About XO1

Mercel Stephen, professionally known as "Xcel - XcelOne  - XO1," is a seasoned audio video design engineer & entrepreneur with a history of behind the scenes in various industries such as audio video, music, entertainment & construction. Born on January 16, 1971, in Birmingham, England, Xcel's journey began with a thirst for knowledge that shaped his career. 

  As a child Xcel, was the youngest of 4, he didn't get many opportunities to watch television due to his brother (RIP) & sister hogging the TV & kicking him out of the family room. Xcel spent most of his time trying to figure out how things worked. "During those times in the 70's living in England, we were the only black kids in the neighborhood. I didn't have many friends & I couldn't watch TV." When he final figured out his father’s stereo, a new world opened up.  He quickly dove into the sounds of music. "I didn't care what was on the radio; I just knew I had my own world."  Xcel then realized that if he could make things work, he could use it. 

 In 1984, while hanging out, Xcel ran into a longtime friend Wayne aka "Mr. Naz" Holland. At the time, I thought the only thing we had in common was playing football, then learned his godfather Larry "DJ Doc” Johnson & Derrick “Mix Master Tee” Clinton had a DJ crew called UFE Productions. Mr. Naz introduced him to DJ Doc & the rest was history.  For years, Xcel & UFE pumped urban music that soaked the dance floor with sweat & rolled in the dollars for classmates making history.  Until this day, no other graduating class has come close to the funds Xcel helped raise.  After graduating from high school 

in 1988, he wanted to be more than a local DJ. He wanted to maintain a career in the audio industry. Xcel collaborated with other DJs & music producers, to create a scene. He held DJ Crime from (UFE, Brick Bandits, OGs) in the late 80's to develop as a DJ & they later teamed up to create Phat Tuesdays @ Gregory's in Orange, NJ with DJ Mustafah in the early 90's.

After spending some time in the music industry, Xcel managed upcoming artist and networked with concert promoters to handle live sound engineering for Hip-Hop events on the East Coast.  His overall technical, musical and management background started to pay off, instead of being in the DJ booth mixing records; he ended up promoting artist and mixing live sound.  Xcel dropped fat bass and sweet highs over concert monitors mixing live sound for KRS ONE, Mad Lion, Lost Boys, Wu-Tang Clan, Nice & Smooth & others.  Xcel then formed a production crew called The Immortals. They spent years creating music and connected with Steve Rollin from Tag Team for a remix project on Bellmark Records.

           In 1995, Xcel caught the wave at The Hit Factory recording studios in (New York) where he ran the old building handling studio production set-ups for Bad Boy, Heavy D, Paul Simon, Vanessa Williams, Toni Braxton and countless others.  "I thought that was my ticket, I thought I was really apart of the music industry working behind the scenes. I didn't care about the fame. I just wanted my studio setups to be on point." Everything was running smooth for Xcel until Troy Germano fired him. I couldn't understand why I got fired. One minute I'm in the studio making it happen, and then I'm getting escorted out of the building.' Xcel shortly learned that the studio was robbed over the weekend for thousands of dollars in equipment, masters and studio time. Xcel became the fall guy and ended up on the streets of New York. 

           In 1996, Xcel linked up with a friend and built a recording studio in downtown Newark, New Jersey. "I was still disturbed by The Hit factory situation and figured I'll start out on my own". Six months later Xcel's then business partner pulled up with a U haul truck and equipped out the studio. On the verge of a nervous breakdown, Xcel dropped everything and moved to Atlanta, Georgia for a piece of mind.

          In 1997, Xcel left the music industry to begin working in the audiovisual industries installing audio video & multimedia facilities for fortune 500 corporations. "My objective has always been to remain flexible." For the next year, he traveled the East Coast and Midwest with other techies as an audiovisual technician installing & trouble shooting AV systems. "It was great being out of the studio and being in a different environment, but something was missing" Xcel realized he was living out of a suitcase and music was slowly becoming a memory. 

 For the next 10 years, Xcel designed & built his home studio, installed systems & worked on family life In Atlanta. During that time various artists, producers & other mixed trades requesting design or engineering on various projects. “Dr. Dame Kimes of Regatta Records & Married to Medicine use to stop by with BJ (Vocalist) & Kyle Norman of Jagged Edge (Vocal Coach). I worked on some projects with K-Joy - (vocalist) on Chip E - Like This. I recall doing a High School - Mixtape with my son’s friends. It was the first time I worked with (vocalist) Talon Matthews (Atlanta)."