Mackie Control Pro powers post-music creation process on Spider-Man 3
In the middle of a hectic 80-hour workweek getting music ready for the Spider-Man 3 mix, Adam Barber did the unthinkable. In most cases, you’d have to be a little nuts to integrate a new technology at this point of a film mix. But recognizing the potential of the new Mackie Control Pro, Barber decided to take the leap and put it front and center in his workflow. How easy was it to make the switch? As easy as plugging in a USB cable.
“I took it out of the box, plugged in the USB cable and—bam—there was my session, ready to go,” he says. “The USB aspect was a huge asset. I could just grab the unit and hook it up to a different computer, swapping back and forth between Pro Tools and Logic. All I had to do was unplug the USB cable.”
While the easy setup kept their schedule on track, it was the capabilities of the Mackie Control Pro that led Barber to integrate it in the first place. “First and foremost was the clarity of the unit. You have a bright background with dark writing which to me, right out of the box, was so much easier to look at and read.”
On Spider-Man 3, Barber was working with composer Christopher Young. They had also worked together previously on Ghost Rider. Barber’s role with Young is to make sure everything in the post music creation process flows to Young so he can do his thing.
“We conform the music and prep all the mock-ups for the recording session,” he says. “That’s stems, sound design and any additional audio we feel may be needed at the stage. It really was a workhorse for all of the above. The only place we didn’t use it was on the dub stage. But it was there for everything else—stemming, MIDI mock-ups, premixes and even some sound design.”
Barber went all out, integrating a Mackie Control Universal Pro (MCU), the additional C4 Pro instrument and plug-in module, and an eight-fader Extender Pro. “I like to have my C4 on the right hand side of the MCU Pro,” he says. “I see the C4 as an extension of the right side of the MCU Pro. When I use the MCU Pro with my right hand and want more control, my hand just moves a little more to the right, lands on the C4 and just like that, there is a ton of control.”
This style of working is also reducing the need to move back and forth between the computer keyboard and the MCU. Instead, he’s doing it all intuitively with the Mackie Control Pro. All together, the MCU Pro, C4 Pro, and Extender Pro comprised a complementary system that helped in every aspect of the scoring team’s post work, Barber says.
“The MCU became my primary interface for manipulating MIDI and track automation. I’d use the C4 to interact with channel strips and plug-ins. I mostly wrote automation on the MCU Pro and Extender for volume rides and instrument pannings. I’m finding new ways to use it every day—like having my MCU Pro manipulate audio tracks and having the Extender just manipulate MIDI tracks. This is a neat trick I figured out in Logic.”
And what about the new faders? “Oh, the faders—those beautiful flying faders, they’re touch-sensitive and they’re just so smooth,” he raves. This also enabled him to take his hands off of a mouse and keyboard and mix the way nature intended. “The whole unit just makes workflow—flow,” Barber says. “Basically my workflow went from using a mouse and keyboard to using the MCU Pro most of the time. Volume rides, switching between midi information, mixing audio, manipulating plug-ins—it all became even quicker then I imagined.”
And this from someone who is no stranger to using control surfaces. He’s logged his share of hours on Logic Control, Pro Control, and DM2000 units, and the original Mackie HUI.
Barber says he’s so pleased with his decision to use the MCU Pro, he’s decided to buy a couple more. He’s recently put in orders for two MCU Pro units, one designed for his new room at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles and another for the road. Of course he’s also added the C4 and Extender as well. After all, it did survive the biggest test of all with Spider-Man 3. “I’m just so happy that it worked straight out of the box for that film. I really love when things like that happen. I wish dating was that simple.”
