You've undoubtedly seen many a movie glorifying one the great American traditions: The Road Trip. Well, one of our executives was apparently watching one of these fine films and came up with a great idea. He said, "Let's go on a road trip, but in Europe!" He obviously hasn't seen the Euro-skewed version of these films but, whatever, we have gear to show the world.
So, we gathered up our finest Mackoids and our latest gear, put them on a plane and said our goodbyes. They will visit European dealers and draw a crowd in nine different European cities over the next couple of weeks, providing demos of all the newest Mackie gear. Here are the scheduled stops for the tour:
Here is what you can expect to see when you come meet the team:
Onyx-i Series FireWire Recording Mixers
Onyx-i Series FireWire Recording Mixers combine the benefits of a powerful computer interface with the tactile, hands-on control of a premium analog mixer. Qualified by Mackie for use with all major DAWs including Pro Tools® M-Powered™ 8*, the Onyx-i Series opens upa new world of options for anyone interested in computer recording. In addition to an ultra-high quality 24-bit/96kHz FireWire recording interface, Onyx-i mixers offer professional analog features like boutique-quality Onyx mic preamps, classic “British-style” Perkins EQ and pre/post assignable aux sends, all of which can be flexibly routed via integrated FireWire.
A better way to record — Onyx-i.
To record professionally these days, you need the hands-on control and routing of a premium mixer, a stellar, high-resolution interface and the ability to work with any DAW. Problem Solved.
Premium Recording Mixers with 24-bit/96kHz FireWire
Qualified by Mackie for use will all major DAWs, including:
Pro Tools® M-Powered™ 8
Logic®
SONAR™
Cubase®
Ableton® Live
Boutique-quality Onyx mic preamps
Perkins “British style” EQ on every channel
Flexible FireWire routing, including aux sends and pre/post EQ assignment for all channels
Stereo playback from DAW, returned to control room or into channel for integration into mix
Full 16x16 FireWire channel streaming for ultimate DAW integration (Onyx 1640i only)
HD Series High-Definition Powered Loudspeakers deliver up to 1800W of peak system power via ultra-efficient Class-D Fast Recovery™ amplification. Revolutionary high-definition audio processing elevates the audience’s experience by combining the power of precision crossovers, time correction and patented acoustic correction for unparalleled clarity and performance. System tuning and custom transducers by EAW create an optimized system that can be easily configured for your application using the integrated 3-band EQ with a sweepable mid. The sleek, all-wood cabinet design is pole-mountable and flyable, providing flexible mounting options for touring or installation. Elevate Your Experience with HD Series High-Definition Powered Loudspeakers.
So there you have it. A bunch of no-good-nicks touring around Europe in a van, visiting dealers and attracting crowds. Who among those in Europe will witness High-Definition Live Sound for the first time? Who will be the first to use Mackie hardware with the world's most popular DAW?
You will have to wait and see. We will post photos and cool info from every stop along the way.
The InfoComm 2009 Show just wrapped up in Orlando, FL. Buyers, sellers, system integrator, distributors, engineers and everyone in-between were there to share ideas, conduct business and learn about technology that will drive the AV industry this year.
Mackie was there to represent several products that are well-suited for this audience. This included the all-new Mackie HD Series High-Definition Loudspeakers, which got a ton of press and impressed many a listener. Patented audio processing, specific to this series, counters inherent acoustical anomalies that occur primarily in the horn. The resulting experience is amazing and the clarity is unbelievable. And since they are well-priced, we are sure there are many an install that would benefit from their flyable design.
The HD Series loudspeakers were put through their paces in two separate demo rooms. Visitors to the Martin Audio or EAW demo rooms sat in on a slick video demo that really showed what these HD loudspeakers can do. HD loudspeakers are hitting the stores now, so be sure to check in with your dealer to see if you can get a demo.
We also brought along an AV industry standard, our VLZ3 Compact Mixers. Known for their objective mic preamps and headroom, VLZ3 mixers are perfect for systems that need broadcast-quality signal in a compact package. Also shown were the SRMv2 Series powered loudspeakers and the SRM150 Compact PA System. It’s the perfect combination of mixer and speaker that is needed in small AV setups. Apparently the show attendees felt the same way, as it “walked away” from the booth.
The show was a great success. We were able to spread the gospel of HD live sound, meet a ton of great customers and generally have a good time. Thanks to everyone who attended.
