Sweetwater Makes the Band

When MTV needed a professional audio production rig for the second season of their hit reality series Making the Band, they turned to the music technology experts at Sweetwater for help! Why? Sweetwater is uniquely qualified to organize such an undertaking due to our remarkable relationship with top Manufacturers and our ability to design, install and service an entire studio at a moment's notice!

A huge MTV hit, Making the Band 2 follows the trials and tribulations of an aspiring hip-hop group as they strive to become the next big thing. P. Diddy, one of the most recognizable figures in the entertainment industry, developed the show and serves as the band's mastermind, helping the group build their sound and image and putting the young performers through what amounts to music industry boot camp.

For Making the Band 2, MTV needed a professional audio production center for in front of the camera that would be used to record and produce all the music the performers create on the show. In other words, millions of television viewers were going to see music being made via this studio. The system had to be versatile and powerful enough to deliver every facet of fully professional recording, editing, mixing, and mastering.

Sweetwater coordinated the donation of music equipment from many of today's top manufacturers and the system features a state-of-the-art Pro Tools|HD2 hard disk recording system running on an Apple dual processor G4 (see Making the Band Gear List for a comprehensive listing of equipment used).

With an audience of millions tuning-in week after week to check out the progress of P. Diddy's protégées, it was essential that the show's audio production rig reflect the industry's current state of the art, while also providing both the performers and audio engineers with equipment that they were familiar with. The core of the system used on the show was based on the essentials of P. Diddy's own production facility. A number of other issues had to be taken into account, such as the camera crew's ability to maneuver around the facilities and capture the action. As experts in professional audio gear, MIDI, and computer-based audio production for over two decades, Sweetwater was uniquely qualified to handle the task.

P. Diddy and the producers who make up the team behind the band had definite ideas on about half of the audio equipment they wanted to work on. For the rest of the gear, Sweetwater served as a consultant, helping with decisions on things like microphones, speakers, and other items based on the producers' requirements.

You can see the results of this collaboration on MTV's Making the Band 2 on Wednesday nights, 10 PM Eastern Time.

Check out Making the Band on MTV.com