ericn
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Post by ericn on Dec 6, 2023 13:19:16 GMT -6
I'm not surprised though. Rode is Australia's largest manufacturer! yep, not just of microphones, but of anything!!! Last year they sold over 1.3 million products and Peter has just made it into the Forbes 100 which is also no mean feat. They are dwarfing old school companies like Neuheisser and will likely keep this exponential growth curve going for a while yet. I reckon it won't be the last acquisition that Peter makes. At least this way he'll have a PA for when he gigs with Kurts guitar:) this one's for Chris; Did I say "mean feat" or is it "mean feet" Hey Ben What I find interesting about this transaction is what did they get other than the rights to the brand? Loud had liquidated any manufacturering facilities as it bought up brands and was using OEMs in China ( really hurt the reputation ‘s of Martin Audio and EAW) I’m not sure but most of the design talent that their was responsible for their hit products are long gone and I can’t think of a single piece of IP other than the name that has any value. Rode could probably have built better products on their own and probably built better products. Rode doesn’t gain any distribution. So other than the name what’s the value? In the SR world the only thing close to common “ No Behringer “ on riders is “ no Mackie” The fact is if Peter operates Mackie like Rode, it will have a better reputation than it has had since before the 8 bus. |
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Dec 6, 2023 13:25:30 GMT -6
Actually, I had no idea about Rode's sizable revenues until Ben posted about it. My comment was tongue-in-cheek (of course) about merging two lessor quality brands. Those TF5 have had my attention since they came out. I'd like to know your impressions of them. Also, Sears is/was a good company. Even in bad times they always gave a huge amount of money to charities. Sears was definitely a step up from K-Mart and Ames. Kind of the higher end of the middle class departments stores, JC Penney but with better home goods. Dirty little secret, JC Penny was always bigger on soft goods compared to Sears, because they are higher margin. It’s one of the reasons their last reorganization failed, the space they devoted to appliances and household goods may have brought in more money per sq ft but towels sheets clothing and window fashions brought in more profit per sq foot. Furniture was probably a wash because it is high dollar with nice margins, but it takes up a lot of space per piece and transportation costs are higher. |
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Post by chessparov on Dec 6, 2023 14:15:51 GMT -6
Frodo got all the Keys to...
KMart/Penny's/Sears/McDonald's/Starbucks.
It was one ring to rule the Mall.
(Hit me drummer!)
Chris
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Post by seawell on Dec 6, 2023 14:31:28 GMT -6
Mackie and Rode brings back a lot of nostalgia. My first "real" studio setup was a Mackie D8B and HDR24. My first decent mic was a Rode NT2. It's crazy how much things have changed. These kids starting out today don't know the struggle haha.
On a side note I think both companies have done well to get into the podcaster/content creator market. It will be interesting to see what comes out in the future now that they have merged.
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Post by jaba on Dec 6, 2023 14:42:42 GMT -6
I made some fun records with a Mackie Onyx.
The conversion was certainly passable and I still miss having a pair of sends on each channel of the interface to feed into a tape delay or crush compressor. Stumbled upon some cool sounds that I otherwise wouldn't have.
Don't really know Rodes much but did get a few good vocals with a friend's NT2 back in the day.
I seem to recall Bruce Swedien being a fan of the NT4.
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Post by timcampbell on Dec 6, 2023 14:43:28 GMT -6
The Name Røde is the word red in danish with an e stuck on the end for good measure. We pronounce it "rhoodth
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Post by the other mark williams on Dec 6, 2023 14:45:57 GMT -6
I'm not surprised though. Rode is Australia's largest manufacturer! yep, not just of microphones, but of anything!!! Last year they sold over 1.3 million products and Peter has just made it into the Forbes 100 which is also no mean feat. They are dwarfing old school companies like Neuheisser and will likely keep this exponential growth curve going for a while yet. I reckon it won't be the last acquisition that Peter makes. At least this way he'll have a PA for when he gigs with Kurts guitar:) this one's for Chris; Did I say "mean feat" or is it "mean feet" Hey Ben What I find interesting about this transaction is what did they get other than the rights to the brand? Loud had liquidated any manufacturering facilities as it bought up brands and was using OEMs in China ( really hurt the reputation ‘s of Martin Audio and EAW) I’m not sure but most of the design talent that their was responsible for their hit products are long gone and I can’t think of a single piece of IP other than the name that has any value. Rode could probably have built better products on their own and probably built better products. Rode doesn’t gain any distribution. So other than the name what’s the value? In the SR world the only thing close to common “ No Behringer “ on riders is “ no Mackie” The fact is if Peter operates Mackie like Rode, it will have a better reputation than it has had since before the 8 bus. The only immediate reason I can think of is that Mackie makes the DLZ Creator, which is the only serious competitor to Røde's Rødecaster Pro podcast mixer/device. The DLZ Creator is better than the Rodecaster. I kind of suspect they bought Mackie to get rid of the competition. |
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Dec 6, 2023 16:11:02 GMT -6
Hey Ben What I find interesting about this transaction is what did they get other than the rights to the brand? Loud had liquidated any manufacturering facilities as it bought up brands and was using OEMs in China ( really hurt the reputation ‘s of Martin Audio and EAW) I’m not sure but most of the design talent that their was responsible for their hit products are long gone and I can’t think of a single piece of IP other than the name that has any value. Rode could probably have built better products on their own and probably built better products. Rode doesn’t gain any distribution. So other than the name what’s the value? In the SR world the only thing close to common “ No Behringer “ on riders is “ no Mackie” The fact is if Peter operates Mackie like Rode, it will have a better reputation than it has had since before the 8 bus. The only immediate reason I can think of is that Mackie makes the DLZ Creator, which is the only serious competitor to Røde's Rødecaster Pro podcast mixer/device. The DLZ Creator is better than the Rodecaster. I kind of suspect they bought Mackie to get rid of the competition. I honestly can’t see these guys so spending that much to eliminate competition for 1 SKU, it would be so much cheaper to hire someone to design a better mixer and have it built in China like Mackie, |