WINNER ANNOUNCED FOR MACKIE 20 YEARS RUNNING CONTEST
Mackie recently held a photo/video contest to celebrate 20 years of creating category-defining pro audio gear. We asked people to tell us their story…and we certainly got a ton of responses. So, without further ado, we announce the winner of Mackie’s 20 Years Running Contest. Congrats to Badger Koon (yes, we verified his name). His house was subject to a devastating mudslide and his Mackie’s…well, see for yourself.
My name is Badger Koon and My Mackie SRM450 Active Speakers are amazing! They were totally covered in nasty horse poop and mud during a mudslide!!! I dug them out, washed them out with a hose, and let them dry. To this day they sound good as new. And they are loud! My Mackie speakers sound great for all the events I produce. Thank you Mackie for a great product.
As you can see, Badger is a true Mackoid and his SRM450s weren’t so bad either. But Badger now has a reason to be excited, as he is about to receive a pair of Mackie’s all-new HD1531 3-Way High Definition Powered Loudspeakers. Each one pushes 1800W of power. If he had these after the mudslide, clean-up would’ve been easy. Just crank them up and watch a cubic ton of dirt effortlessly evacuate your house. He also wins a 1604-VLZ3 Compact Mixer. The prize is valued at four grand, so it’s nothing to sneeze at.
There were also tons of other great entries, so be sure to check out the gallery. And if you have a story of your own, please share it with us. You don’t share with people just because you think you might get something, do you?
You know you have seen it. Late night, flipping through channels...maybe a temper tantrum by a young debutante kept you watching...maybe you just want to see what life is like for 16-year-olds who are lucky enough to have a blow-out for their birthday that you are never likely to have for any reason.
Turns out that Spinderella's daughter Christy was turning 16 and MTV was all over it. Since Spinderella is one of d.Pro Series endorsed artists, we were more than happy to help her out.
The party was themed as an 80's skating party, but the highlight of the even was Christy's debut on the turntables. Christy used a Mackie d.2 Pro DJ Production Console for the occasion and the crowd was really into her performance. She got some training from her mom for the event, but it was obvious that there was natural talent that could no be denied.
d.Pro Series endorsed artists Arabian Prince, MoDave and (of course) DJ Spinderella manned the tables for most of the evening, impressing the crowd at every turn.
Mackie wants to interact with you. But since we have restraining orders against some of you and are flat out not permitted to enter the state of Texas for another 4 1/2 years, we thought that "social networking" might be a good way to keep in touch.
To that end, please become a fan of Mackie on our Facebook page.
If periodic announcements, cool photos and the ability to send virtual cupcakes is not quite enough, you can follow us on Twitter. We don't Tweet too much, but when we do, you are bound to either be entertained or bored. Either way, you can tell us all about it right away.
So, good. Be our friend, follow us, become a fan...after all, we are YOUR biggest fan.
Fools Garden, a German band, released “Lemon Tree” in 1995, catapulting them to the top of the charts internationally. “Lemon Tree” was translated into over 40 languages and has sold over six million copies. Since that time, Fools Garden has played concerts all over the world to audiences as large as 100,000.
Their most recent concert series is completely unplugged, a fairly common tour for a band of this caliber to embark upon. When their engineer, Steffan Ruthof, had to compile a gear list for the world tour, he thought of Mackie.
“One of the most important factors for the choice of a mixing console was that it needed to be high-quality, ultra-compact and, of course, deliver reliable hardware and software,” remarked Ruthof. “It was also very important to record shows with the least possible effort…so it didn’t take long to discover the Mackie TT24. We knew that the Mackie preamps have always been very good and the optical ADAT I/O seemed to have been made for us.”
Mackie’s TT24 is a fully digital 24-bit/96kHz mid-sized console which gives engineers full automation and recall of levels, EQ, effects, routing and more. And unlike other digital consoles, designed primarily as recording desks, the TT24 puts gobs of standard analog and digital I/O right on the rear panel. Not to mention being far easier to learn and use by the average live sound engineer.
Ruthof continues, “The TT24 is really intuitive. After a short period of time, I was able to handle the desk effortlessly. It’s a powerful, reliable and compact digital desk. Working with it is really fun!”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
Fools Garden’s Unplugged tour has been extended into 2009. Check out their website for tour dates. If you would like to learn more about the TT24, including the DS3232 Digital Snake and the all-new Dolby Lake Processing Card, please visit the TT System32 site.
