bass without a sub, and the mids and highs are just super-clear.

Do you do final mixes on the 626’s, or just use them for tracking?

Oh yeah, I’ve done plenty of mixes with the 626s. I usually go back and forth between the 626s and some NS-10s. You know, for a second opinion! (laughs)

So you find them to be accurate?

Yes, especially for hip-hop and pop-type stuff. The 626s give a good approximation of how the track is gonna sound in the clubs. They enhance the low end just a bit, which is why I like to switch between them and the NS-10s. For more jazzy and rock stuff, I tend to go with the NS-10s, because if you can make your track sound good on those, it’ll sound good on anything from a walkman to virgin vinyl. Of course, when I wanna crank it up and just enjoy the sound, I hit up the Mackie’s. I’d really like to get the smaller HR624s so I can retire the NS-10s!

I just did a track with Xzibit, and I borrowed some 15” subs from Planet To Planet, which the Soulive studio is part of, and put them under the 824s. The sound was just insane—Xzibit was just going nuts!

What else have you been working on?

Well, I’ve been in the studio the last few days working on a track with Talib Kweli for his new album. We’ve been working on it for the last month, and just finished some mixes last night. I’ve also just produced a track with Talib and a super-big artist, whose name I cant mention yet, but I’ll let you know as soon as I can go public. I’m co-producing and playing bass and guitar, and basically filling in the gaps.

[HMMM… BIGGIE’S DEAD… MEAT LOAF AND THAT GUY FROM BLUES TRAVELER LOST A BUNCH OF WEIGHT… WHO IS “BIG” THESE DAYS? WE DON’T LIKE ARTISTS KEEPING SECRETS FROM US.]

Soulive worked on a song for R&B singer Mario. Through Mario, I met Dianne Warren (super-hit pop ballad songwriter for Celine Dion, Toni Braxton, Mariah Carey, etc) and now we’re working with her, producing the songs she writes We have a production team called the Fyre Dept. consisting of myself and Adam Deitch, and some of our other friends.

Ever just get down by yourself, let the licks fly?

Of course! I’m working on my solo album that’s a bit more rock- and soul-focused than the stuff I do with Soulive. I’m playing and singing everything, and I have some cool guests doing their thing. I guess I’m just trying to stay busy.

Well, idle hands can be the devil’s tools. Sounds like the musician’s life suits you.

Yeah (laughs) I don’t mind it. I pretty much play music or produce it all the time. Soulive is going to be taking a bit of time off from the road in the fall to make the new album, and I’m gonna finish up a lot of these other projects I’ve been talking about. So we’ll be in the studio a lot over the next six months—but I’m looking forward to it … I love making records!

Any tips on how to approximate your lifestyle?

Make music you love. The music that that people love to listen to is music that the musicians enjoyed creating. If you’re straining to make something popular, and your heart isn’t in it, it may wind up being popular, but it won’t last.

That’s all well and good Eric, but you guys had to be more on the ball than that guy Grateful Dead-dancing at every show to get where you are, right?

Oh yeah, the business side; that’s a whole other ball game. You still have to love doing it. And we never really stopped. We never really doubted ourselves—we just did it. You’re gonna have successes and failures, and we’ve had our share of both.

Yeah, that Soulive Glitter Metal album—big mistake!

(laughs) Yeah, that one didn’t too well—but we loved making it!

Eric Krasno is currently working on his first solo album, as well as all sorts of secret plans he could not fully divulge with a lowly Fresh Fish writer. Check out his latest noodling at: www.myspace.com/ekraz

Posted by Mackie at 04:10 PM | Permalink

Randy Bigness, singer/songwriter and certified auto technician, has combined his two passions to take the portable PA concept to an entirely new level. His creation combines high-horsepower, pavement-shredding Detroit muscle of the 1960s, with an equally powerful Active loudspeaker system from Mackie.

With an active performance schedule that takes him all over the Northeast, Randy’s need for high-quality audio in a “plug-in play” package led him to the purchase of a Mackie DFX12 mixer and a pair of Mackie SRM 450 Active loudspeakers. After a performance in upstate New York in the spring of 2004, however, Randy began thinking of ways he could make his Mackie system even better.

“For an outdoor performance I had my Mackie system set up with the speakers standing in the trunk of my 1966 Dodge Monaco,” Randy explained. “The system sounded great, but as a solo artist, I was curious if I could actually make the whole setup and tear down process even easier. What I really wanted was a system that I could just turn on, plug in, and play.”

