American Mobile makes “good long-term investment” in Focusrite gear

Remote production company American Mobile has expanded its arsenal with Focusrite’s RedNet audio converters and interfaces, utilising Dante as the signal-transport backbone of its portable systems.

Last year American Mobile invested in its first RedNet hardware to eliminate long analogue cable runs from stage.

This lightened the travel load while improving quality with renowned Focusrite mic pre’s onstage digitally interfaced with American Mobile’s digital consoles and DAW systems. American Mobile has now configured three identical systems for remote use.

American Mobile’s systems have been used at festivals such as Lollapalooza, Coachella, Stagecoach, and Bonnaroo.

The racks can also be combined as needed for shows with larger numbers of inputs.

In addition to or in combination with the stage racks, American Mobile deploys small racks equipped with the Focusrite Red 8Pre 64-In / 64-Out Thunderbolt 2 and Pro Tools | HD compatible audio interface, featuring eight Red Evolution mic pres and 32×32 Dante audio-over-IP connectivity.

American Mobile chief engineer and owner Chris Shepard said: “The [Red] 8Pre connects to everything – it can be a very small, compact engine, and allow us to expand."

The setups include Pro Tools on a laptop, the Red 8Pre, additional preamps as needed, and the Focusrite RedNet AM2 two-channel headphone/line out interface.

“You can’t have enough of the AM2s,” added Shepard. “While the computers and a lot of the things that these units connect to with Dante are always changing, the Focusrite hardware and the Dante protocol are fantastic. It really opens your eyes to a lot of different connectivity, and so I think we’re still tip of the iceberg on what Dante can do. American Mobile has made a good long-term investment.”