Mackie is psyched to sponsor the Seattle-based Laptop Battle. This may entice the more imaginative readers to conjure up images of scantily clad she-warriors hurling iBooks at each other in a fight to the death. Oh…no? Maybe that’s just me. The Laptop Battle is much more interesting and certainly more entertaining.
In 2003, Kris Moon and Zach Huntting from the Fourthcity collective created an original concept to bring people and music together…the Laptop Battle.
We thought it was a great idea to expose some of the underground talent that was really starting to come of age in Seattle around that time. The event was also a reaction to boring shows with laptops, a phenomenon that has grown less frequent with the advent of better MIDI controllers and bigger audiences for electronic music straight off the hard drive.
You don’t have to be an established musician or have loads of high-end equipment to participate. A wide variety of musical sounds are welcomed…there are no rules at all regarding content. In fact, the rules are very simple:
Gear Specifications:
· Up to one MIDI controller and one soundcard
· All gear must fit into a 2’ x 2’ square
The battle is a single elimination tournament and battles are randomly chosen
Battles are 3-minutes long. After that time is up, the MC will fade out the contest’s output
The choice of material, software and everything else is completely up to the contestant. This leaves room for a tremendous amount of creative freedom.
At the center of it all is a Mackie Onyx 1640. The crew hooks several battlers into the mixer, drastically minimizing the time between acts.
The Mackie is at the heart of the Laptop Battle. It sits on the junction between two 6' tables, with four laptops on either side. It's the perfect mixer for the show, we hook eight laptops into it at once, filling up all the channels, and send the front of house our stereo mains. After the first four battles, we break down and set up another eight lappys in about 10 minutes, and a big part of that speed is the ease of use of the Onyx 1640.
The Laptop Battle is growing and Mackie will likely sponsor this great event for years to come, including the National Championship in February 2009.
We've continued to throw battles, moving from the Deep Down to Chop Suey, where in 2004 the first ever Championship event was held. Early on in 2003 and 2004 several other cities started throwing battles, including Philly and Dallas. Fourthcity also took a tour down the coast, and rallied winners from SF and LA. Since then, we've had many other cities join the fold. At our 5th Championship event on February 20th, '09 at Nectar Lounge, we will have contestants from Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco, Phoenix, Austin, Seattle, Philly & Dallas.
The Laptop Battle has also grown overseas, with outposts in Tokyo, New Zealand, Germany and the UK.
Open since September 1991, High Tech High School is a full-time public school of choice that offers a challenging academic curriculum in a technology-based environment. This environment facilitates the acquisition of a repertoire of skills that allows students to access and manipulate knowledge through technology. There are several programs of study, including a Media major, with special emphasis on Audio Tech skills. Areas of study include an overview of music technology currently used in the entertainment industry, the use and application of the MIDI keyboard within a recording studio environment, synthesis, recording consoles, modular digital tape machines, digital audio workstations and synchronization.
Each student has their own workstation, which uses a Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro as the central hub. All keyboards and instruments run through the 1202, and students also use the ALT 3/4 bus to send channels to their interface for recording. This feature, which is also found on the VLZ3 Series mixers, allows for simple routing without the risk of feedback loops.
Rod Shepard (aka Mr. Shepard) is the instructor of the Audio Tech class in addition to his role as Musical Director. He even runs a 24.8 in his home studio!
“…even with the latest technology in computing and audio/sequencing software, the 1202 VLZ's are still reliable”
-Mr. Shepard
The tech-savvy school also has an Arts major that puts on award winning productions...including a recent performance of Dracula. The system for their theatre includes a TT24 at FOH. It just goes to show you that Mackie's commitment to technology ensures that our new products can be found alongside our classic products in recording environments worldwide.
The Singapore Zoo opened its doors in June of 1973. Since then the animal population has surged to over 2500 different specimens. Set in a rainforest environment, Singapore Zoo’s world famous ‘open concept’ offers the opportunity to experience and be inspired by the wonders of nature. Animals here live in spacious and landscaped environments simulating that of their natural habitat. The Singapore Zoo takes this concept even further by evolving into a learning zoo. Instead of just observing the animals, interactive, educational content is a feature of all exhibits. These interpretive activities aim to effectively convey facts about the animals and messages about wildlife conservation.