It was on the drive home that very evening that inspiration struck and Randy decided to customize the trunk of his 1966 Dodge Monaco to permanently house the entire Mackie PA system. With a little creative installation work, as well as the addition of twin deep cycle marine batteries and a power inverter, Randy’s classic Dodge was reborn as the Mackie Muscle Car.

"Now I can plug-in and play anywhere anytime,” explains Randy. “The sound I get from the Mackie system is truly like no other, nice and big and crystal clear. But the fact that all the great sound is coming from the back of a 1966 Dodge Monaco is what really turns heads.”

Posted by Mackie at 02:44 PM | Permalink

Pro Sound Web’s Road Test is an entirely new way to review audio gear. Instead of stuffing a reviewer into a rehearsal space with the latest audio thingamajig, a copy of Word, and a mandate for 1200 words, the gear goes out with real users who put them into real situations and then share their experiences in an all-access forum.

Currently in the Road Test “hot seat” is a Mackie TT24, and it looks as though its winning over a few fans.

"I was dead certain I was going to dislike the non Yamaha-ness of the desk. Once I figured out how easy it was to use, I didn't miss a thing.”

"I felt very comfortable with this board at the very beginning. I found it much easier to use than the O1V and O2R.”

Interested in learning more? Read or participate in the TT24 Road Test.

Posted by Mackie at 02:39 PM | Permalink

Virginia-based Carbon Leaf is a five-man band defying the odds of music business success by creating and playing their music their way. Not content to sit slack-jawed on a couch, wondering “wouldn’t it be cool if,” this courageous band—comprised of Barry Privett: words and vocals, Carter Gravatt: acoustic and electric mandolins, acoustic and electric guitars, lap steel, bouzouki, loops and effects, vocals, Jordan Medas: electric bass, bowed and double bass, vocals, Scott Milstead: drums and percussion, vocals, and Terry Clark: electric and acoustic guitars, vocals—got up off their butts and worked!

To date, Carbon Leaf has played more shows and put out more albums than 99.9% of the patchoulied-up, dreadlocked masses could shake a hacky-sac at. And don’t get bent just because they signed to a major label. That’s the way it’s supposed to happen. First you work hard, and then you move up in the world. None of this “the-world-owes-me-a-buzz” attitude. Anyway, they don’t need my hype; they’ve been on The Dr. Phil Show.

Through editorial bob-and-weave, your humble Fresh Fish writer has managed to combine Terry, Jordan, and soundman Chris’s voices into a single literary virtual Voltron—with the sum more powerful than the parts. Read on.

So, you guys are big Mackie Tracktion users I hear?

Yes, we all have laptops, and Tracktion has become an amazing “scratch pad” for our musical ideas. There are three writers in this band, Carter, Jordan, and Terry, and we all sit down with our laptops and trade ideas. Tracktion allows us to work up the ideas with a minimum of fuss. You don’t have to be too techno-geeky to get good results from Tracktion. Editing is easy and it allows us to whip out a demo in no time flat. Jordan especially likes the soft synths. He uses the Hammond and piano plug-ins as keeper tracks on our latest release (Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat), which will be released on August 12th.

You’ve also used the TT-24 Digital Live Console for over 200 live shows. It must be doing its job.

Yeah, it has really held up great! We use it as the monitor board, because everyone in the band uses in-ear monitors, and the amount of ins and outs on TT24 is pretty amazing. We use five stereo mixes for the in-ears, plus we do our wedge and side fill mixes on the TT24 too. It never seems bogged down or finicky—there’s plenty of processor horsepower inside. It has the Lightpipe In and Out, which we send to our digital recorders for a multitrack recording of each show. All it took was three little Lightpipe cables, and we were able to record 24 tracks with no hassle, every night.

Ever have any chances to shower it with abuse?

Um, we have dropped it—more than once. The first time we dumped it off a curb, we were all pretty freaked, but it came up in one piece and still works fine.

Any other situations where you take advantage of the TT24?

I have a two-car garage that optimistically I call my home studio, where I record, and the band sometimes comes to rehearse—as well as to write new material and record. We use the TT24 and Traction to multitrack record our demos there. With the TT24’s automation and memory, we can have the exact same setup as we do on stage—monitors, multitrack, everything—at the press of a button. Live musicians can appreciate what a comfort it is to have consistent sound, no matter if you are in an arena, club or garage.

What’s the band up to now?

