Meet Mack Woodward of URMIXD

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mack Woodward.

Mack, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was born June 21, 1982, in Cape Canaveral Florida. From the time I can remember, I recall hearing the music. Between my dad (an avid guitar player – also in The Cherry Slush in the 60’s!) and my mom, a singer in the church choir, I was exposed to music as soon as I came home from the hospital. Music was always playing in the house- between dad playing guitar, or playing records. I learned how to put the needle on the record to find my favorite song at three years old. From then on it seemed like an unstoppable force, and inevitable that I would get into music. By the time high school was over, I knew exactly what I wanted to do, but made a deal with my parents that I would go to college first. Although I had a great time, after one year, I’d had enough and wanted to get started with music.

Fortunately, I had 100% support from my parents. I moved to Orlando, Florida to attend Full Sail University, where I met Wyatt Oates, (co-founder of urmixd.com and MadRex productions) and loved every minute of it. I’d made the right choice. I graduated in October 2004, and move to Atlanta Georgia in January to start an internship at Tree Sound Studios. I endured all of the typical internship duties, including cleaning the facility, keeping gear organized, doing food runs, making coffee, and after some time started getting into the rooms with incredibly talented engineers and some of the biggest names in the business. My first session was with Toni Braxton, and I could hardly believe it.

From there, the client list grew, and soon I was one of the head recording engineers – working with artists and producers like Brian Michael Cox, Maroon 5, Polow da Don, Jazze Pha, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, Juvenile, Akon.. the list goes on. It was through Polow in 2007, that I met Elvis “Blac Elvis” Williams. (Ciara, Fergie, Beyonce) Elvis and I began working closely together and became a great producer/ engineer duo. We did songs for Beyoncé, Jamie Foxx, Mario, Usher, Nicki Minaj, and more, We earned 2 GRAMMY certifications for our efforts on Beyonce’s “Ego”, and Usher’s “Lil Freak”. I continue to work with Elvis today as his primary mix engineer.

Today, I produce and mix independently out of Madison Recording Studios in Chamblee, Georgia. My predominant focus is urmixd.com, a music mixing tech startup that I co-founded with Wyatt. Looking back on the ups and downs of my career, and being at Madison now, I am able to truly appreciate where I am.

Credits include Beyonce, Michael Jackson, Maroon 5, Outkast, Usher, Fergie, Gwen Stefani, Jamie Foxx, Soulja Boy, Lil Wayne, Ruben Studdard, Nikki Minaj, Mase, Mario, Cassie, The Notorious B.I.G., Whitney Houston, Mya, and others.

GRAMMY Certifications: Recording Engineer- Beyonce, “I Am… Sasha Fierce” – “Best Contemporary R&B Album”, Recording Engineer – Usher “Raymond vs Raymond” – “Best Contemporary R&B Album”.

RIAA Platinum Certifications include Maroon 5 “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long”, Fergie “The Dutchess”, Michael Jackson “Michael”, Jamie Foxx “Unpredictable”, among others.

Has it been a smooth road?
Let’s just say it helps to love what you do. At the time, Tree Sound was quite the exclusive studio to get into, but luckily I got in.

The internship was unpaid (typically lasted 6-8 months and required 4 to 5 days out of your week, although it usually ended up being 6). The days would start at 10 AM until the last sessions would wrap up for the night, which meant you were typically there from 10 am until about 4 or 5 am the next morning – sometimes until the next shift came in the next day at 10 am. And sometimes you didn’t leave at all for a few days straight.

After a few months, and I started to get my feet wet with recording sessions. It was generally smooth, but some days I was thrown into the fire. One day, in particular, Akon booked a session last minute and I got the call to engineer.

This session lasted about an hour, for me anyway. I was too slow at the computer controls, and Akon kicked me out. (At the time I couldn’t blame him!) I went straight home that day and started recording dead air for hours, just so I could learn the quick keys, practice editing and be prepared for the next time. Bright side of the story – a couple years later, I worked on Michael Jackson’s “Hold My Hand”, with Mark “Exit” Goodchild – Akon produced the song. So there’s a persistence story for ya.

After working with Elvis some years later on what most would call the dream gig, I branched out to become independent. I thought that all my credits and awards would carry me into independent success, and I made the mistake of sitting and waiting for the phone to ring. That backfired, badly. The phone didn’t ring, and I couldn’t believe that I went from working with the best in the industry to radio silence. It caused financial problems, as well as psychological distress for some time. However, I learned the very valuable (and difficult) lesson of “if you want it, go get it”, and to always look out for number one.

I came to Tanner Hendon at Madison Studios and rented a room – with my newfound humility, and wouldn’t you believe it, the phone has been ringing. I’m very grateful.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
For years Wyatt and I tried to think of ways to help artists and engineers alike to connect with one another in a seamless process. Being a mix engineer, I was constantly negotiating with artists who couldn’t afford what I was charging to mix songs; and I knew a lot of my incredibly talented engineer friends who were turning to other sources of work for income, and I thought it was such a shame and waste of talent.

Wyatt and I met in the kitchen at Madison one day, and I asked: “How many people do you turn down because they couldn’t afford your rate?” We came to the conclusion that it was around 3- 4 a week between us. So we started thinking, what if the artists didn’t have to book the studio, find the engineer, haggle with them – what if they could just upload their song or album to a site and for one standard low fee, they could get it mixed, with a quick turnaround time and no hassle?

That’s what urmixd.com is for. We provide independent artists with ultra high- end mixes from our circle of award-winning mix engineers for low prices. We also provide work to mix engineers who either want extra money or who may be having difficulty finding it, by supplying a platform where the artists have uploaded songs. The engineers simply download the files, and mix from their mix rigs around the world, without having to book studios – and since the prices are standardized, there’s no haggling. All client communication is done through the site, as are all file transfers.

Once the mix is done, the mixer uploads the mixed version to the site so the client can hear a “Before and After” example. If revisions are needed, the client requests revisions through the site – and the engineer will knock it out within the day. Upon completion, the client gets either 4 mastered .wav files (Main, A Capella, Instrumental, and a “TV Track, or Show Track), or they can opt for the same 4 mixes ready to be mastered at another mastering facility.

I think the thing we are most proud of at urmixd is that we are building a community, and truly coming from a place of wanting to provide value based on our experience. There’s simply too much talent out there that doesn’t get heard or taken seriously because of a bad mix (or no mix at all). We also want to supply content in the form of educational videos and blogs. In addition, this summer we will be airing the “urRecord Podcast”, a fun platform for up and coming artists to promote themselves, as well as interviews with veterans from the music business to provide education and insight to the way things are done in the big leagues.

What set’s us apart from others? I believe it’s humility. Wyatt and I have worked with all of your favorite artists on the main stage, but with urmixd, we truly want to provide that same quality of service to all up and coming artists around the world.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Atlanta is one of the most diverse cities in the world. I love the culture and atmosphere here. And as far as someone who’s working on a startup, the somewhat low living cost helps!

For urmixd in particular, Atlanta is fantastic. We have such a great music community here and so much undiscovered talent. And it’s only growing. You can tell by all of the traffic. 🙂

Contact Info:

• Website: www.urmixd.com
• Email: info@urmixd.com
• Instagram: @urmixd
• Facebook: @urmixd
• Other: www,mixdbymack.com

Image Credit:
Juanita Giraldo

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.