MCI (audio)

MCI was a company that manufactured recorders for multitrack recording in professional recording studios. One of their most successful products was the model JH-24 recorder, which recorded 24 tracks of audio to reels of 2" wide tape at either 15 or 30 inches per second.

The JH-16 and later the JH-24 were (and still are) one of the industry standards for 24-track analog audio recording, and were installed in many audio recording studios starting in the early 70s. The JH-24 is still in use today among recording engineers and recording artists who still desire to record in analog, and have 24 tracks at their immediate disposal.

MCI also manufactured audio mixing consoles as well. The MCI JH600 console is still sought after as a great sounding Analog Recording Console, and many studios in the 80's had the JH600 Console together with the JH24 Tape recorder and the JH110B 2 track Tape recorder, making for an "All MCI" studio.

Later on, Sony would market some of MCI's multi-track recorders (including the JH-24), after their purchase of the company.

History

The founder of MCI, G. C. "Jeep" Harned, owned a small Hi-Fi shop in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida when he was approached by Mack Emmerman, the owner of Criteria Recording Studios in Miami. Mack was constantly trying to improve the sound of his studios, and Jeep contributed to that by building custom electronics for Mack's Ampex tape recorders, and mixing/recording consoles as well.

The now famous Tom Dowd, who was the main engineer for Atlantic Records, was attracted to the southern Florida weather and began working on many projects at Criteria. The projects he worked on are legendary today: The Young Rascals, Eric Clapton, The Allman Brothers (and many other Southern rockers), The Bee Gees, and on and on. This exposure helped MCI to become the leading manufacturer of recording machines and consoles in the world, and in the late 70's, over half of the records in Billboard's Top 200 were recorded and/or mixed using MCI equipment.

Sony bought the company in 1982 in an effort to integrate audio with their burgeoning video product line, but were not very successful for a variety of reasons. The MCI logo soon disappeared from the Sony product catalog, and the product line faded away.

External links

* [http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_jeep_harned/index.html Obituary on Grover C. "Jeep" Harned, the founder of MCI]
* [http://analogrules.com/Gallery/MCI Various images of MCI recorders]
* [http://mcirecording.com Site dedicated to the technology and products of MCI, Inc.]