Yes, those speakers are fully operational. Yes, it’s really loud. Yes, everything and everyone in the vicinity of this vehicle vibrates violently when the volume is cranked. And that’s exactly the way that Mackoid, Deane Rimerman wants it. Despite what you may think, Deane did not get this system set up in order to show off. “…forget about impressing anyone with it. Everyone we drive near seems to have already learned how to tune out such noisy antics,” says Deane.
However, the folks over at Mackie are very impressed. It is not often that you see a pair of SRM350s and an SWA1501 pole-mounted and fully functional in a car driving down the road. Deane employs two 700-watt power invertors to get this awesome system up and running. “Currently we're running a signal from an MP3 player to an ART EQ into a DBX sub-harmonic synthesizer. In all honesty, the hum of power inverters and speaker amps all packed into a tiny compact car is way, way too loud at any speed other than freeway speed. Of course above 75 mph it's sounds quite nice! I mean you'll never guess how many things in a car can rattle when you pump up a Mackie Sub. It even makes the rear view mirror too blurry to see out of,” comments Deane.
Driving around the Pacific Northwest from gig to gig, Deane and his band-mates use this setup to fiddle around with new gear. “Overall it makes driving down the freeway more like sound school and much less like just getting to the next event. We're much better at knob turning because of it, too. And a big thanks to Mackie for making equipment that teaches us all so much about quality sound!,” concludes Deane.
In the early 1970’s, the Portland based Sunnyland Band headlined the club and college circuits around the Pacific Northwest. Starting as a duo, the band gradually swelled to a five-piece band that traveled with their own PA and audio engineers. Dedication to arrangement and original material set Sunnyland apart, and a loyal group of fans formed. A couple of members started a small recording studio and, over the years, produced a large library of live and studio recordings. Check out this archive footage of Sunnyland performing in 1973.
Well, it turns out that a ton of the original recordings survived and Alan Gaylor (Sunnyland Band member and true Mackoid) wanted to resurrect the classic material. This would require a transfer from tape into Tracktion 3 via an Onyx 1220 with FireWire option.
The Sunnyland Band reunited at their former engineer’s house in Portland and got the majority of the material transferred to CD. Here are a couple of tunes that made the journey from the analog archive to the digital domain.
Keyboard player, Michael Strickland, is a fervent beta-tester and getting into Tracktion 3 was no problem at all. After they transfer the remaining tracks, without any further editing or enhancement, they plan to really dig into the tools that Tracktion 3 provides and even develop some new material.
Get the full story by reading the “Case Study” on the Tracktion 3 page.
Mackie recently announced the winner of the Tracktion 3 Tell It! Track it! Trip It! contest. Eric Norman, of Salt Lake City, submitted best remix of Bootsy’s tune “Shiggy Wiggy”.
Click here to hear the remix that was chosen by Bootsy and won Eric a trip to Bootsy’s Cinncinatti-based Rehab Studio. Eric spent several hours with Bootsy and his engineer, Tobe Donohue, listening to the winning remix along with some additional Bootsy remixes and some original material that Eric brought with him.
Munich-based opus-live studios was recently tasked with creating a soundtrack for an audio book based on the bestselling German novel Unheil, by Wolfgang Hohlbein. Soundtracks for audio books can often be rather complicated. Every bit of music and sound design must support and, ideally, elevate the emotions that the author intended. An engineer must be able to easily manipulate levels, effects and automation.
For this purpose, opus-live studios employed a full-on Mackie Control Universal Pro setup. A MCU Pro, two MCU XT Pros and a C4 Pro gave the team unparalleled control of the session. Working in Sony’s Acid Pro 6 was very easy, as the MCU Pro family is instantly recognized and all parameters are pre-mapped within the software.
The end result conveys all the depth of the novel, but the imaginative score and sound design elements heighten the experience, bringing the written word to life. Click here to enjoy an extended version of the intro song.
Mackie Helps Make Foursquare Church Services a Multimedia Experience
The folks at Northwest Foursquare Church, in the Seattle suburb of Federal Way, Washington, were relatively early adopters of digital live mixing, taking delivery more than three years ago of one of the first available Mackie TT24 mixing consoles for use in their modest 600-seat sanctuary. Any initial trepidation on the church’s part that the digital learning curve might be overly steep was quickly overcome as the simplicity and performance of the system became apparent. The TT24 turned out to be a perfect fit, enhancing the services and making life easier for the audio crew.
Since then the church’s congregation has swelled to more than 2500 regular members, and services have expanded to two on Saturdays and two more on Sundays, with an adjacent chapel opened for overflow use. And as the church has grown, so have its media capabilities.
“Our first step was to set up a production suite adjacent to the main sanctuary,” says Donald Counts, the church’s audio director. “The room is equipped with two-camera video production capabilities and another TT24 console for live recording.”
