Audix Provides Mics for South by Southwest Education Showcase

Audix provided microphones and backline support for Take Action x SXSW presented by Give A Note Foundation + Artist For Artist, a music summit and showcase series held at this year’s South by Southwest festival.

The two-day event combined emerging artists with such luminaries as Slick Rick, Just Blaze, Britt Daniel of Spoon, and funk legend Bootsy Collins. At Austin venue Mohawk, Audix furnished i5 instrument mics, D2, D4, and D6 drum mics, ADX51 condenser mics as overheads, OM5 and OM7 vocal mics, and AP41-series wireless systems.

Bootsy Collins presented winners of a contest conducted by American Songwriter magazine with Audix prizes, including A131 and A231 large-diaphragm condenser mics, the VX5 handheld vocal mic, and flagship PDX720 studio dynamic microphone. Artist For Artist co-founders Matthew Reich and Neal Saini described Audix’s support for their twin causes: artist development and music education.

“Audix was able to partner with us on the entire backline for both the indoor and outdoor stages at Mohawk,” explained Reich. “That included the vocal mics, drum mics, amp cabinet mics — basically anything mic'd up onstage. We took on two showcases from 7PM until 2AM one day and noon until 2AM the next. The stages were programmed back-to-back the entire time. So, we needed instrument and vocal mics for all that. We also hosted a daytime summit with seven panels featuring over 30 artists and industry professionals, and of course they needed mics. Audix set up OM7s to use.”

The scale of the event created some intense needs, chief among them an imperative for trouble-free sound under the time constraints of a large multi-band showcase. “Turnarounds between bands were 15 minutes at best,” said Saini. “That left sound people no time to fiddle with EQ or compression at the console. So, you need to know that you can simply pick the right mic for the source and get a great sound right away; Audix gave us that.”

Speaking of audio sources, many different types required miking. “The diversity of the lineup was vast,” said Reich. “We had everything from rock to funk to hip-hop to metal to jam bands. The big contest winner was a band called Grandmaster, which are around nine kids that sound like a mashup of Steely Dan and Earth Wind & Fire. They had a harp to mic up! Across that whole spectrum, everything sounded so clear and crisp. We had a lot of the same model mic doing double or triple duty on different instruments, given those fast turnaround times. For example, an i5 might cover snares, horns, and guitar amp cabinets. When Britt Daniel from Spoon came up, the clarity was so good that I knew it was him playing guitar even before I turned around to look at the stage.”

Chris DeNogean, community manager for Audix, spoke on a panel devoted to technology in music production and education. “We had been looking to do something at SXSW for some time, and when we met Matt and Neal, it felt so right,” said DeNogean. “I spoke about using apps as a tool for students to enhance working face-to-face with a teacher. I also focused on the promotion emerging artists need to do and how technology can help, but also on not letting technology bog you down. So, how to hit the sweet spot of making tech work for you as you learn to play an instrument, record and produce tracks, and then develop yourself as an artist.”

The event was such a success that Audix, Artist For Artist, and the Give A Note Foundation came away with a profound sense of alignment of their missions. “Artist For Artist began as an artist development concept,” said Reich. “We wanted to create bespoke events where aspiring artists could network and perform with established ones. Then Give A Note aims to empower educators, students and school districts where they might not otherwise have music education. That in turn has the touchpoint of giving students access to equipment. Audix has been central to all of that.”

“Audix is very much committed to helping up-and-coming artists along their journey, and that’s what Artist For Artist does,” noted DeNogean. “We want to extend our outreach to music education, and that’s what Give A Note does. Of course, we want people to know our mics deliver the goods under demanding conditions, and this showcase was all the proof we could ask for. Since the festival, we have heard that the house sound team at Mohawk is looking at upgrading to Audix mics across the board, and we couldn’t be more pleased.”

“It’s so important and moving that these artists come together with Audix to call out the importance of music education,” added Dendy Jarrett, CEO of Give A Note. “All these efforts show a collaborative spirit and give a bigger voice to Give A Note’s Mission of providing music education to all.”