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Post by Ward on Dec 6, 2023 18:05:19 GMT -6
I honestly can’t see these guys so spending that much to eliminate competition for 1 SKU, it would be so much cheaper to hire someone to design a better mixer and have it built in China like Mackie, Do you think they'll move all production to Australia, or leave some things as they are, being made in the People's Republic of China? |
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Post by ericn on Dec 6, 2023 19:38:42 GMT -6
I honestly can’t see these guys so spending that much to eliminate competition for 1 SKU, it would be so much cheaper to hire someone to design a better mixer and have it built in China like Mackie, Do you think they'll move all production to Australia, or leave some things as they are, being made in the People's Republic of China? Maybe some products, but what kept Mackie going was moving production to China just so they could compete with Behringer. As Ben pointed out Peter is one of the wealthiest people on the planet, you don’t stay that way by building a bunch of plants. Plus if you take a step back and realize how diverse Mackie’s product line, now think about how many different types of production lines you need. Think of the speaker line alone, if you keep it in China, your close to the driver manufacturers, you need Amps, wood shop, a couple of different types of large scale plastic molding capabilities. Plus circuit boards. The drivers & plate amps alone would increase cost significantly if you had to ship them from China to Australia then finished product around the world. Sorry Ben & Wiz but for a home market Australia isn’t that big. |
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Post by reddirt on Dec 6, 2023 19:45:46 GMT -6
I reckon wait and see . Peter freedman is nothing if not pragmatic and patriotic so the confluence may make it interesting.
The small later model Mackie mixers feel like plastic crap so they could start there in the first instance for sure.
Cheers, Ross
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Post by wiz on Dec 6, 2023 19:50:51 GMT -6
I would be amazed if they built a manufacturing plant to produce mixers and speakers... it would be disastrous
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Post by ericn on Dec 6, 2023 20:18:12 GMT -6
I would be amazed if they built a manufacturing plant to produce mixers and speakers... it would be disastrous Wiz you know the Australian labor market better than most of us, could they stay competitive with a plant in Country? What about even an assembly Plant? Ben would you happen to know what the requirements are for a product to be “made in Australia “ or “ assembled in Australia “? |
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Post by ab101 on Dec 6, 2023 21:22:13 GMT -6
By the way, I had used some Rode shotgun mics some years ago and they were excellent. And their blimp was one of the best and in some cases I liked it better than the Rycote. I guess what I am getting at, is that Rode does have the potential to make great products and I hope will improve the Mackie products.
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Post by wiz on Dec 6, 2023 23:02:44 GMT -6
I would be amazed if they built a manufacturing plant to produce mixers and speakers... it would be disastrous Wiz you know the Australian labor market better than most of us, could they stay competitive with a plant in Country? What about even an assembly Plant? Ben would you happen to know what the requirements are for a product to be “made in Australia “ or “ assembled in Australia “? I would think (forgetting the cost of building infrastructure) that the wages costs would be too high to start up building on shore mixers and speaker boxes etc.....perhaps assembly and QC is possible..... we don't even have a car manufacturing industry anymore.... Who would want to compete in the bottom of the mixer and speaker market anyways..... Maybe they will essentially do a rebadge redesign sort of thing....I really don't know why they would buy Mackie.....but he is smarter than I am... You know the old saying.... how do you make a million dollars in the music industry.... .... start with 2 cheers Wiz |
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Post by mics on Dec 6, 2023 23:28:46 GMT -6
I would be amazed if they built a manufacturing plant to produce mixers and speakers... it would be disastrous Wiz you know the Australian labor market better than most of us, could they stay competitive with a plant in Country? What about even an assembly Plant? Ben would you happen to know what the requirements are for a product to be “made in Australia “ or “ assembled in Australia “? If Peter applies the Rode model to the Mackie acquisition then Australia will become the manufacturing home for the brand. Peter has become anti offshore with manufacturing and due to their financial position he can just splash our if needed and build another huge factory and purchase the machinery needed to build them. To be honest, I'm quite excited to see what Rode will do with this. As far as the Made in Australia terminology; as long as the larger portion of the Labour and manufacturing is actually made in Australia, then yes; you can say, made in Australia. |
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Post by doubledog on Dec 7, 2023 0:46:53 GMT -6
My band uses a Mackie Pro FX8 nearly every weekend. solid as a rock. I've got an XAir16, but for most local venues I'm just running a couple vocal mics and maybe an acoustic guitar through it. If you like the sound of that, I also use Behringer B112D's for mains and B110D's for monitors! Sometimes I'll run the companion subs (B1200D I think?). The thing about these is if you know how to gain stage, they sound just fine and it's amazing how many compliments we get on the sound. Sure the K12's might be better but they are heavy... The B112Ds are only 27# each, which is why I got them. I hate carrying around a bunch of heavy shit . I'm the drummer and I have to supply the PA too? wtf? The only Rode mic I ever owned was an NTR. nice mic but I sold it to fund other things...
