Big sound, small footprint — the Neve 1073LB travels with Jack Cochrane from studio to stage.
–

For Jack Cochrane, lead singer and songwriter of The Snuts, capturing a song in its rawest form is the very heart of music-making. Whether on tour, in a cabin in the Scottish Highlands, or working from his self-built home studio, Jack is committed to chasing that fleeting spark – the moment when an idea is fresh, unfiltered and full of energy. Supporting that process is a vocal chain he relies on completely: the Shure SM7B microphone, paired with the unmistakable sonic character of the Neve 1073LB.

The Snuts have emerged as one of Scotland’s most exciting modern indie bands. Since their early days gigging in local pubs and bowling clubs, they’ve gone on to chart-topping success, selling out major UK venues, landing a No.1 album in the UK with their 2021 debut W.L., and earning a reputation for their gritty, heartfelt songwriting and stadium-sized hooks. Their music blends anthemic indie rock with sharp lyricism, delivered through Jack’s distinctive vocals – a sound that’s been carefully crafted through both experience and instinct.

Now several albums into their career, Jack has carved out a workflow that allows him to stay close to the source of his creativity. “I’ve built this space at home where I can write and record straight away,” he explains. “I don’t want to be wiring stuff up when I’m feeling something. If I write something I love, I want it to be usable. That’s the whole point. The magic’s not going to hit again in two months. It’s got to happen now.”

At the centre of his setup are two 1073LB preamps, one dedicated to vocals, the other to acoustic guitar. “I’m obsessed with momentum,” Jack says.

“That’s everything. If I have to mess around getting levels or cabling stuff up, I lose the momentum. But if I can hit record and it sounds the way it’s supposed to. That’s how the real stuff gets made.”

Jack’s approach is rooted in his practical, hands-on background. “I was a joiner, the drummer was a mechanic, the bassist was a roofer, and our guitarist was a stonemason,” he recalls. “We worked five days a week and rehearsed seven nights a week.” That tradesman mindset never left – he’s always asking how things work and how to improve his sound using the tools available.

Jack Cochrane and his 1073LB’s

His connection to the 1073 goes back to those early days.

“I remember working with Inflo, he’s a producer I really respect and he brought this 1073 into the studio, just a tabletop unit. He was using it in this really creative way, pushing it hard on guitars and bass, and getting all this saturated tone I’d never heard before. That was the first bit of gear I saw where I thought: that does something I can’t do.”

From that moment, the Neve sound became a core part of his recording philosophy. Whether tracking vocals, acoustic guitars, or vintage instruments, the 1073LB has remained a constant – delivering warmth, clarity and in Jack’s words, “personality.” It’s this quality that’s helped shape not just The Snuts’ sound, but also Jack’s process as a writer and producer.

“My vocal chain hasn’t changed in years,” he says.

“It’s an SM7B straight into the 1073LB. I’ve tried expensive mics, but they don’t suit my voice. This setup just works. I know exactly how it’ll sound; bright but controlled, full of character.”

The same is true for his acoustic guitar recordings, which he describes as one of the most challenging parts of the process. “I’ve been battling acoustics my whole life,” he laughs. “Live, in the studio – I always want it to sound like you’re sitting across from me. With the 1073LB, I just turn it on and play. It gets me where I need to be.” He now pairs it with a Neumann TLM 103 for a simple yet effective acoustic chain. “I don’t want to be running it through everything. I want it to feel natural.”

That instinctive, ready-to-go approach is critical – especially given Jack’s writing style. Whether sketching ideas on the road or recording hotel room demos with full vocals and instrumentation, he needs gear that can move as fast as his ideas. “Every hotel room I go into, the setup comes out: speakers, mics…everything,” he says. “We recorded most of our last record on the road – Japan, Australia, America, all over.”

“The 1073LBs just go in the bag, and I can set up anywhere.”

Even his old, worn-out gear gets a new lease of life thanks to the 1073LB. “I’ve got this horrible ‘60s Japanese bass. Through most stuff, it sounds awful. But through the Neve, it suddenly has all this character. It brings it to the surface.”

Simplicity and sound quality go hand-in-hand and Jack credits early major-label sessions for reinforcing that lesson. “When we got signed, they flew us out to L.A., and it was the first time we’d ever even been in a proper studio. We worked with amazing producers and saw how records get made. We were sponges. But even then, I realised it wasn’t about flashy gear, it was about understanding how to get what you want, fast.”

