Mackie ThumpXT Loudspeakers Are Designed Specifically for You
Finding your voice is essential. Thatâs true whether youâre a musician, DJ, public speaker or anyone else who expresses themselves through sound. But itâs hard to find your voice when your gear gets in the way. You need a loudspeaker thatâs flexible. No matter what genre of music you play, what event you DJ or what audience you entertain, your PA system should sound professional. You should have the freedom to explore your creativity and figure out your voice, consistently sounding your best along the way.
Even as you change and grow, the ideal PA speaker will always sound like itâs made specifically for you. Otherwise, you may think youâre struggling to perform, when really your speaker just isnât suited to what youâre doing. For instance: How can you expect to find your best speaking voice when your speaker is made for playing EDM in a nightclub? Itâs basically impossible.
Thatâs whatâs special about Mackie ThumpXT loudspeakers (Thump210XT, Thump212XT and Thump215XT). You can adapt each speaker to your application using a single âVoicing Modesâ button, so you can focus on being creative. Read on to learn exactly how it works.
Sound Check at the Push of a Button
For professionals, âsound checkâ can be more complicated than just plugging everything in and making sure it works. Depending on the application, there are important adjustments that a sound engineer would make to the signal going to each loudspeaker. For speakers that will be playing pop music on a dance floor, they might emphasize the bass (so everybody can feel the beat). For stage monitors, they might tweak the EQ to reduce the bass, making sure the musicians can hear themselves without it sounding too muddy. Thereâs also compression and limiting, which make vocals really âpopâ in a way that feels natural and clear.
But you might not have a sound engineer. You probably also donât have the gear those sound engineers use, like a mixing console or compressor. Thatâs the idea behind the voicing modes in ThumpXT: at the push of a button, you can tell the ThumpXT speaker what youâre doing. Just use the âvoicing modesâ button to cycle through the four voicing modes. The speaker will make all the essential adjustments itself. Think of it like talking to your personal sound engineer.
But what are you saying with each voicing mode? Hereâs your translation guide.
Music Mode: âI Need the Music to Sound as It Was Intendedâ
Sometimes, all you want from your loudspeaker is accuracy. Letâs say youâre streaming pre-recorded background music at an event, like a backyard party or a cocktail hour at a wedding. You could also be a guitarist using a pedalboard with an amp modeler, using a speaker to project your carefully crafted tone. You might even be an actual sound engineer who did all the EQ and compression yourself, and you donât want the speaker messing with it. The thing these applications have in common is that you donât want the speaker to change your sound. Whatever audio youâre running into the ThumpXT speaker, you want it to come out the same way, just louder. Thatâs what youâre saying to your ThumpXT speaker when you set it to âMusicâ voicing mode: hands off my sound.
So, whatâs happening internally in Music mode is simple: not a lot! Thereâs some built-in digital processing that goes into any setting on the ThumpXT loudspeaker, but the goal in Music mode is for that processing to result in a flat response. For instance, the speaker cabinet itself will resonate and cause buildups in certain frequencies. We do need to compensate for that. So, while the processing is technically changing the sound, the change is resulting in more accuracy to the source material. Thereâs also automatic limiting that prevents distortion at high volume.
For applications like playing music casually at a party, ThumpXT is as easy to use as any consumer speaker, thanks to BluetoothÂŽ wireless connectivity. Just connect your smartphone and stream from Spotify, Apple Music or any other app. You can also install the Thump Connect 2 app to control the ThumpXT speaker from your phone. You get the quality of a professional PA speaker with the convenience of an everyday BluetoothÂŽ speaker.
Club Mode: âI Need Big Low End That Gets People Movingâ
If youâre a professional DJ at a club (or wedding reception), you need to get people moving on the dance floor. Any DJ will tell you that the task is both art and science. You need to choose the perfect songs in the perfect order, responding to the energy in the room â thatâs where âfinding your voiceâ comes in. That's art. But even with the right song selection and performance, youâll sometimes find yourself craving a little more oomph on the low end, or more shimmer on the high end for those soaring pop vocals. Thatâs what âClubâ mode is for. If the music feels thin and you find yourself wanting a little more, this is probably the setting for you.
If song selection is the âartâ of the DJ, ThumpXT Club mode handles the science. Fundamentally, what this mode is doing is boosting the lowest frequencies and highest frequencies. Sound engineers will sometimes call this adjustment a âsmiley faceâ because if you map out the frequencies from left (low) to right (high), the adjustment makes a smiley face, boosting each end while leaving the middle alone. Low end is what you want for dancing. The kick drum and bass guitar are typically handling the downbeat, and people need to feel the downbeat if theyâre going to dance! To prevent the bass boost from making the music muddy, Club mode also boosts the highest frequencies. After all, how could people sing along to those soaring Whitney Houston vocals at the wedding reception if they canât hear her?
