Jesse Carmichael
Jesse plays keyboards and sings backup For Maroon 5. Most of the time his keyboard parts are more focused on filling out the color of the songs in ways only a keyboard can do. But when the song calls for it, Jesse can serve up a variety of styles and hammer out a lead you won't soon forget.
Jesse also contributes substantially to the success of Maroon 5 with his song writing accomplishments. Jesse is credited with co-writing a major portion of the songs on the "Songs About Jane" album. His co-writing with Adam Levine includes both top hits ("Harder to Breathe" and "This Love") from this album, as well as all but four of the remaining tracks.
The core members of the band - Carmichael, vocalist and guitarist Adam Levine, bassist Mickey Madden and drummer Ryan Dusick - were poised for success nearly a decade ago when they were teenagers in a more punkish brigade called Kara's Flowers.
When their record label deal sank a few years later, Carmichael and Levine moved east to attend college on Long Island, where they ran smack into a community infatuated with soul, R&B, gospel and hip-hop. When Maroon 5 formed and added guitarist James Valentine, the New York sounds found their way onto the group's debut album, "Songs About Jane."
Then came "Harder to Breathe" and a dizzying tour schedule - including a summer run with John Mayer and the Counting Crows - putting the band onstage for more than 200 nights in the last year. Massive performance and video exposure on television ensued.
Maroon 5's recently released their new album "It Won't Be Soon Before Long."
Artist Q&A
Q: When Maroon 5 was recently in the studio recording your latest album, you used a lot of different synthesizers?
A: Yeah, we used a lot of old synths - Juno, Jupiter 8, and so on.
Q: How is the MiKo covering that?
A: Oh, Miko does everything. We've got a rack full of virtual synths on here.
Q: You've used the Mimik software with MiKo, haven't you?
A: Mimik is very cool. Now the sounds from my older keyboards are just there [in MiKo], exactly how it was on the old keyboard.
Q: You were able to replace some keyboards, and don't have to carry them around?
A: That's right. We definitely condensed the setup. I don't even know how we would've done it without the MiKo.
Q: Do you think you'll use the MiKo in the studio for the next album?
A: Absolutely. This thing is going to be great for writing songs on the road, too. You can actually put Pro Tools in the box for recording. We're really happy to have the MiKo because without it, it wouldn't be possible for us to do what we're doing.
Equipment Used
Purchased NeKo LX (Gen2)
Purchased 2 MiKo LX (Gen3)
Purchased MiKo TSE (Gen3)
Artist Links