Mackie is an American

professional audio Professional audio, abbreviated as pro audio, refers to both an activity and a category of high quality, studio-grade audio equipment. Typically it encompasses sound recording, sound reinforcement system setup and audio mixing, and studio mu ...

products brand. Founded in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in 1988 by

Greg Mackie Gregory Alan Mackie is a South Australian cultural advocate and entrepreneur who has worked to promote the arts and culture in Australia. He was an elected Councillor at the Adelaide City Council (2000-2003, May 2020 - June 2022). He was co ...

as a manufacturer of affordable and versatile compact pro audio mixers, Mackie is the primary product line of

LOUD Technologies LOUD Audio, LLC is a professional audio company based in the United States, operating in the U.S., Canada, and Shenzhen, China. Originally founded as Mackie Designs, Inc., the name was changed to Loud Technologies Inc in 2003 to differentiate its ...

History

Mackie Designs, Inc. was founded in

Woodinville, Washington Woodinville is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is a part of the Seattle metropolitan area. There is also a much larger population with Woodinville mailing addresses in adjacent unincorporated areas of King ( Cottage Lake) an ...

, an ex-

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...

worker who began making pro audio gear and guitar amps in his spare time. After founding the small line mixer manufacturer TAPCO, and later the home audio processor manufacturer AudioControl, Mackie founded Mackie Designs, Inc., designing and manufacturing affordable and versatile compact pro audio mixers under the Mackie brand in his three bedroom condominium in

Edmonds, Washington Edmonds is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located in the southwest corner of the county, facing Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains to the west. The city is part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is located ...

. Mackie's first product was the LM-1602 line mixer, priced at $399. Mackie-1202

Following the moderate sales success of the LM-1602, the company moved to a true factory in 1991 to produce and release its follow-up model, the CR-1604. With the flexibility to be used as either a desktop or rackmount mixer (a new concept at the time) combined with solid performance and competitive price, the CR-1604 was purchased for use in a wide variety of markets and applications. The CR-1604 became a tremendous success, selling hundreds of thousands of units by 1996 and accounting for over 48% of Mackie's overall revenues at that time. During this time, Mackie remained squarely in the mixer category, introducing 8-Bus mixing consoles for multitrack recording and live sound production in 1993. Mackie took advantage of the Seattle area's plentiful electronic and engineering subcontractors and utilized automated assembly machines to achieve high productivity and quality with lower overall production costs. At the time, the company was growing more than 100 percent annually, forcing Mackie to relocate and expand manufacturing every year, and by 1994 Mackie had grown into a 30,000 square-foot factory to accommodate over 250 employees and US$35.5 million in annual revenues. In 1995 Mackie celebrated the milestone of having sold its 100,000th mixer and moved into a 90,000 square-foot factory. The company completed an initial public stock offering, and introduced the Ultra-mix Universal Automation System for 8-bus consoles at the

AES Convention The Audio Engineering Society (AES) is a professional body for engineers, scientists, other individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. The membership largely comprises engineers developing devices or products ...

later that year. By 1996, Mackie was diversifying, adding veteran industry designer Cal Perkins to the team and diversifying into power amps, powered mixers, and active

studio monitor Studio monitors are loudspeakers in speaker enclosures specifically designed for professional audio production applications, such as recording studios, filmmaking, television studios, radio studios and project or home studios, where accurate ...

s. In 1999, benefiting from Mackie Designs' acquisition of Radio Cine Forniture S.p.A., Mackie introduced the SRM450 powered loudspeaker, and by 2001, speakers accounted for 55% of Mackie sales.

Name change

In 2003, company management renamed Mackie Designs, Inc. as LOUD Technologies, Inc. (now known as LOUD Audio) to avoid confusion between the parent company and the Mackie brand."Mackie Designs, Inc. Now Loud Technologies"
Mix Magazine, Sep 2003

References

External links

{{Commons category, Mackie (audio brand)
Mackie's website
1988 establishments in Washington (state) American companies established in 1988 Electronics companies disestablished in 1988 Loudspeaker manufacturers Music equipment manufacturers Audio amplifier manufacturers Audio mixing console manufacturers Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Seattle Consumer electronics brands LOUD Audio

History

Name change

See also

References

External links