Of course, there are limits to how much bass a loudspeaker can give you. Even a technologically advanced speaker like ThumpXT canât break the laws of physics. Thatâs why many DJs like to use a dedicated subwoofer. Subwoofers are specialized bass speakers that go so low that theyâre more about feeling the bass than hearing it. Once you try one, youâll often wonder what you were doing without one (especially if youâre a DJ). Luckily, Mackie offers matching Thump subwoofers, Thump115S and Thump118S, that integrate perfectly with ThumpXT speakers. You can even use the SPM400 speaker pole to mount your loudspeaker over the sub for an all-in-one solution.
Live Mode: âI Need Everyone in the Audience to Hear My Voiceâ
Sometimes, finding your voice means literally your voice. Whether youâre a singer-songwriter or a public speaker, you need your voice to sound full, clear and impactful through the PA. Too often, PA speakers made for loud music will be muddy when used for more delicate vocal applications. Instead of connecting with you on a human level, the audience will strain to hear you. Thatâs what âLiveâ mode does on ThumpXT loudspeakers â it helps you communicate with the audience though singing or speaking, by optimizing the sound for the human voice.
How does Live mode target the voice? Sound engineers can confirm that vocals are some of the trickiest sources to get right. Technical tweaks are required to make the best parts of the voice stand out and sound flattering. Think about it: would you rather your singing sound like a Zoom call or a platinum record? The same singer can sound like either one, depending on the processing being done. But thanks to ThumpXT, you donât have to worry about those technical details. It handles the compression and midrange boost of a classic vocal chain. All you have to do is press a button to get to Live mode.
Speaking of voices, ThumpXT has an innovative feature thatâs especially useful at events where youâre going to be speaking. Itâs called Music Ducking. Letâs say youâre running an event, and youâre playing audio into the aux input on your ThumpXT speaker (like background music, audio from a slide show, etc.) while also speaking into the mic. Music Ducking will automatically dim the other audio when you speak, making sure your voice never gets buried. This feature is also useful for DJs who need to make announcements without bringing the dance floor to a halt.
Monitor Mode: âI Need to Monitor Myself Clearly on Stageâ
Some people might not even realize this, but a stage monitor is really just a PA speaker on its side, positioned to face the performer. But PA speakers and stage monitors have very different purposes. While PA speakers are meant to make the finished product sound good for the audience, stage monitors are meant to help the performers hear themselves. Itâs actually a very important distinction. The frontperson of a band doesnât care if their monitor mix is majestic, lush or expansive. They care if they can hear themselves. When using ThumpXT on its side as a wedge monitor, switch to âMonitorâ mode. The loudspeaker will essentially transform into a stage monitor, with an emphasis on clarity for the performer, not the audience.
Under the hood, a couple things are happening in Monitor mode. For one, the speaker couples with the ground more when itâs sitting lengthwise. That means it vibrates the floor more, creating more low frequency response. That would be an issue on its own, but itâs especially bad when using the speaker as a monitor, because bass drowns out all the important stuff the musicians need to hear. A big, thick wash of bass does nothing to help the guitarist stay in rhythm with the drummer, or the singer stay in key. So, Monitor mode cuts the lowest part of the bass in the speaker. Secondly, besides cutting the low end, Monitor mode also reduces select parts of the midrange that are known to interfere with monitoring. ThumpXT canât give you âmore vocalâ in the monitor like a sound engineer can, but it can emphasize the vocal frequency automatically. (Plus, it wonât argue with you, like an engineer might).
Something else you might run into with stage monitors is microphone feedback. Because the monitor faces the stage, itâs more prone to getting picked up by the mic, which feeds the sound back into the monitor, which feeds the sound back into the mic, etc. You experience this process as a truly horrific screeching sound that can damage your hearing and upset everyone in the space. We donât want anyone to experience this, ever again, so ThumpXT speakrs have a button called Feedback Eliminator. If youâre experiencing mic feedback, just tap the Feedback Eliminator button. The screeching will stop, as if by magic. Enough said.
Find Your Voice With Mackie
There are no better speakers for finding your voice than Mackie ThumpXT. But thereâs also more to audio than just speakers. Mackie has been heloing musicians all over the world get professional sound for decades. Weâre always pushing the envelope for how to make music easier, better and more fun to make. Pair your Mackie Thump loudspeakers with matching Thump subwoofers, a ProFX analog mixer or DL digital mixer, MC headphones or MP in-ear monitors â whatever you need for professional live sound, Mackie has it.
For more tips, tricks and info about Mackie products, check out more articles on our blog.
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