Where have you heard that name before? Maybe it was on CBS TV three times a week… Paul Mirkovich previously was music director for Rockstar: INXS and Rockstar: Supernova, and recently headed to Australia to join P!nk on her record-breaking 58-show stint down under.

With over 20 years of experience as a musical director, keyboardist, singer, programmer, arranger, composer, and songwriter, Mirkovich has toured the world extensively with major established artists and has played live for millions. His credits as musical director/keyboardist/vocalist include Cher, Janet Jackson, INXS, Anastasia, Whitesnake, Jeffrey Osborne, and many others. Paul has recorded with such artists as Peter Gabriel, Shawn Colvin, Janet Jackson, Cher, The Calling, and Billy Preston.

Mirkovich set up the P!nk tour and headed out with the band to get things going, then passed off those duties to another player. He jumped in for the Australia dates to aid in the production of a DVD of the spectacle. For the gig, he and others in the band rely on a keyboard rig that is powered by RECEPTOR. He tells us, “We have two RECEPTORs and two Roland keyboards in each keyboard rig. Each keyboard controls a RECEPTOR. We run Komplete on all the RECEPTORs, and Ivory for most of the piano stuff. Plus Spectrasonics Atmosphere is in a couple of them, and we also run the Lounge Lizard electric piano.” With such a compact set up, you can be sure dependability counts. “RECEPTOR has been unfailingly reliable,” Mirkovich comments, “I don’t have any complaints about stability at all.”

Mirkovich has found RECEPTOR an irreplaceable resource both for touring and in the studio. It is especially useful when he is programming new sounds. He shares, “There is so much power in each box, and the diversity and sheer number of sounds you can get, plus the fact that you can layer sounds from different libraries is amazing. I push them pretty hard. I like to layer a lot of sounds together to create the sounds that I make. With the RECEPTOR I can layer two or three other sounds with the sound from the keyboard and create something that’s just a fantastic. As opposed to trying to get it all out of one synth or one box and have it be not exactly what I want. With RECEPTOR I can get all different kinds of colors into one sound.”

And speaking of sounds, it’s precisely RECEPTOR’s versatility that has always attracted Mirkovich. The day we spoke, he was heading to the studio to work on a commercial project. “I use RECEPTOR in the studio all the time. Right now I’m on my way to a recording session, and what I brought with me is a Korg OASYS and a RECEPTOR, and that’s my rig for today.” He continues, “We’ll be doing two different radio packages for two different radio stations. Not that glamorous, but it requires versatility. We create clips in all kinds of different genres of pop music, and they all have to sound very current and contemporary. We’re referencing hits that are on the radio right now, like Katy Perry, P!nk, and The Black Eyed Peas. So I have to reference sounds that are very current, and I can get all those sounds out of that very small rig that I bring.”

You can be sure Mirkovich has plenty of other irons in the fire as well. Look for him on MTV’s new show, Starmaker, and much more. “I just finished a run with Cher, and she’s talking about maybe recording a new record, so I believe I’ll be working on that,” says Mirkovich. “Other than that I’ll be working on the DVD for P!nk. Plus, I have some other global projects that I’m involved with. For example, I’m doing music for a theme park in Singapore! I’m supposed to go there at the end of the year for the launch of the park, which might be a bit complicated since I’m slated to be in Las Vegas with Cher at the time. I guess somehow I’ll have to figure out how to clone myself!”

While we at Muse Research can’t help there, we can ensure that when Mirkovich needs to travel with his gear, he can pack his RECEPTOR into his carry on and have a powerhouse of sounds ready to go.

By Laura B. Whitmore