Engineer Mark Linett (pictured) recorded Jimmy Buffet and the Coral Reefer Band at a special charity show on the Caribbean island of Anguilla in late March. Linett shipped a rack of API/ATI 8MX2 mic preamps/mixers to the island especially for the occasion.
“We have three remote systems,” explains Linett. “Our smallest and most portable system consists of six of the API/ATI 8MX2s as the front end. For doing a capture, it’s a great way to avoid having to carry a console, as they are a nice little stereo mixer.”
Well suited for pairing with a digital multitrack recording system, the compact 8MX2 offers eight proprietary API/ATI high-voltage mic preamps in a single rackspace and incorporates a stereo mix bus with full monitoring capabilities. Each channel features a variable threshold limiter, plus full cueing capability with level and limiter attenuation metering.
“The sound is excellent and it’s a great package,” says Linett. “Frankly, the kick-over point is the mixer and the flexibility. How else are you going to cram that much into that small a space?”
Linett reports that he needed to expand his recording flypack for Buffet’s show, which was presented by one of Anguilla’s best-known reggae stars, Bankie Banx, at his beachfront Dune Preserve property, with all proceeds benefiting Banx’ Project Stingray music and education program.
“I have a 14-space rack with six of the API/ATI 8MX2 mic preamps, a hard disk recorder and power. That and a mic splitter are about all that you need. But they needed slightly more than 48 tracks, so we were using a 48-track hard disk recorder and a couple of MDMs, and we were actually running seven of the API/ATI preamps.”
After two days working with Buffet and his band, says Linett, “I stayed on for a week to also record Bankie Banx at Moonsplash, which is an annual reggae festival down there.” The three-day event, also presented at Dune Preserve, featured Onaje Allen Gumbs, Bunny Wailer and other reggae stars in addition to Bankie Banx and his Roots & Herbs band.
For more information, visit www.apiaudio.com, www.ypomr.com and http://bankiebanx.net/Stingray.html.
