Microphone manufacturer Rode has announced a new acquisition. It’s the American pro audio company Mackie. Mackie’s acquisition adds a lot of new products to the catalogue of Freedman Electronics – the company that owns Rode.
Mackie does make a handful of microphones, but they’re primarily known for their live audio and mixing gear. Could we see some Mackie hardware and designs in upcoming Rode products?
About the acquisition, Rode stated in a press release today that:
The acquisition represents a new chapter in the evolution of RØDE and establishes The Freedman Group – parent company of RØDE – as one of the most well-rounded pro audio companies in the world, with an enviable catalogue of products spanning a wide range of audio solutions for content creation, home and studio recording, broadcast, and live sound production.
Rode & Mackie business as usual
The wording of the release does suggest that Rode will still be operating Mackie as its own separate business. Mackie will continue creating its own products. There’s a lot of talk in the press release about “these two legendary brands”. So, it sounds like they’re both sticking around.
But there’s no escaping the obvious potential benefits for Rode. Benefits for things like future Rodecaster models. Mackie’s experience in the mixing gear could certainly help Rode take things like the Rodecaster to the next level.
A merger of audio tech?
Even if the two brand identities both remain and go their individual ways, there’s nothing to stop them from working together. So, we may see some advanced Mackie audio tech coming to Rode gear in the future. And vice versa.
There’s only a little crossover between the two companies – for now. I have wondered for a while – since Rode launched the NTH-100 headphones – if they’d expand further into devices that let us hear audio rather than capture it.
I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but I’d bet Mackie’s tech would allow Rode to produce some pretty decent studio monitors at a reasonable price.
No new products or tech announced
The announcement doesn’t talk much about how or if the two brands will work together. No new products have been announced, either. From either company. There’ve been no new technology announcements.
This, too, suggests that the companies will continue operating as they always have. At least for now. It will be interesting to see if the two companies do influence each other’s products in the future.
It worked for Vivendum when they acquired Joby, mixing and matching tech from it and Manfrotto into new products for both brands. So, it makes sense for Rode to do it, too.
Whatever does get released, we’ll be here to keep you updated.
