Beyoncé is on fire. According to Billboard Magazine, she's racked up major milestones in her career over the past 12 months, from appearances at the 2009 presidential inauguration to a worldwide tour grossing $53.5 million with no end in sight. Her latest album "I Am...Sasha Fierce" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 last November with a string of Billboard Hot 100 spin-offs, including "If I Were a Boy," "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and "Sweet Dreams." After bestowing their annual Woman of the Year Award on Beyoncé earlier this month at a gala event in New York City, Billboard's editorial director Bill Werde quipped, "It is theoretically possible that someone on some other planet had a better year than Beyoncé, but I'm not buying it."

We recently caught up with Kevin "Kwiz" Ryan and James "McGoo" McGregor Jr., who handle computer programming duties for Beyoncé's current "I...am" World Tour using a MOTU-based rig featuring Digital Performer and MOTU PCI audio interfaces.

MOTU: McGoo, how long have you been with Beyoncé?

McGoo: I started in 2002 with Destiny's Child and have been a part of every major tour with Destiny's Child and Beyoncé since then.

MOTU: And how did you get started in the business?

McGoo: My story: completely into music since I was three, grew up in the same neighborhood as Prince — that's right, number 28 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time! — and other greats like Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Made myself useful enough to do everything with Prince, from playing percussion on tour, to two albums, to stage and production management.

James "McGoo" McGregor Jr. and Kevin "Kwiz" Ryan