Asia/Pacific Market Manager, Laz Harris, recently visited the zoo for the completion of the 2nd Mackie install at the zoo. The zoo has used Mackie gear for quite some time. In fact, they have had a CR1604-VLZ in service for the past seven years. Most amazing is the fact that this particular 1604 has been in a non-air conditioned environment the entire time! With Singapore’s average temperature of 89°F coupled with 80% humidity, there is no doubt that the 1604 is “Built-Like-A-Tank”. There are also a ton of SRM350s and SRM450s in service as portable and backup sound solutions, but the install of a complete Tetrad system is the first Mackie “main” PA for the zoo.
The gear list for the install included an Onyx 24.4 at FOH, with a pair of MR5 studio monitors being used to reference the mix. The system is feeding a full Mackie Tetrad system that includes two S408s for tops and a pair of S410s’ as subwoofers. Senior Sound Director, Mike Hassan,
had the following to say regarding the high-end new system.
“It’s amazing to me that this [Tetrad] system sounds clearer and more evenly dispersed than our Adamson line array!”
One thing that surprised all involved was that while speaker placement was far from optimal for presenters due to space limitations posed by the surrounding animal environments, the amount of feedback was amazingly low. What little feedback was encountered during tuning was easily tamed with the most minor EQ adjustments on the Onyx 24.4. The rest of the system EQ remained virtually flat. “The sound is full and pleasing,” remarked Hassan. The low end was particularly impressive and the punchy character of the S410s was perfect for the hyped-up New Age and Afro-pop “safari-textured” soundtracks used in the shows.
“Mackie is very pleased to play a part in the zoo’s ongoing commitment to visitor education. We are sure that the new PA system will serve the zoo well, helping to educate and entertain visitors for years to come,” comments Harris.
Redhook Brewery has a long history of making some of the finest full-bodied, hand-crafted beer in the Northwest. And it just so happens that they are just down the road from Mackie world headquarters in Woodinville, WA.
Every summer, Redhook holds a series of outdoor movies nights called Redhook Moonlight Cinema. Basically, just combine one part giant inflatable screen, two parts Mackie powered loudspeakers and 20 billion parts beer and there you go. It is really fun and a great way to spend a summer evening. This summer, Mackie and Redhook partnered to show some really cool flicks. The lineup included Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, 300, Kingpin, The Shining and Knocked Up. Like I said…fun for all…ever watched The Shining outdoors? It is an odd experience.
One night, in particular, was Military Appreciation Night and anyone with a Military ID was granted free admission, although there are no weapons permitted on Redhook’s campus. The movie shown was…Top Gun.
Needless to say, the audience was sympathetic to the epic tale of friendship and intense competition so effectively conveyed by such characters as “Maverick” and “Iceman”. In fact there was hardly a dry eye in the place when “Goose” met his untimely end, foolhardily engaging the airplanes canopy during an emergency ejection.
However, Top Gun fans will remember that good always triumphs evil and “Maverick” learns a valuable lesson. It turns out that Mackie learned a lesson also. Movies + Redhook + Mackie = Good times.
One day earlier this year, avid race fan and dedicated Mackie Tech Support Rep Nick Kristoffersen came by the graphic design department looking to get a load of Mackie vinyl decals for his rally car.
Now, all Mackie employees are loyal fans of the brand, but not all are willing to blanket their rides with Mackie decals (although you can see more than a few “running man” decals in the parking lot). Anyway, Lead Graphic Designer Jayme Delma was quick to ask why he wanted so many decals.
It turns out that Nick was scheduled to race his Subaru WRX in Cle Elum, WA for the Under The Wires Rally X event and when it came time for him to choose his race car number, he could think of no better number than 450. You know, like SRM450, the world’s best-selling portable powered loudspeaker…or SRM450v2, boasting more power, clarity and punch than ever before. But I digress, Jayme not only fulfilled his request, but had some custom vinyls created for the sweet rally car.
The day of the event came and not only did Nick roll up in the best looking car in the competition, he also brought along a pair of SRM450v2 loudspeakers for exciting turn-by-turn announcements.
Check out a little bit of footage from the event and join us in congratulating Nick on a job well done.
DJ Sid Wilson of Slipknot (longstanding d.2 Pro endorsee and generally scary dude) contacted Mackie before the tour started, looking for some gear for what is definitely the most aggressive after-party DJ setup Mackie has ever heard of. So, we gathered up a robust set of Mackie loudspeakers and a couple of d.2 Pro mixers and drove them down to the amphitheater the day before the show.
