THE PROS OF PORTABLE MONITORS: TREMAINE “SIX7” WILLIAMS WORKS FROM THE ROAD TO BOOST THE BACKING TRACKS FOR THE LIVE PERFORMANCE OF MARIAH CAREY’S CHRISTMAS EVENTS

Producers and mixers aren’t looking for just any mobile production gear—it needs to be packable, portable, and, most importantly, able to produce studio-quality sound. We spoke with Producer and Engineer Tremaine “Six7” Williams to learn how he manages in this high-speed age of on-the-go work.

When working with high-profile artists, Williams wears various hats to ensure every show, production, and performance runs as smoothly as possible ― and he is no stranger to producing on the road. Following a year-long stint with Swedish House Mafia, which included a stop at Coachella, and working on a number of awards shows in between, Williams’ winter kicked off with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Currently, he’s bookending the year supporting the ‘Queen of Christmas’ herself―Mariah Carey, a role he has held for the past eight years.

Since she hit single “All I Want for Christmas is You” was released in 1994, Carey has become one of the most sought-after artists for holiday specials, requiring a team of seasoned professionals, like Williams, to ensure her winter tour goes off without a hitch. With so many projects in the works at once, often coupled with daily travel, Williams relies on studio monitors he can easily transport without compromising on sound quality.

“I’m moving around every day at this point, so I need consistent monitoring everywhere I go, but I also need to be travel-ready,” he says. “Usually, if the band is rehearsing, I’ll be in another room editing or working on the next show. We’ve never performed some of this music live before because we made it during the pandemic, ie: Mariah’s ‘Sleigh Ride.’ Trying to now figure out the live arrangement and adding in the live band while on the road can be challenging.”

When presented with KRK’s new GoAux 4 portable studio monitors, Williams knew he had found a highly useful tool for preparing tracks on the road. “It’s the little things that are helping me ― like not having to use an interface,” he explains. “I can just connect the speakers via USB and treat them as an interface. Plus, being able to set up anywhere is a huge help, as is the travel bag that comes with it.”

Williams also notes the GoAux auto room correction as being an asset while on the road. “The ARC feature is great because I’m in different rooms every day and now I can get a more accurate bass response, which is what I need for the type of music I’m working with,” he continues. “I recently worked the Urban One Honors show, for which I had to create the opening performance track from scratch — it was a seven-minute medley of the greatest hip-hop hits of the 1980s. The mixing styles and amount of bass used in the music changed drastically between 1980 and 1989. To go back in and re-EQ the older stuff to make it as full as the later stuff, I needed to be able to hear that bottom end so I could know what I’m boosting and match it up in a cohesive way.

“One of the honorees of that show was Pharrell, and the band started freaking out (in a good way) when I ran the playlist of his greatest hits because everything was clean, loud, and not distorted. It sounded really good, no matter what songs we jumped to. It sounded great when we were mixing, too, but also translated when we moved into a different space. That’s the biggest part for me ― who cares if it sounds great in front of you if it doesn’t sound great when you’re in another space?”

Beyond portability, Williams looks for monitors that his entire team will love and trust. “I work with Mariah’s Music Director, Daniel Moore, who is also my production partner,” he says. “We try to match the speakers so that when we’re in different spaces, we can still hear what the other is hearing. The team consists of all audiophiles, so once one of us finds a good product, it benefits us all to have it. That’s how we were introduced to the previous monitors I used. The GoAux is gonna end up being the same way: we all gotta have it. Even on our off days, we end up in each other’s hotel rooms working on different projects, so we all need to use the same speakers. The fun thing about GoAux was when I pulled them out for the first time in band rehearsals ― everybody lost their minds.”

With the added benefits that GoAux provides, Williams can continue programming for Mariah Carey’s live shows and televised performances, as well as produce music and work alongside some of the other hottest artists in the game. Williams’ most recent work, Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to All, aired on CBS on December 20. You can watch it streaming online here