A Conversation with Mark Linett:
AEA R44C “Classic” Ribbon Microphones and
the Big Band Sounds of Bill Elliott and George Gee.

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 AEAR44C.

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.