For the tour, Sid will be traveling in a 37 foot Damon Outlaw motor coach, which opens up from the back to unveil a full-on DJ set-up which is perfect for the backstage after-party. When opened up and fully-decked out, this is a formidable setup that is tremendously powerful, offering tons of low end thanks to four S410s Precision Passive Subwoofers. Two S408’s were used for the top boxes, and the whole system was powered with two M3000 and two M2000 Stereo Power Amplifiers. DJ Sid uses the d.2 Pro Production Mixer for his sessions and and SRM450v2 for his booth monitor.
So, it would seem that the show is never quite over during the Mayhem festival. If you are lucky enough to get some backstage passes for the tour, make sure to stop by the RV, say hi to DJ Sid (although it is doubtful he will hear you over the massive Mackie system!)
It is common knowledge that Mackie products are Built-Like-A-Tank. However, there are those that may doubt the inherent robust-ness that makes a Mackie what it is.
To this end, meet the Mackie MixBusters!
You may notice that they resemble (but are legally distinct from) those other guys who bust things…
Watch as they pit the 802-VLZ3 against the competition in a no-holds-barred destruction challenge, suffering abuse that no mixer should.
Then, the FRS-2800 goes toe-to-toe with another popular power amp in an Extreme Performance Challenge. You will learn that specs are not always what they seem.
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So, there you have it. Proof positive that quality matters over here in Woodinville, WA.
Harry’s @ Chijmes is a cosmopolitan gastrobar (i.e. fancy food, martinis) located in Singapore’s internationally renowned Chijimes heritage landmark. Harry’s provides Singapore with a unique and inviting environment to down some after work drinks and watch live sports events.
Chandan Mahtani, managing director of ProAktiv Systems comments, “Understanding that Harry’s wanted its patrons to truly enjoy the screening of sports programs, we decided to use Mackie studio monitors, as they project great sound, especially the mid-range, as it is crystal clear, which is especially vital for hearing the sports commentators. The subs that we installed provide patrons with a stadium-like effect that makes any sporting event come alive�.
As you can see, Harry’s is a sleek, yet comfortable place to hang out while in Singapore. With the upcoming Olympic Games, Harry’s will undoubtedly be packed with people wanting to have a drink while supporting their country’s finest athletes. Mackie is proud to be involved with this exciting facility. So, if you are ever in Singapore, make sure to stop by Harry’s to have a cocktail and catch a game…don’t blame us if the superior sound quality keeps you there until the wee hours of the morning.
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.
Each summer in Seattle, music lovers of all stripes anticipate the most popular event in the Emerald City: Capital Hill Block Party, which highlights the best musicians Seattle has to offer.
"It only took me about 15 minutes to become comfortable with the TT24. I was astonished with how much I could do with it. Each of the outdoor venues offered challenges that I had to be prepared for, and the TT24 allowed me to make adjustments quickly, without compromising the sound of each act."
One feature Fausto found especially useful was the versatility of the Aux mode functions:
"It's great to be able to see the auxes through the faders. And I was able to go from aux to aux, mix to mix right away...the TT24 really is a joy to work with."
Nestled in the Seattle, Wash. neighborhood of Ballard, the Sunset Tavern is one of the city's musical hot spots, featuring nightly shows of Seattle's very best up and coming bands. John Randolph, Sunset's sound engineer, got the opportunity to take the TT24 out for spin. The salivation factor was high, but luckily we had a supply of towels to keep the console dry:
"I have worked on some larger boards in bigger rooms-the Allen & Heaths at the Crest, Neumo's, and the Fillmore-as well as the large Yamahas at the Henry Fonda Theater and the Crystal Ballroom. I'm able to do more setups on the TT24 with less confusion as to the signal flow."
John was kind enough to write up a short piece that summarizes his out-of-the-box experience with the TT24:
My experience with Mackie's TT24:
Sunset Tavern--Ballard, WA
June 30, 2004 by John Randolph
I have wanted to work on a digital mixer for quite some time. I figured I would try one in the studio and have more time to figure out all of it's nuances. Then I was given the opportunity to try the TT24 live at the Sunset Tavern. I was a bit skeptical at first. Mostly, I just wanted to make sure that it was up and running without a hitch so that the night would run smoothly and the bands wouldn't even know.
Smoothly it did run. With just a short lesson from John Boudreau, I felt very comfortable running this board, and not just the basics. For a digital mixer with so many features, the TT24 really is very intuitive.
Here are some of the things I really liked about the board:
• Dynamics, EQ, and effects on every channel.
• The compression settings I dialed in on the vocals really did the job much better than our house compressors.
