Talent, devotion and determination, you'll find all three in Jacquire King. Born in Washington D.C., he knew by the age of 18 that recording and mixing music was the only thing he wanted to do. So he wrangled himself a studio assistant job and has never looked back. Now he's worked in cities around the world and is a multiple Grammy-winning record producer and mix engineer working with some of the biggest names in music business.

Most recently he shared in a 2009 Grammy Award for Record of the Year with producer Angelo Petraglia for the Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" from the band's release Only By the Night. He's also worked with Tom Waits, Modest Mouse, Mutemath, Cold War Kids, Norah Jones and Buddy Guy to name a few. King is represented exclusively by Jim Phelan and Jerimaya Grabher at Global Positioning Services in Santa Monica, California and is a managing partner of Radical Notion (independent media), an artist management/development company. King utilizes traditional analog techniques and equipment such as tracking to 2" analog tape. He combines traditional analog with modern digital recording technologies and plug-in software signal processing. Primarily using plug-ins that emulate classic outboard signal processing gear designed by Universal Audio - and he's a big KRK fan.

"I've used the KRK Rokit 5's for a little more than four years. I heard them when listening back to some edits during a tracking session. They made sense to me right away. I was using NS-10s and Genelec 1031's in the tracking studio at the time. I'd been looking for an alternative to the Yamahas and soon after got a pair of the Rokit 5's. They replaced the NS-10s and then I even stopped using the Genelecs," King says.

When it comes to accuracy, transparency and consistency he turns to KRK monitors to help achieve his artistic vision. "These monitors are true and consistent. They relate very well to what is out in the real world these days. They are not hyped sounding and make you work for a great result which I like. They have plenty of bottom end and when the mix is sounding huge on them then I know I'm finished," he says.

And King says he's not planning on switching monitors just to try something new. "Why would anybody want to switch from what works?! New is only better if it truly is an improvement or fills a need. Your speakers aren't the place to look for creative choices. Find what works and makes sense because how you listen becomes your perspective on how you're achieving success sonically."