We’ve been off the road since the holidays doing writing and recording. We released our last CD Indian Summer about a year and a half ago, and have been touring non-stop since its release.

How does life on the road suit you?

We like the life on the road. Over the past year, we’ve criss-crossed the country five times. First by van, then when the record picked up, we switched to a bus—we’ve covered a lot of ground! We did three van tours last year and that’s when we stepped it up to the bus level.

I know a van tour can strain human relationships to the breaking point. You guys must be pretty tight.

Yeah, we’re good friends. We stay conscious of each other. We keep the bus clean and try to respect each other’s space to some degree.

Three hundred dates a year, I mean come on, you must be Shaolin monks to not duct tape a band member to a signpost in Arizona naked. Just from the sheer combined horror of it all.

Oh yeah, we hit some pranks to break up the boredom, but nothing as disturbed as you suggest.

Ok, then, tell me how you use Tracktion to prevent my kind of road madness…

We write using laptops. Its very common with touring bands. We record riffs and progressions—you know, song ideas and mix them down to stereo. By the end of a tour we’ll have about 150 musical “sketches.” Barry slurps them all up in his iPod, and sorts through them to find something he can write lyrics to. He also co-manages the band and is the business manager, in addition to being the singer.

A triple threat, eh?

Well… he’s a triple something (laughs). With all that responsibility, it’s nearly impossible to write lyrics and structure songs while on the road. As you might imagine, it is difficult to find the headspace for necessary concentration, let alone have a solid block of time to work. That’s why we take the time off the road to write, find the right producer, and get into the studio.

How's all that going?

We really hit it off with Peter Collins who’s producing the new album. He’s an amazing guy based in Nashville with an incredible history—he’s made some very cool records with Bon Jovi, Elton John, Rush, Jewel, and a bunch more than I can’t think of right now… his ears are outstanding.

And, after releasing five records on our own, we recently signed with Vanguard Records, who have been very cool with us. The whole recording process is better due to our A&R man. He introduced us to a lot of people who are very helpful in the studio—great engineers and technicians. They basically set us up to be as worry-free in the studio so we can do our best album yet. But, of course, having the right tools for pre-production and songwriting on the road is a huge help.

So, fine Fresh Fish readers, take heed of Carbon Leaf’s formula for success: hard work, long hours, collaboration… and of course a little help from Mackie. That’s what it’s all about.

Visit www.carbonleaf.com for Carbon Leaf tour news and to hear tracks from their new album, Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat.

Posted by Mackie at 02:55 PM | Permalink

The good folks over at Appleproaudio.com, the leading online news resource for Apple pro recording news, were pretty impressed with Mackie's new Onyx Satellite Recording System. They awarded Satellite 4.5 out of a possible 5 stars.

You can check out their full evaluation here: Onyx Satellite Review . But for those out there with the attention span of gnat, here are a few highlights:

“Street price on this system is only $399 US! What? $399? Are they insane? This is a solid piece of gear here, worth every penny….”

“Toss into the mix that Mackie includes the Tracktion 2 software, and this becomes a no-lose proposition for anyone looking for a new, flexible recording system that will work with Windows, Macs, and any audio recording software you have at your disposal…”

Posted by Mackie at 11:54 AM | Permalink

Both the Onyx 80-Series Live Sound Consoles and the Onyx 400F Studio Recording Preamp have each been nominated for one of the Mix Foundation's prestigious TEC Awards, one of the professional audio industry's highest honors.

Any new Mackie product equipped with premium Onyx mic pres always seems to garner a lot of attention. Not only has the Onyx pre’s pristine sound quality been universally praised by users as well as the typically stoic and notoriously neutral pro audio trade press, but the growing family of Onyx-equipped Mackie gear seems to be setting a pace that has competition scrambling to keep up.

The latest additions to Mackie's Onyx range seem no exception, each earning a nod from the Mix Foundation for excellence in Audio in the form of a TEC Award nomination. TEC Awards recognize outstanding achievement in the field of professional recording, recording technology and sound production for music, films, TV shows and live performances. In it’s history, Mackie has taken home 10 TEC Awards. Additionally, in 2004 the Mackie CR-1604 was inducted into the Technology Hall of Fame, an honor established for those products and innovations that have had an enduring impact on the development of audio technology

Note that a special TEC Awards Voter’s Guide and voting ballot will appear in the August issue of Mix magazine, with the TEC Awards ceremony to be held Saturday, October 7, at the Hilton San Francisco in tandem with the AES Convention

Posted by Mackie at 09:37 AM | Permalink

DJ Muggs, founder of legendary Hip-Hop group Cypress Hill, world famous producer, CEO of Angeles Records and President of Soul Assassins, is a die-hard Mackie fan who relies heavily on Mackie Active loudspeakers as an essential part of his gear arsenal. “Over the past 12 years I've been using MACKIE products and they have been one of the most durable and reliable pieces of equipment I've ever used, not to mention they continue to push the envelope when it comes to being on the cutting edge of technology."

