[Editor’s Note: before the New Year, we challenged our readers to enter the Mackie Home Studio Makeover promotion, whereby we’d hook up one lucky winner with home recording gear from Mackie (Onyx Artist 1•2 USB Interface, Big Knob Studio and MR824 Studio Monitors), to upgrade their current studio rig, and to enable them to record an exclusive track for premiere on performermag.com. We chose New Orleans artist Nick Ray, who demo’d the new gear in a series of videos for us, and ultimately used the products to record a brand-new track called “The Voice,” which you can watch below. Here are Nick’s final thoughts on the Mackie home studio products. For more, check out Nick’s YouTube channel.]
Onyx Artist 1•2 USB Interface
The small-footprint Onyx interface is a great, quality product overall. The preamps were very quiet and clean. Good for recording vocals, guitars, bass and all other instruments. I would use this interface for any application, really. It’s also great for mobile purposes. I was extremely excited when I found out I won Performer Magazine’s “Mackie Home Studio Makeover”! Especially when I knew I was getting Mackie gear to record an exclusive track with! If you listen to my newest single “The Void” you will hear how the Onyx inference sounds on my vocals. Very warm…I’m impressed.
Big Knob Studio
The Big Knob came in handy when it came time to mix “The Void.” It really helped me compare the mix with different monitors, including those I was sent, and those already installed in my home studio. I was able to use that as my central station tied into two sets of monitors and two headphones. When mixing a song, it is always good to have multiple sources to listen through. That’s where the Big Knob came in handy. It was easy to use and made my work flow faster. It also has a preamp in it. I didn’t realize this until later, but you can use it as an interface, as well! If you like all your audio sources connected to a central unit, this is the best one on the market hands-down!
MR824 Monitors
If it wasn’t for these monitors “The Void” would not have come out the same. Flat response! Can’t stress that enough. These speakers provided me with a great, true representation of my mix. These monitors just made it easy when it came time to mix and master “The Void.” After mixing that track on these guys I noticed that any other source I played it on…the mix was accurate. Due to the quality of these speakers I didn’t have to reference as much because of how dead-on they were. They sounded equally great cranked or at low volumes. Overall all of these products were excellent and a great addition to my home studio! If you want to hear what they are capable of go check my newest single “The Void”!
For more, visit nickrayband.com and Mackie.com