Mackie is a proud sponsor of the San Francisco based Women’s Audio Mission , which is dedicated to the advancement of women in music production and the recording arts. Women represent less than 5% of the professional recording industry and WAM aims to “change the face of sound” by providing hands-on training, experience, career counseling and job placement for interested women and girls, transforming the vision and voice of media and popular culture. They offer a wide variety of programs to this end including not only adult education but also programs exclusively for girls.

Mackie (and TAPCO) have donated several pieces of gear to help develop their programs and help them with their mission goals. Their studio and training facility is entirely run by women and provides internships to qualified members while providing a low cost, high quality recording environment for independent artists.

The training facility features a MCU Pro and Extender Pro which are being used to control Pro Tools and a pair of HR824mk2s for high resolution audio playback. The live room in the studio utilizes a pair of TAPCO S•5 Studio Monitors and an SW•10 Powered Subwoofer run through a TAPCO Blend 6. This setup allows for easy communication between the engineer and talent. After all, listening to the rough cut through headphones can be, well…rough. Having a powerful full range system can really help the creative process.

"The MCU was a real epiphany! It makes recording and editing in Pro Tools so much more enjoyable and allows me to get more done in less time. Complex edits and fader moves are now a breeze and recording is faster without the mouse. Having come from the analog world, the MCU is that missing tactile piece of the puzzle that makes my DAW as fast as hitting "record/play".

-Terri Winston
Executive Director, Women's Audio Mission

WAM recently held a party to celebrate the grand opening of their new facilities. The party was held during AES and several Mackoids were happy to leave the booth and attend. They were using a ton of Mackie gear for the live performances, including an Onyx 1640 at FOH, a Quad EQ for tuning and host of SRM450v2 and SRM350v2s on-stage as monitors. A good time was had by all.

Visit the WAM website to learn more about this great organization and their goal to “change the face of sound.”