So what’s the latest offering to find its way onto Muggs’ list of Mackie “must haves”? The d.2 DJ Mixer, of course. In fact, he likes the d.2 so much that he agreed to sign on as an official Mackie endorsee to help spread the word.

Posted by Mackie at 01:47 PM | Permalink

For fans of acoustic soul goddess and Mackie HR824 user India Arie, these days are good ones. A new album, Testimony: Vol. 1, is out and it's number one with a taste bullet. The album is brimming with great tunes including her hit “I Am Not My Hair.”

Check out India's MySpace site for her upcoming tour schedule as well as a tasty rendition of Don Henley's "Forgiveness." Oh, and please read on to learn a little about Inda's early days in the music biz, and how she finds musical inspiration in her Mackie-equipped, Atlanta-based studio.

In an age when many musicians aspire to a record deal by sounding like this week's chart-topping favorites, India.Arie found herself inked to a major label by bucking those very same trends. Her sound is as unique and individual as it is intimately familiar-a seamless blend of classic R&B, jazz, soul and folk that is honest, unpretentious, uplifting and straight from the heart.

Born into a family of performers - her mother was a professional singer, her father is retired basketball star Ralph Simpson-India's early exposure to a wide range of music inspired her very intimate and personal style of writing. Her first album, Acoustic Soul garnered rave reviews and countless accolades, including no less than seven Grammy nominations, an impressive feat for a previously unknown artist. This early success led to an extended tour with legendary smooth jazz singer Sade.

India's studio, in the basement of her Atlanta home, is based around a small ProTools setup, with a Mackie 32.8 recording console and a pair of Mackie HR824 monitors. While working in commercial studios has its appeal, India has developed a fine appreciation for the advantages of working at home. "I like both scenarios for different reasons, but I love the intimacy of working here. I've got all my instruments around me, and it's so inspiring to be able to grab hold of an idea as it's happening. I like to record my own vocals, usually with nobody around."

The musical ideas and developed while on the road became the basis for her second album, Voyage to India. "My favorite songs on the album were started at six AM after working all night in the studio," she recalls. "I just stayed up writing, and the songs just flowed out. Looking back, that was really my favorite time, just recording demos on my eight track at home, then going into the studio the next day and laying it down, while it was still fresh and raw."

Typically, her songs begin with a guitar/vocal demo, with her Godan or Takamine guitar miked direct into the Mackie mixer, and vocals captured by a vintage Neumann via a Neve preamp. "I usually record my vocals right up front, really close to the mic. I just set up with my guitar, right here in front of the mixer, and that's how I work. The Mackie is really easy to work with."

For India.Arie, her home studio is a sanctuary for laying down ideas and working on arrangements. "I've only done tracking in this room up 'till now, but my next album will include material recorded here," she explains, adding that lately she's feeling more confident in the mixes she's getting out of her own studio.

"My Mackie monitors have really made a difference in the way things sound in this room. I love they way they sound - they're so crisp and clean. They're the first pair of really good speakers I've ever had in my studio, and they've done wonders for my mixes. They're not going anywhere!"

Posted by Mackie at 04:40 PM | Permalink

The Deke has had it with digital gear that doesn't work, never did, and never will, for real musicians. He speaks here of devices that claim to have "low latency" in "real life applications." This is like saying you only get a little bit of VD which ain't so bad. The Deke tried some 3rd party virtual instruments through the newest version of an audio/MIDI program that shall be nameless. The instruments? Spectacular sounding. Playability to a click track? Impossible. Like playing a piano with oven mitts on. Hours of tech support later the Deke discovers it's essentially impossibly to play like a real instrument. Fine for programming . . . but the Deke he wanna PLAY.

So when the review of the Mackie 400F in June's RECORDING magazine mentions "zero latency" he's thinking "must have been designed by a musician who actually uses digital stuff." Wow. What a concept!

Posted by Mackie at 12:17 PM | Permalink