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AEA R44C and R44CX
A Conversation with Mark Linett: AEA R44C "Classic" Ribbon Microphones and the Big Band Sounds of Bill Elliott and George Gee
July 1999
By Mark Linett
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(454Kb) We spoke with Mark on July 6, 1999 about his career in the recording industry and the "Battle of the Big Bands" July 3 at the Hollywood Paladium using the AEA R44C.
Mark began his recording career while in college when he started his own PA company. While running the company, he began working with artists such as Seals & Crofts, Sha Na Na, and Livingston Taylor.
Two years later, Mark began working in Hollywood for Artist Recording Studio. "It was a pretty funky old place," he said, "at 6 PM every night the local AM radio transmitters switched patterns and began interfering with the recording equipment." Yet he remembers being happy about the recording freedom he otherwise enjoyed there.
For a brief period Mark worked for Paramount and then Mystic studios. But in 1973 he moved to New York and began working as a staff engineer in Manhattan. He then enrolled at Boston University as a communications major, moved to Boston and volunteered at the school's 50,000 watt NPR station.
While living in Boston, he met a Hanley Sound rep. who knew Frank Zappa's crew. When Zappa's soundman became sick before the first tour date in Hartford, Connecticut, Mark recieved a phone call. It was Zappa's band, who wanted him to fill in. He single-handedly, mixed the concert from their 48-channel board. From that success he ended up working with Zappa's band for the next two years.
In 1976, Mark worked for Earth, Wind & Fire's 8-month tour. During that time he met George Massenberg and was offered a job as second engineer at Sunset Sound, which he accepted. He worked at Sunset for two years before striking out on his own to become an independent engineer in 1979.
But it wasn't long before the industry experienced a slump and self-employment became an uphill battle. Mark went to work for Amigo (Warner Bros.) under Lee Herschberg. While at Amigo, he worked with Randy Newman, Ricki Lee Jones, Los Lobos and Michael McDonald. He remained at Amigo until 1984 when Warner Bros. shut the studio down.
Mark returned to his independent status full-time in 1984. One of his long-term projects included working with Brian Wilson on his solo LPs, Beach Boys compact disc reissues for Capitol Records, and The Pet Sounds Sessions boxset which earned him a Grammy nomination in 1998.
When he moved to his current residence in Southern California nine years ago he was looking for a house to accommodate a small studio. Today that studio includes a customized API console with 36 inputs and flying faders, his airpack remote system, and a 14 input UA console, built in 1962 and originally installed in Western Studio #2.
Ninety percent of his work is now done in his own home studio. He did 5 remotes this year with his business "Your Place or Mine Location Recording." His home studio (a 20 x 15 room) allows him to develop individual techniques, experimenting with room mics and sounds.
When asked about ribbon mics, Mark commented that he began using them seriously about 10 years ago. He was working on a film project using Coles 4038 short ribbon microphones on bass and guitar amps. Today, Mark likes to use 4 or 5 ribbons on drum kits (toms and overheads) with dynamic and condensers on snares. "Ribbons have great clarity and can handle plenty of eq," he says. Mark occasionally uses a stereo condenser mic and a few dynamic mics, but primarily, he uses ribbons. "I've had RCA 44B's and 44BX's in my collection for quite awhile, and the AEA 44C sounded as good or better than the best 44 I own," he says.
On a July 3 project, "Battle of the Big Bands" at the Hollywood Paladium that featured both the Bill Elliott and George Gee Swing Orchestras on a single stage. Mark used the AEA R44C on both saxophone and trombones plus an RCA 77D on trumpets for Bill Elliott's band. For George Gee's band, Mark used a Coles 4038 on sax, an AEA R44C on trombone and again, a RCA 77D on trumpets. "The recordings from the Hollywood Paladium came out great, and the AEA 44C's were a big part of the sound."
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