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Post by Ward on Dec 7, 2023 6:41:30 GMT -6
Wiz you know the Australian labor market better than most of us, could they stay competitive with a plant in Country? What about even an assembly Plant? Ben would you happen to know what the requirements are for a product to be “made in Australia “ or “ assembled in Australia “? If Peter applies the Rode model to the Mackie acquisition then Australia will become the manufacturing home for the brand. Peter has become anti offshore with manufacturing and due to their financial position he can just splash our if needed and build another huge factory and purchase the machinery needed to build them. To be honest, I'm quite excited to see what Rode will do with this. As far as the Made in Australia terminology; as long as the larger portion of the Labour and manufacturing is actually made in Australia, then yes; you can say, made in Australia. Nice to hear from an expert at this! Everything you stated gives me pause for thought and ergo makes complete sense. |
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Post by Hudsonic on Dec 7, 2023 7:43:36 GMT -6
Got a Mackie 1202 going on here for more than 30 years. Sounds very good. Made in USA.
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Post by stratboy on Dec 7, 2023 9:35:50 GMT -6
Got a Mackie 1202 going on here for more than 30 years. Sounds very good. Made in USA. Same here. And my first PA had a Tapco mixer. Remember those? |
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Post by notneeson on Dec 7, 2023 10:00:39 GMT -6
Got a Mackie 1202 going on here for more than 30 years. Sounds very good. Made in USA. Now I've seen everything. |
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Post by ab101 on Dec 7, 2023 10:34:10 GMT -6
Got a Mackie 1202 going on here for more than 30 years. Sounds very good. Made in USA. Same here. And my first PA had a Tapco mixer. Remember those? Ha Tapco! I had one in the 1980s and sold it to a sound guy back then. I saw him a couple years ago at a gig and he was still using it. And the sound was good, at least for the PA. |
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Dec 7, 2023 10:38:33 GMT -6
Wiz you know the Australian labor market better than most of us, could they stay competitive with a plant in Country? What about even an assembly Plant? Ben would you happen to know what the requirements are for a product to be “made in Australia “ or “ assembled in Australia “? If Peter applies the Rode model to the Mackie acquisition then Australia will become the manufacturing home for the brand. Peter has become anti offshore with manufacturing and due to their financial position he can just splash our if needed and build another huge factory and purchase the machinery needed to build them. To be honest, I'm quite excited to see what Rode will do with this. As far as the Made in Australia terminology; as long as the larger portion of the Labour and manufacturing is actually made in Australia, then yes; you can say, made in Australia. Ben I honestly hope you’re right, the original Mackie’s were brilliant. I don’t think a lot of people realize how accessible Tapco, and later the 1604 made quality mixers for both live or recording. Until then the standard for a quality small console was the Soundcraft 200, Greg Mackie managed to fit a 16 input console into the space of a 8 ch Soundcraft at 1/4 the price. The only thing Mackie did better was the hype! They managed to make you think the single PCB with pots with no nuts was the most the way to go and more durable ( the secret was the side panels were higher than the face so they protected the shafts of the pots so simple so brilliant). The 1202 changed everyone’s Idea of a small mixer, the 8 bus while not my favorite pushed everyone else do better and rethink their pricing . |
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Post by chessparov on Dec 8, 2023 1:59:33 GMT -6
Got a Mackie 1202 going on here for more than 30 years. Sounds very good. Made in USA. Now I've seen everything. Not quite. Now if FLETCHER posts that? Well... Welcome to the Apocalypse!  (nothing left but VLZ's/Blackface ADAT's/Silver NT1-A's/Keith Richards) But at least Eric finally gets that Kansas Condo right on the Beachfront. Chris |
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