Jack has also added a Neve 88M to his set-up

That mindset continues to shape his independent work. Now releasing music under their own label through The Orchard, The Snuts have complete creative control and Jack has more freedom than ever to work the way he wants. “It’s still the same records, same quality, same success – just more control,” he says. “And a big part of that is having the right tools in my own space.”

That control extends to his writing partnerships too. “My role is the spark, the concept. I want to get the song to a place where other people can then bring what they do. So, I need a vocal chain that works without me spending hours on the laptop. I want people to hear the idea at its best, right from the start.”

For Jack, the 1073LB doesn’t just work – it gets out of the way. “I’m not a gearhead,” he admits. “I just want to write and capture the song.”

“But I’ve never done a vocal take that wasn’t on a 1073. That chain, SM7B into the Neve, it’s on everything.”

He’s also not afraid to push it. “I like being able to drive it, get that transformer saturation. Whether it’s vocals or bass or guitar, I love the colour you get when you push it hard.”

Jack doesn’t talk about the 1073LB in technical terms. For him, it’s all about what the sound represents. “To me, it’s personality,” he says. “That’s what I’m trying to get into the music – where you’re from, what you’re saying, the history behind the song. The 1073 helps that come through. That’s why it’s still in every setup I use.”

Learn more about the 1073LB by visiting the product page here. 

You can follow The Snuts on Instagram here.

Interested in purchasing a 1073LB? Reach out to our team using the Contact Page.

The post Neve 1073LB powers Jack Cochrane’s creative process at home and on the road appeared first on AMS | Neve.

1073OPX captures the perfect gig for Ringo & Friends at the Ryman

 

A legendary venue, iconic artists, and one of the industry’s most trusted engineers—Rob Dennis captures a once-in-a-lifetime performance with the power of the 1073OPX.

 

From L to R: Paul Franklin, Rob Dennis, T Bone Burnett, Daniel Tashin and Greg Strike

Sitting back and reflecting on Ringo & Friends at the Ryman, there is one phrase that Rob Dennis, owner of Rack-N-Roll Audio, uses to describe the experience: “It was the perfect gig, and I don’t think I’ll ever do another one like it”. For someone of Rob’s experience on the road as a touring engineer, in the studio as a producer and supplying gear as the owner of a rental company, that is a big statement.

Rob has worked on several shows over the years at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, and recorded dozens of ‘Live at the Ryman’ records. It is fair to say he knows the room better than most people and understands exactly what it takes to create a live recording in the space that will make people feel like they are in the room for the performance. “I’m blessed to get to work there all the time,” says Rob. “I have to capture the sound of the room and then I have to capture the audience. And I see those as two different things. I have a very involved set up at the Ryman, people hire me to record there because I definitely have a pretty dialed in way to get the sound.”

When he discovered that Ringo Starr was working with T Bone Burnett to put on a show at the Ryman, he was immediately in touch to ensure that he could lend his expertise. Rob reached out to both the Ryman and T Bone Burnett’s team (who he had worked with on many other projects) to make sure that everyone knew he was available and ready to work on the live recording of Ringo & Friends.

One of the factors that made it a perfect gig was the crew-friendly timetable. This included the unusual luxury of the venue being booked for four days. This meant the first day was purely for the load in to make sure all of the vintage equipment was settled and functioning properly. As such, day two was entirely dedicated to rehearsals before the two days of performances. Rob was brought in for live capture of the two performances to create a clean recording that could be used for a CBS broadcast.

With his focus purely on the live capture of the shows, Rob selected the equipment he wanted to use with Neve 1073OPX preamps as one of the core components. Having used the 1073OPX rig on multiple high-profile projects, such as capturing performances from Carrie Underwood, Jellyroll, Keith Richards, Post Malone, Lee Brice, Red Clay Strays and Dusty Slay, it was an easy decision. “We have multiple flight rigs, but with Ringo it was a no brainer, this has to be an Neve,” he smiles.

“What’s more Neve than recording a Beatle and T Bone!”

Creating rigs capable of handling this kind of production is something that comes from Rob’s varied career. “My background is touring, but I’ve been a studio guy for 20 years as well too, so I see the equipment we spec as our mobile recording rig, I’m literally doing the same thing I would in the studio,” he explains. “What I love about the 1073OPX is my ability to do what I call tone shaping. I’m able to saturate the input transformer, drive it a little harder when it is appropriate and then not so much for things that you want to just be beautiful, open and sparkly. It’s fantastic because it has all the controls you need. It has phase invert. It has a high pass filter it has the pad which is super important. But most important to the Neve sound is that transformer on the microphone input, I feel like that’s where the magic is.”

