Brenell Mini 8

The Brenell Mini 8 is an 8-track 1-inch analog tape recorder from the 1970s. It was built as a portable device with 8 pre-amplifier modules and tape speeds of 7.5 and 15 ips, plus indirect motor drive which helped reduce wow and flutter from the increased drag of 1" tape. Upon release it became popular amongst composers, musicians & bands such as Genesis and Peter Gabriel.

Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks and Peter Gabriel all received a Brenell Mini 8 in 1979 as part of their Allen & Heath Brenell (AHB) studio package. They used the Brenell Mini 8 a lot for recording demos at home, which were often re-recorded in the studio with higher grade gear.

But in Phil's case, he kept his 8-track recordings as the final masters, transferring them to 24-track for further overdubs on albums from Face Value onwards. Later on, he would acquire an Akai digital 12-track, which would later replace the Brenell. Like Phil, Tony used his 8-track recordings as the basis of the final masters on The Fugitive soundtrack, although he replaced a lot of the parts and didn't keep as many of the demo parts as Phil often did.

Anthony Phillips (founding member of Genesis who left in 1970) also bought a Brenell Mini 8 in late 1979, and used it for projects until it was to be replaced with a Fostex 16-track in 1988.