MAKUTA, a Brooklyn-based quartet comprised of siblings Doug, Jane, Aleata and Rose Makuta, has been utilizing a Flock Audio PATCH System in the creation of several new projects largely tracked and mixed in their own studio that will be released starting this fall.
“Flock was a really integral part for us during what happened this past year,” says multi-instrumentalist, writer, vocalist, engineer and producer Doug Makuta. “My sisters and I were all stuck in the studios with ourselves more or less, so we just plunged head-first into what we’ve always done: writing and recording.”
While they were working, they happened on the PATCH System and decided to evaluate it. “We were talking with one of our close friends, who is also a really good mix engineer, and we all agreed that the traditional patch bay is one of the most archaic, and time-consuming things in the creative process,” Doug explains. “We were wondering if the PATCH was too good to be true, but we wanted to try it and ordered one from Sweetwater.”
The group’s primary projects include four EPs – Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow and Overmorrow – as well as collaborating on Hunter Hayes projects and an ad campaign for Wells Fargo. “The set up was extremely quick – we had less than 24 hours to integrate PATCH into our system, and it only took 45 minutes tops,” Doug says. “Honestly, we didn’t have days or weeks to experiment with it. If we didn’t get everything going in the first day, we would have had a problem. We live and die by our deadlines, and you can’t go to a big client or record company and say, ‘I need a week to figure out my system’.”
In the studio, stagnation is the arch enemy of recording artists like MAKUTA whose ideas come fast. “Wasted time can really crush creativity when you are inspired and have something in your mind about what you want to do,” explains Rose Makuta. “The timing in between each part of a session is often not fast enough, and you can forget an idea or lose the inspiration of the moment.”
Aside from being able to move more efficiently on a single project within PATCH, the system also helps the band move more seamlessly from project to project while staying focused on their goals. “Many of our projects, including our own and those we are working on with other artists, sound very different,” Doug says. “We were doing strings for Hunter Hayes’ song ‘If You Ever Change Your Mind,’ and also putting together a remix of one of our songs, which has a more soulful, pop feeling, for a Wells Fargo ad campaign. We were under the gun to turn in the campaign within two days, and the PATCH ended up being a huge time saver — we were able to instantly recall signal chains for both projects and move back and forth at will.”
The group works with outboard gear that includes a Chandler Cassette, Avalon 737, and BAE 1073, and likes to make decisions quickly, while maximizing the full potential of each piece of gear. “We never looked at a patch bay as an instrument before, but PATCH has really become an instrument for us,” says Doug. “We’re now combining compressors with EQs that we normally wouldn’t, and we are still learning new possible equipment combinations. You can get really exploratory.”
In addition to some of the more conventional EQs and compressors, Makuta likes to delve into more obscure sonic treatments and effects. “We have a lot of random gear,” he concludes. “We’ve got some old reverb and chorus tanks, Soviet-era synths and an old Sony 101 tape machine. We can literally load any of these into the PATCH at a moment’s notice and recall it in an instant if we need to. It is mind-blowing and revolutionary for us in every possible way.”