Ringo & Friends at the Ryman is part of a larger project between Ringo Starr and T Bone Burnett that has seen the pair work together on a new album in The Village – Studio Z. This space relies on an Neve G96 (48-channel) Genesys Black console, a solution that benefits from the same preamps as the 1073OPX. This meant that using the OPX rig for the live recording would help to bring the same sound to the broadcast as could be found in the rest of the project.

A rack of 1073OPX’s

Rob used eight 1073OPXs to give him 64 channels to capture the band’s microphones at the gain stage. He believes this approach gives him a unique vantage point into how the setup is working and if anything could be improved. “If a monitor engineer or FOH is listening to the soundcheck through their in-ears, they are listening through the console,” he notes. “It has EQ, it has gates, it has compression. So a lot of the time, just being able to listen to the gain, I hear the low-level buzzes and hums that they don’t hear. It means we can have a conversation after the soundcheck and I can help them clean up the mix a little. A lot of the time they love listening in the level of detail I am, but it’s just the mic pre getting the signal, that is all I’m listening to.”

Aside from the quality of the sound, it is the functionality of the 1073OPX that makes it one of the go-to elements of his rig. “It’s all analogue control, you can grab the knob and make the adjustments, but you have an app on your computer so you can store settings,” he explains. “Let’s say I have three acts, a headliner and two openers. I can soundcheck them, save all my settings and literally just hit load when it’s show time, and it populates all my settings from soundcheck. It really allows you to store and save, but you can still grab that big red knob and twist it to make the adjustments you need if say, they start hitting the snare harder when the performance has started.”

The 1073OPX has been a particularly useful tool for Rob. He has enjoyed the combination of analogue and digital with the app and the support he has received from Neve. But perhaps the most important aspect is the sound.

“It’s just kind of the sound of rock’n’roll, it’s the sound of my childhood, you know, the sound of all the records I liked,”

“If there’s obnoxious high frequency stuff, that input transformer just chills it out a little bit. I think it’s how it deals with the top end transients. To my ears, it’s kind of slowing it down a little bit. Sometimes there are mic pres that are extremely fast, and they get all that level transient detail and sometimes that’s not appropriate. And I feel like Neve is fast enough, but it almost slows a transient down slightly in a beautiful way.”

With this project focused on recording for broadcast, reliability was always going to be a key factor. When capturing live performances, the sound is mission critical so Rob has to have full trust in the equipment he uses. Fortunately, the experience he has had with the 1073OPX means he feels completely at ease putting it into action for high profile gigs.

“Reliability is paramount to my remote recording rigs and we have not had one hiccup since owning these OPXs,”

Reflecting on capturing Ringo & Friends, Rob is full of praise for everyone involved. “It was a perfect gig, and it was the only perfect gig I’ve ever done,” he states. “It’s a credit to the whole team involved, everyone was at their very best and they invested in the talent and manpower to put the show on. That was the philosophy, and it worked.”

 

Rob Dennis and Greg Strike

Reflecting on capturing Ringo & Friends, Rob is full of praise for everyone involved. “It was a perfect gig, and it was the only perfect gig I’ve ever done,” he states. “It’s a credit to the whole team involved, everyone was at their very best and they invested in the talent and manpower to put the show on. That was the philosophy, and it worked.”

Learn more about the 1073OPX by visiting the product page here. 

Connect with Rack N Roll Audio on Facebook here.

Interested in purchasing a 1073OPX? Reach out to one of our authorised Neve Dealers here.

The post 1073OPX captures the perfect gig for Ringo & Friends at the Ryman appeared first on AMS | Neve.

At a special ceremony at our global headquarters in Burnley, we were honoured with a formal presentation of our King’s Award for Enterprise for Excellence in Overseas Trade, by HRH King Charles III’s representative, the Lord-Lieutenant of Lancashire Mrs Amanda Parker JP.

Mark Crabtree and esteemed dignitaries in front of the 88R console.

