Hanover, Mass – September 2021 – Augspurger® has defined the industry standard in studio monitoring for the last twenty years. From hip hop to pop and EDM, the biggest names in music such as Snoop Dogg, Coldplay, and Above & Beyond rely on Augspurger®’s incredible power and precision to create their signature sound. That’s why it should be of no surprise that Augspurger® is highly esteemed by the music-makers behind one of the biggest and fastest-growing genres in the world: reggaeton. 

Since the early 2000s, Puerto Rican producer and mix engineer Hyde El Quimico has played an essential role in crafting the hip-shaking dembo rhythms of reggaeton. Hyde’s credits read like a who’s who of multi-platinum Latin superstars from reggaeton pioneers Daddy Yankee, Wisin Y Yandel to chart-breaking newcomer artists Ozuna and Reik. La Base is the name of his studio, record label and management company he co-founded with his partner Wisin (Grammy award-winning reggaeton artist & producer) to develop and manage artists and producers.

When Hyde is mixing a reggaeton record, it’s essential that he hear every nuance in the mix with absolute clarity and feel how the bass hits – which is why his monitoring system of choice is always Augspurger®. Hyde credits Augspurger® monitors for allowing him to fit more musical information in the mix and hit high levels of volume without the harsh effects of limiting. As chief engineer at La Base, Hyde uses the Augspurger® Duo 12MF-Sub18 to create his signature sound.

When it came to Hyde’s latest project – mixing Ozuna’s new record at the legendary Quad Studios in Time Square, NYC – he immediately turned to the team at Augspurger® to provide the tools he needed to forge his masterpiece. Quad’s Studio Q1 already houses beasty Augspurger® Duo 15V main monitors, but Hyde requested to try out the brand’s new MX-65 near-field monitors, fresh from their launch at Summer NAMM 2021. The team at Augspurger® set up the MX-65 as a third reference option next to the Duo 15Vs and the Yamaha NS10s already in situ, and Hyde was blown away.

“There is no small speaker that can give you this level of clarity and power. I can feel the air of the bass when it hits just like a big speaker.”

He continued, “Translation-wise, they are the same. I can go back and forth, and my drums feel like they are in the same place. But also, you don’t have to run them up. If you are at low level, they sound like true near-field speakers, and you can hear everything. But when you need the power, it’s there!”

Delivering all the clarity and punch you’d expect from the brand’s more prominent speakers, the MX-65 brings the unmistakable Augspurger® sound to new audiences who need compact near-field monitors, providing the perfect solution for music-makers and audiophiles who don’t have the space or budget for a large studio system.

Augspurger® is also renowned for its exceptional customer service and attention to detail, and each MX-65 system comes complete with a personalized, remote studio tuning session with Augspurger® engineers. Presets can be created, stored, and recalled to suit individual tastes and preferences, which helps studio engineers and music creators work quickly and efficiently. These presets are especially useful when an engineer is mixing away from their usual environment – they can recall their preferred settings wherever they’re recording and hear their mix exactly as they would in their own studio, taking their signature sound (and the portable MX-65s) with them at all times.

For Hyde’s Ozuna mix, Dave Malekpour – President and CEO of Augspurger® – was able to take the curve from La Base and tune that into the Q1 system at Quad, which allowed Hyde to open up his mix files and get to work faster.

Hyde noted, “I’m so much quicker at getting where I want to get to sonically. Something that used to take me a few hours or maybe half a day to get right now takes me one or two hours. The mixes translate perfectly, and I think that’s a good thing about working with Augspurgers®. Once Dave tuned them with my curve, I felt like I was in my studio in Puerto Rico.” 

As the studio monitor of choice for sub-heavy music styles like trap and EDM, it’s only natural that Augspurger® is also a perfect fit for reggaeton and beloved by the genre’s leading artists. Augspurger® was already making waves in the genre before reggaeton gained the mainstream recognition it has today. Back in 2002, Daddy Yankee installed Augspurger® Classic 215H and Sub18s in his private studio in Puerto Rico. Shortly after, Lunay Tunes ordered the same speakers for his studio. These two artists and studios fueled the local Puerto Rican music scene from the start, paving the way for emerging reggaeton artists over the following two decades – conquering the mainstream music industry – with a bit of help from Augspurger®.

Malekpour offered his thoughts on why the Augspurger® sound fits reggaeton so well; “Puerto Rico has its own vibe, there’s a warmth to the interactions with people there, it’s a very feeling-based environment. I think Augspurger® speakers connect the music to the feeling.”