The Front of House and tech room mixing desks receive identical audio feeds, and services are multi-tracked live to a computer running Tracktion digital audio recording software. Audio and video are edited on the spot, and congregants can purchase a packaged DVD of the day’s service at the bookstore before leaving the church.
As Counts observes, one of the biggest challenges in running the media department for a mid-sized congregation is education. Key to keeping volunteers around is creating a learning experience that’s both interesting and accessible, and the simplicity of the church’s digital console has proven to be an asset.
Winter Music Conference DMC Spin-off Winner Speaks!
Without a doubt, one of the most anticipated events during Miami’s Winter Music Conference is the WMC/DMC DJ Spin-off. Judged on technical ability, timing, and creativity, DJs compete for glory—and sweet prizes. DJ Izoh of Japan was this year’s Grand Prize winner in the Scratching portion of the DMC Spin-off. He walked away with a serious amount of Mackie equipment—a pair of SA1530z active loudspeakers, an SWA2801z subwoofer, a pair of SRM450 portable active loudspeakers, and a d.2 dj mixer. In a recent interview, he talks about competing in and winning the contest, and shares his impressions of his newly acquired Mackie gear.
Interviewer: WMC DJ Spin Off is not a well-known DJ competition in Japan. How did you find out about it?
DJ Izoh: Ortofon Japan was one of the sponsors of WMC and they told me about the competition. They said that there was a battle and asked if I want to be in it… I had been wanting to play in the US, but actually that competition was my first time. And I found out that Mackie was one of its sponsors after I got there.
Interviewer: How many contestants were there?
Izoh: About 15 people were entered the Scratching competition. There were two categories: Scratching and Beat Matching… In Japan, Beat Matching means Juggling, so I entered this category. But I realized that I made a mistake when I heard everybody doing the club play.
Interviewer: Damn, that sucks! What did you do?
Izoh: Fortunately, Scratching was after Beat Matching, so I asked my friend from NY, who speaks English, to ask the organizer to change my entry. They did not want to do it at first, but then [another] DJ helped me, and I managed to enter the Scratching.
Interviewer: You were lucky that the competition was in that order! Having luck on your side is also key to being a champion.
Izoh: But there was more. I thought the performance was for 5 minutes, but it was actually 3 minutes! Obviously, I organized my routine for 5 minutes.
Following is a dispatch from our Running-Man-About-Town (and brand VP), John Boudreau.
Crosspoint Church is a healthy and growing Presbyterian community led by senior pastor, Mike Kelly. The church boasts more than 60 years of history in the greater Seattle area, dating all the way back to a Sunday School and Adult Bible Class in 1939. Not long ago, I came across them in Seattle’s historic neighborhood of Ballard, well known for its Norwegian heritage…and bad drivers. Crosspoint was that day in the process of having their very last service in this temporary location. (They have since moved in a beautiful new permanent home and continue to grow with another outreach program in the neighboring suburb of Lynnwood. You can check them out here: http://www.greenlakepc.org/)
As you can see from the photos, this is a very engaging contemporary service that requires quality sound reinforcement.
In addition to four standard microphone inputs, they have 16 music inputs for their very talented musicians. Thankfully for us at Mackie, Tom Wilson, A/V coordinator, is an avid Mackie fan and has chosen to use splayed SRM450s for left/right mains and SRM350 for monitors, plus a really pro set-up featuring a TT24 digital live mixing console and Aviom personal monitoring system.
The TT24 is housed in a custom built rolling cart with a locking cover.
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.
Red Bull has been deeply involved with NASCAR for many years, including high-profile team sponsorship. And while most teams provide a hospitality area at the races to feed and entertain guests and sponsors, the Red Bull Energy Station goes the extra mile.
The Red Bull Energy Station, which made its debut at the Las Vegas Speedway, is a two-story steel and glass structure featuring more than 10,000 square feet of lounge areas, stainless steel bars, and high-impact audio and video entertainment.
The Station, which travels to events in four semi-trucks and takes several days to assemble, is outfitted with ten 42-inch Sony LCD displays and a sound system composed of Mackie components.
Mackie Helps Make Venice’s Air Conditioned Supper Club Cool on the Inside
Rule Number One in the Book of Cool says the hipper you are, the less you have to try and prove it. The Air Conditioned Supper Club proves the point. The nondescript storefront and innocuous signage marking the newest night spot in Los Angeles’ Venice district would be easy to miss, were it not for the lines stretching around the block most evenings.
The area itself has not been known for its nightlife, and the venue’s unremarkable red-beige exterior belies the retro-modern décor inside, where a chic but casual crowd samples exotic cocktails and shimmies shoulder-to-shoulder on the small dance floor to the eclectic grooves of live DJs and local acts.
