The story of Mackie is the story of a company that is anything but ordinary. It’s the story of a boy with a dream. A dream to make a better sounding world. (Okay, he was a grown man, and he was mainly thinking about music, but it’s still cool.) It’s the story of a company that started with a small PA mixer and grew to become the go-to brand for recording, pro audio, live sound, podcasting, and content creation. And as we used to say back in the early days, it’s a story so compelling, so inspiring, you’ll have to pull your socks up after reading it.
From Humble and Geeky Beginnings
It all started in 1970 in Mukilteo, Washington. Greg Mackie, a self-professed audio nerd and closet rock and roller, was fed up with the underpowered live mixers of the day, and obstinate enough to believe he could build something better. Thus was born the TAPCO Model 6000, the first 6-channel mixer designed for rock and roll.
“Primitive” is how Greg described the early TAPCO gear. The chassis were stamped out by a heating duct fabricator, the bottoms painted with fake vinyl car-top spray. To improve the feel of the low-cost, mass-produced rotary potentiometers (the only kind available then), Greg and his partners took each one apart and injected it with a special "pot-tightening goo."
But as primitive as they were, they were rock solid and super dependable, with a look and feel that belied their budget design. By the mid-1970s, TAPCO had made its mark, with mixers like the 6000 and 6100R becoming staples among working class musicians, drawn by their low price and bulletproof, “Built Like A Tank” construction. It’s a concept that’s been a fundamental building block of every piece of Mackie gear, right through to today. We don’t just make gear, we make gear that lasts. And lasts. And lasts.
