Renowned British classical music sound engineer and producer Tony Faulkner has added an Audient iD44 (MkII) to his mobile recording set-up, becoming one of the first owners of the manufacturer’s newest and most powerful interface since its launch.

With a long history of orchestral recording, Faulkner is regularly out and about recording classical and light music in different venues around the world. Quickly becoming au fait with his new Audient gear, it was important that it took as little fuss as possible. ‘Joy of joys, it all worked first time straight out of the box,’ he says. ‘Great. Premium sound quality. Being able to add an ASP880 for extra channels is very useful, as is the talkback facility. And having four inputs means we can record Ambisonics.’

Faulkner appreciates the enhancements that set the iD44 (MkII) apart from its predecessor,. He highlights the iD44 (MkII)’s ‘ultra high quality’ and ‘low latency’ in particular. ‘The two headphone sockets with individual volume controls are handy too,’ he says. With both a quarter-inch jack and a mini-jack, three sets of headphones can be plugged into the iD44 (MkII) at once.

‘I’m used to dragging heavy rack cases. iD44 (MkII) is very compact for projects where I have to pack everything into a carry-on for a flight. It’s particularly compact considering everything the iD44 (MkII) can do. There’s no compromise on quality.’

Faulkner is also pleased with the Audient Nero studio monitor controller that he bought at the same time as the interface. He says it has ‘better sound quality and more flexibility’ as compared to his previous set-up.

‘It’s been excellent,’ he says. ‘Premium quality and very useful having multiple headphone outputs and inbuilt high quality DAC. Quite a few classical music producers like to monitor on headphones and the Nero makes this easy. It has better options for talkback too, including being able to plug in an external mic.

‘I’ve used Audient tech for many years and I have a lot of respect – and gratitude – for the combination of quality and usability, and determination not to break the bank. I’ve made hundreds of albums using Audient preamps.’

More: www.audient.com