What really sets the Air Conditioned Supper Club apart is the warm and welcoming neighborhood feel of the place. The intimate, 3700-square-foot venue holds somewhere around 300 people, but the owners were adamant that the club, like their Air Conditioned Lounges in San Diego and Santa Monica, would sound as good as it looked. San Diego-based Fluid Sound was brought in to design a high-performance system based around Mackie and EAW components.
For the fourth year in a row, Mackie mixed it up at the Remix Hotel Miami from March 22-25, showcasing our latest DJ gear and a roster of cutting-edge artists. Mackie’s own d.2 Crew presented daily gear demos, featuring next-generation Mackie DJ Production Consoles, the d.4 pro and d.2 pro, the MCU Pro control surface, as well as Tracktion 3, Mackie’s premier recording and remixing software.
The Mackie booth was especially busy this year, and was graced by visits from DJ royalty, including Biz Markie, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ AV, DJ Kid Capri, Grandmaster Dee, Bennie Bennasi, Mad Linx from BET’s Rap City and Lil Jon.
Check out our collection of pix…
Is this a trade show booth or a party? We think this picture says it all.
Following is another dispatch from esteemed Mackoid and Product Specialist, Matt Redmon.
This year’s NSCA (National Systems Contractors Association) Expo, held in Orlando, Fl, was host to over 400 manufacturers launching over 1000 new products, and of course we had to make a splash. …If not to kick off our shoes and enjoy the warm Florida weather, certainly to stylize the showroom floor with our ever-popular blue jeans and black shirts.
Mackie is never shy to the plate with new products, and we showed off such pieces as the famously “snack size” SRM150 and the awesome System32 console-linking and Digital Snake additions to the TT24 Digital Live Console series.
Following is an account of how Discount Music Center saved the hides of a team of Mackoids, as told by Product Specialist Matt Redmon.
There were three of us.
It was time for breakfast, but we couldn’t think about that just now.
We had to get from the NSCA Expo in Orlando to Remix Hotel in Miami by the end of the day, and we’d just found out we needed a CDJ deck–-a “Compact Disc Jockey” scratch player, for those outside the vinyl loop. Really, what we’d just found out is that we needed a CDJ and that there were none left for rent-–at all–-in all of Miami, where we were headed to do said event to promote our DJ mixers and newfound partnership with Native Instruments, the makers of Traktor Scratch.
To pause for a second and give you an idea of our mindset: When you just wrap up a show the size and scale of NSCA and you have one day to get from there to a sister city that’s over 200 miles away (by way of Ft Lauderdale, eh hem), the last thing you are prepared to deal with is trying to get your hands on something that doesn't seem to be available anywhere.
We were still in Orlando at the time, and after exhausting our Miami options, we made a call to nearby Mackie dealer Discount Music Center. Thankfully, they proved to be our safety net.
Orbiting the Globe, Mackie Satellite Earns Praise from International Press
We can tell you how good the Mackie Satellite is all day long, but that's our job. A truly credible evaluation has to come from an independent source. So when you’re in the market for a new bit of “kit”, it's always a good idea to check out user forums, such as Harmony Central, to find real-world shakedowns of the latest pro audio gizmos. Don’t forget to also check the pages of your favorite gear magazines.
While Satellite reviews are just now beginning to hit the news stands, early indications suggest that Mackie may just have another hit on it’s hands. But like I said, don’t just take our word for it....
"One of the coolest implementations of fairly commonly encountered functionality that Mackie has uniquely packaged together and presented." Resolution Magazine, United Kingdom, October 2006
"...this is the best built recording device in the history of....well...desktop recording devices." Professional Sound, Canada, October 2006
"It’s been a while since I returned the Onyx 400F, and had kind of forgotten just how good the Onyx mic pres sound – especially in light of the price. These are clean, wonderful sounding suckers, whether with mic signals, instruments, or line levels." Harmony Central Pro Review, Craig Anderton, Moderator
Mackie parent company, Loud Technologies, announced today the appointment of three notable industry veterans to key domestic sales positions.
New on the job at the AES Convention in San Francisco, Alex Nelson, VP of Key Accounts and Scott Schumer, Vice President of Independent Dealers stand shoulder to shoulder with the new boss, LOUD's Sr. VP of Domestic Sales, Michael MacDonald (middle)
Mackie Offers a Preview of their New Flagship DJ Mixer
A peak into Mackie’s product development crystal ball was offered up at the Professional Lighting and Sound Association’s annual tradeshow in London last week.
At first glance the new d.4 is the logical follow up to the highly-successful d.2, which led Mackie’s official entry into the DJ mixer market early last year. But the d.4 is much more than simply a four channel version of it’s immensely popular sibling. In typical Mackie fashion, real-world consideration went into designing something unique here—a true centerpiece for modern electronic music production and live performance.
This years NAMM Summer session saw a new venue & city; Austin Texas. Having worked numerous shows in other cities, this location was a treat.
