PreSonus Blog

Daniel Lombardi on the PreSonus 16.4.2

Educated on a diverse array of instruments, including guitar, bass, percussion, keyboards, tuba, euphonium, and concert harp, North Palm Beach, Florida, native Daniel Lombardi played his first paid gig at the seasoned old age of 11 at the Shell Patio in nearby Port Charlotte.

As a young adult, Lombardi enlisted in the U.S. Army, joining the 8th Infantry Division Band. While stationed in Germany, he took correspondence courses in music, earning a master’s degree in arrangement and composition, with a minor in applied jazz theory and performance.
Since returning to the USA, Lombardi has performed as a sideman or featured player with such A-list aritsts as Willie Nelson, The Harry Connick Jr. Orchestra, John Michael Montgomery, Kenny Chesney, Al Jarreau, Manhattan Transfer, and Billy Joe Shaver. He has also worked as a live-sound engineer.
Lombardi chose the PreSonus StudioLive 16.4.2 digital mixer based on a combination of word-of-mouth and complimentary online reviews. “I first saw the PreSonus StudioLive board on the Internet two years ago,” he says. “Boston’s on the Beach, a club in Delray Beach, Florida, asked me to find a good console to record live bands with, as they wanted me to record all the bands that played there for a 30th-anniversary CD. After reading the specs and reviews, I consulted a friend who owned a StudioLive and highly recommended it. We purchased the 16.4.2.”

He is confident it was the right choice. “After I spent a few days learning how to use it, I was completely sold!” he exclaims. “I told Boston’s on the Beach that they can get rid of their rackmount EQ’s, compressors, and effect units, as the StudioLive is equipped with everything that’s usually required in a live P.A. rig.
“After the first live recording,” he continues, ”I realized this board was the clearest, most transparent live console I’d ever heard. The quality of the EQ, compression, and effects shocked me. The subtle tonal characteristics of all the instruments recorded were reproduced faithfully, and I realized the converters in the StudioLive console far outperformed all other converters I had ever used, including the Lynx Aurora, the Apogee Rosetta 800, and every Digidesign and Avid converter.”

Lombardi’s enthusiasm for the brand doesn’t end with the StudioLive mixers, however. Lombardi has been putting his PreSonus Monitor Station to good use during production of his first solo CD, Speak Easy, which is scheduled for release in July 2012. “I’m also using the Monitor Station for recording in my project studio,” he notes. “Every piece of PreSonus gear I have used, in a recording studio or live, has been of outstanding audio quality.”