We’re proud to be the creators of digital and analogue audio equipment found in the world’s most prestigious studios worldwide, which are all designed and made in Burnley. Our pioneering products – including many “world firsts” – have changed the way that Music, TV and Film production is carried out worldwide. We export over 85% year upon year, to 90 countries and have been awarded four previous Queen’s Awards for Enterprise.

The special ceremony included a talk about the history of the company by Managing Director Mark Crabtree OBE, plus a speech of congratulations from the Mayor of Burnley, and guests then enjoyed a demonstration of the impressive Digital Film Console mixing desk, plus a factory tour including all departments meeting staff, and a VIP preview of a new console which will be installed in Abbey Road Studios.

Lord-Lieutenant of Lancashire, Mrs Amanda Parker JP, presenting Mark Crabtree with the Kings Award

The Mayor of Burnley, Cllr Shah Hussain said: “It gives me great pleasure to share in the pride which we all have of the achievements of AMS Neve. The company continues to go from strength to strength and is recognised worldwide as best in class at what you do. All of you are proof that British design and engineering cannot be beaten.

“May I say on behalf of Burnley how proud we are that you are such a strong, successful and innovative company, and that you continue to train new generations and expand. We wish you every success in the future.”

Mark Crabtree and a selection of the AMS Neve team showcasing an 8424 and Genesys Black Console to the dignitaries

The Lord-Lieutenant of Lancashire, Mrs Amanda Parker JP, commented: “I hope you are all incredibly proud because each and every one of you has contributed to this, and it wouldn’t happen without you. The continual growth in exports, in innovation of product, is just astonishing. I congratulate every one of you.

“Only around 10% of applications are finally awarded the King’s Award. You go through rigorous testing, with due diligence, then something like 18 or more government departments. To pass all those tests and then be awarded, it really is something to be incredibly proud of.”

Mark Crabtree added, “This is a lovely tribute to the team here. We’re very honoured to have received this award, it really does mean a lot to us. Everybody here is very hard working, and very dedicated to what we do.

“To receive an award that’s from the nation, from the King, is something very special indeed and means a lot to all the team. I do thank you very much indeed for presenting us with this award.”

You can view the very special video as the Lord Lieutenant presents the award and takes a tour around the facilities.

The post AMS Neve Awarded King’s Award for Enterprise in Overseas Trade at Special Ceremony appeared first on AMS | Neve.

The iconic Massey Hall has played host to some of the world’s greatest performers as the premiere performance venue for Toronto, Canada. The addition of the 1073OPX rolling rack gives it the ability to back up this status with pristine recordings, from every space.

Parcels at Massey Hall. Photo by Nick Wons (www.wons.ca). 

The list of people who have played Toronto’s Massey Hall is a veritable who’s who of any genre. From Monserat Caballe and Luciano Pavarotti to George Gershwin and Arturo Toscanini via Bob Dylan, Cream, Justin Bieber, Van Halen, Kraftwerk and Harry Styles, the historic concert hall has played host to some of the world’s greatest performers.

Adding to this legacy is a real pedigree in live recording with artists including Neil Young, Rush, Matthew Good and Whitehorse, to name a few all, recording live albums at the venue. So when Massey Hall decided that it was time for a refresh, a purpose-built recording studio for capturing performances all around the expanded venue became a possibility. Turning this dream into a reality has seen a rolling rack of 1073OPX remote-controllable preamps proving its worth as the perfect tool to help capture performances in pristine audio quality.

Opened in 1894, Massey Hall is Canada’s oldest concert venue. Any performance space of this age brings its fair share of challenges for modern productions, and it was the lack of a loading dock that was the real issue for Massey Hall. To overcome this obstacle, while also modernising the technical capabilities of the venue, Massey Hall embarked on a ten-year refurbishment and expansion project. A key element to this has been the creation of the Allied Music Centre, a seven-storey glass building connected to the historic venue to enhance its facilities for performers and visitors alike.

In addition to the purpose-built loading dock, extra washrooms and hospitality facilities, the new building offers a number of extra performance spaces of various sizes, designed to help provide a pathway for artists to build their audience on the way to Massey Hall’s 3,000-capacity auditorium.

The TD Music Hall

The expansion project also provided Massey Hall with an opportunity to bring more of its production offerings in house. The venue has regularly delivered live albums and films of the performances it has hosted but has often needed to bring in equipment from external suppliers to achieve that. The plan for the Allied Music Centre included a fifth-floor content capture studio which featured a video switching system and audio capture room using the new networked AV infrastructure. However, a conversation with Eddie Kramer led to a new idea about what the venue could offer.