Traffic to the Loud Technologies booth was light as far as end-users, but it was teeming with retailers and industry people. The Mackie portion of the booth consisted a demo “lounge” complete with beads., funky lighting and decorative hookah. The centerpiece of the lounge was the new Onyx Satellite fire wire interface. Monte Montgomery made a couple appearances and even did a live recording session in the lounge.
Tony Gavilanes, Guitar Center tour: MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ
5/22/06 – 5/26/06
With all the musicians on the east coast making new and exciting music, there is a music store to keep up with their demanding needs for quality gear. Brian Martin (SMT) and I hit eight Guitar Centers in the time we spent touring the great American states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, and I met an array of people who all had one thing in common: momentum. The one thing that an east coast musician can't deal with is sub-par equipment that slows their craft. I was fortunate to have visited some of Guitar Center’s most prolific stores and meet all-star salesmen to see how and what was getting into the hands of this generation's musical revolution. The Manhattan store hosted one salesman that rivaled entire stores’ sales margins, so we can assume that some of the industry's biggest acts are shopping here. The fact is that there is a whole lot to choose from and it takes both an educated salesman and an educated customer to be able to fit the right gear for the purpose. Fortunately for everyone, Tony the "info guy" rang the bell because school is now in session!
Mackie Control Universal at "Hardware Nights" - Nashville, TN
Tony the product specialist visits SAE in Nashville for a desktop recording clinic called Hardware Nights, a part of Club Cubase with Steve Lamm, an avid Mackoid. Not only did we go over the Steinberg audio programs, but we delved into the world of MCU integration with all of the industry's top recording software.
AES PNW Chapter and the Future of Archivals and Deliverables
I attended the AES PNW chapter meeting last night at Glenn Sound where I was both surprised and calmed to learn the likely future of our industry in regards to both digital archival as well as, primarily, acceptable means of delivery of finished audio to labels.
Independent and label-driven recordists worldwide are by and large done taking part in the proprietary battles, with the exception of a couple of late hangers-on. The battle has been that engineers everywhere are/were backing up and handing off music in so many different proprietary and/or short-lived (to now obsolete) forms that it’s become the challenge of the industry and its people to take upon itself finding a backup and deliverables means to use going forward that will have a longer shelf-life than, say, two years.
RDM (Remote Digital Media) out of New York has been busy. Kevin Hartmann has told me he has just finished a grueling live recording project involving the Gorillaz in which he recorded and mixed several tracks. Integral gear he used for this project included HR624 monitors and, count 'em, 12 Onyx 800R 8 channel mic pre's. The 800R's can be found at every show this remote truck is parked out front of. Check them out and see for yourself how busy these guys are.
Now here's where the real important issues of technology are thrown into the socratic forum. Jeff explains how Tony grew from circumstances void of common evolutionary advancement to arise like a phoenix from the ice caps into a brave new world of Onyx mixers, Firewire option cards, and Podcasting. Come with us, on an outtake reel 100-million years in the making.
Well, maybe not ever. Check out this mysteriously familiar 9 month old on the Mackie Control Universal . This may constitute the cliche phrase..."So easy even a baby can use it!!"
Yes, those speakers are fully operational. Yes, it’s really loud. Yes, everything and everyone in the vicinity of this vehicle vibrates violently when the volume is cranked. And that’s exactly the way that Mackoid, Deane Rimerman wants it. Despite what you may think, Deane did not get this system set up in order to show off. “…forget about impressing anyone with it. Everyone we drive near seems to have already learned how to tune out such noisy antics,” says Deane. 
Well, it turns out that a ton of the original recordings survived and Alan Gaylor (Sunnyland Band member and true Mackoid) wanted to resurrect the classic material. This would require a transfer from tape into 
Here are samples from the session:
Interviewer: WMC DJ Spin Off is not a well-known DJ competition in Japan. How did you find out about it? 
A peak into Mackie’s product development crystal ball was offered up at the Professional Lighting and Sound Association’s annual tradeshow in London last week. 
With all the musicians on the east coast making new and exciting music, there is a music store to keep up with their demanding needs for quality gear. Brian Martin (SMT) and I hit eight Guitar Centers in the time we spent touring the great American states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, and I met an array of people who all had one thing in common: momentum. The one thing that an east coast musician can't deal with is sub-par equipment that slows their craft. I was fortunate to have visited some of Guitar Center’s most prolific stores and meet all-star salesmen to see how and what was getting into the hands of this generation's musical revolution. The Manhattan store hosted one salesman that rivaled entire stores’ sales margins, so we can assume that some of the industry's biggest acts are shopping here. The fact is that there is a whole lot to choose from and it takes both an educated salesman and an educated customer to be able to fit the right gear for the purpose. Fortunately for everyone, Tony the "info guy" rang the bell because school is now in session!
Mackie Product Evangelist - Tony Gavilanes