• The vocals sounded much smoother, and I was able to get them up front with plenty of headroom on the TT24.
• I also used the dynamics as a limiter on the kick drum.
• I was able to bring that up nicely into the mix.
• Occasionally I would glance at the subwoofer amplifier, it didn't peak once. This was extremely helpful as we have blown a subwoofer or two at the Sunset Tavern.
• Having compression/limiting and gates with so many tweaking options on every channel is incredible--unheard of in live analog boards.
• I was tempted to just throw at least a bit of compression on every channel to really bring everything out.
As for the EQ, I really like having the option of switching between shelving and parametric on the lo and high bands. To have four bands of sweepable EQ on every channel and be able to change the slope is really a live sound person's dream. It was nice to be able to link channels in stereo and run EQ and dynamics, with one touch, over both of them.
The feel and look of this board is awesome. It's really not as big as I had imagined, and all the necessary functions are within less than an arm's reach. I really like being able to touch the display and have the view become bigger. It is also great to have the FAT button to return to an overview of all compression, EQ, effects, and monitor send settings for a channel. The LED lit pots that control panning, aux sends, and gain reduction for each channel are very intuitive for an analog guy like myself. To be able to see the gain reduction on a specific channel, all I had to do was toggle the pot like a button. The metered LED lights then displayed gain reduction instead of input metering, and the pot changed from digital input gain to threshold control for the compressor.
I found myself going to the LCD screen and corresponding knobs more often. After all, every parameter regarding the Dynamics, EQ, Sends, Effects and routing are right there.
One of my favorite features is the Control button on the upper right hand of the board. By pressing it and just nudging a fader or barely touching a knob, the board returns that function to it's normal state--useful and very cool.
Probably the coolest feature on this board is simply the recall. Every fader, aux send, effects & returns, dynamics, and EQ can be saved and recalled in a second. This is so crucial for doing soundchecks. In the past with analog boards I would either write things down or physically move the XLR inputs into new channels on the back of the board, which creates more stress on the cables, not to mention hassle. Even if I didn't run out of channels from time to time and have to share some, I'd still have to reset and patch in my compressors for each act. With the TT24, it's all recallable without having to unplug a single cable or repatch a limited supply of compressors.
Overall, I felt like a kid in a candy store that night at the Sunset. I would like to congratulate and thank Mackie on creating a digital board that was so easy to get around. This was my first time working on anything like that, and I can't wait to do it again. It was very intuitive and quick to get around. More important, it really does sound good.
Leading the digital revelation, the TT24 found a new home in the 540-seat Northwest Foursquare Church in the Seattle suburb of Federal Way. Why? Well, according to Northwest's Audio Service Coordinator Justin Warbreck, ramp up time with the TT24 is minimal and its performance is heavenly:
"It took about 10 minutes to adjust... The TT24's small footprint is also a great thing for live work. I've got 48 channels right within arm's reach, and I don't have to run from one end of the board to the other."
Even longtime Worship Arts Pastor Warren Hendrickson repented from his Doubting-Thomas ways when he heard the TT24:
"The TT24 Digital Live Console sounds very natural. The highs are clearer and the lows are less muddy than other, more expensive, digital mixers I've used. The TT24's accuracy has actually made mic placement more of an issue, because now we can really hear a lot of stuff that previously wasn't clear." He adds, "Churches don't need to be afraid of digital anymore. A lot of smaller churches in particular have been intimidated by the cost and complexity issues, but with a console like the TT24, it's simply not an issue anymore."
To read more about the Northwest Foursquare Church's conversion from analog to digital with the Mackie TT24 Digital Live Console, check out the September-October issue of Technologies for Worship Magazine.
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.
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!!"
You've undoubtedly seen many a movie glorifying one the great American traditions: The Road Trip. Well, one of our executives was apparently watching one of these fine films and came up with a great idea. He said, "Let's go on a road trip, but in Europe!" He obviously hasn't seen the Euro-skewed version of these films but, whatever, we have gear to show the world.
Mackie is psyched to sponsor the Seattle-based 
To this end, meet the Mackie MixBusters!
As you can see, Harry’s is a sleek, yet comfortable place to hang out while in Singapore. With the upcoming 
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, 
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? 
One feature Fausto found especially useful was the versatility of the Aux mode functions:
Even longtime Worship Arts Pastor Warren Hendrickson repented from his Doubting-Thomas ways when he heard the TT24:
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