“We started looking at what we were going to do on the seventh floor, and we had started to talk to Eddie Kramer because he had moved to Toronto,” recalls Doug McKendrick, Vice President of Production and Technology for Massey Hall and Roy Thompson Hall.

“We came up with this thought to build a recording studio on the seventh floor and to take it to a different level.”

Doug McKendrick with the rolling 1073OPX rack in the Deane Cameron Recording Studio

The result of this collaboration led to the Deane Cameron Recording Studio, named in memory of Massey Hall’s former CEO who had passed away suddenly during the project. The space combines a live floor and control room with writing rooms to create an artist development compound that can also be used for educational purposes within the local community.

As a critical commercial and educational resource, the studio needed to be fitted out with high-quality equipment while also having the ability to connect directly with any performance space in the venue. This is where the 1073OPX rolling rack comes into its own.

“Sound was the driving factor behind our decision to invest in the 1073OPX”

“It was trying to do this digital capture but, but not make it sound that way as much as possible. You roll that Neve rack on stage and people go ‘whoa’, it’s impressive. It looks amazing and people understand that they’re going to have a really good recording that they can do something with right off the bat.”

“We’re trying to set ourselves apart as much as we can in terms of quality of live recordings or any of the recordings that we do,” he continues.

“The 1073s play a critical role in that and are our go to preamp in a lot of respects. You have that punchy, warm Neve sound that’s just clear and awesome, it’s unmistakable.”

“I think we will see Dante start to become more prevalent in the professional studio ecosphere”

“We have a lot of analogue gear here and I think there is still a place for that, but connecting it via Dante into the I/O just made setting the studio up more affordable. When I get a piece of new equipment, if it has Dante, I don’t even have to think about how I’m going to integrate it, I just plug it in and then it works.”

The portable nature of the 1073OPX rack has also proved to be important as it has given the concert hall the ability to bring the high-quality Neve sound to every recording from the stage to the live room with control via the remote control app on a laptop in the control room. “We roll it right into that live room, there’s 64 Neve DIs there too, so you can plug right in,” says McKendrick. “We’re not going through long patch bays and it’s just as close to the source as you can get it.”

Rack of 1073OPX units, with Massey Hall in the background

The mobile nature of the solution does come with risks, but the remote locking feature in the control app is something that has really helped the venue. “We put this thing down on a stage, and it’s not a giant stage, and we have three or four truckloads of stuff on there,” explains McKendrick.

“Things get bumped into and it doesn’t take much to move the knobs. So the locking feature of the 1073OPX is a great thing and we wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing with them if that wasn’t there.”

With the expansion project complete, the newly refreshed Massey Hall has cemented its place as the premiere performance venue for Toronto. The addition of the 1073OPX rolling rack gives it the ability to back up this status with pristine recordings from every space.

Learn more about the 1073OPX by visiting the product page here. 

Interested in purchasing a 1073OPX? Reach out to one of our authorised Neve Dealers here.

The post 1073OPX rack proves crucial for Massey Hall recordings appeared first on AMS | Neve.

PoCheon Music Factory (PCMF), a dedicated studio and community centre in the north of Seoul, South Korea, have installed an 8424 console and Neve outboard units into their state-of-the-art facilities

David Lee in front of the 8424 console at PoCheon Music Factory (PCMF)

In recent years, K-Pop has become one of South Korea’s most significant exports. The global success of the genre stems back to a decision made in the late ‘90s to centre the Korean economy around creativity. The government made a conscious decision to invest in the arts with music creation as a central tenet.

One of the beneficiaries of this ongoing policy has been PoCheon Music Factory (PCMF), a dedicated studio and community centre in the north of the country. “In Korea, we have 14 recording studios that are government-involved, including PCMF,” explains David Lee, Chief Engineer at PCMF. “Considering the costs of recording, mixing and mastering music, the government involved studios provide more reasonable pricing. We also provide educational services including a local music school, master classes and music production services at low cost.”

Lee was recently hired by the government to build and run the music production studio in Pocheon. A self-confessed audio geek who started in the industry as an intern when he was 18, Lee still likes to get his hands dirty with tasks like soldering and assembling power cables. This gives him a unique and deep insight into every aspect of the studio’s technical setup.

When it came to designing the PCMF facility, he worked closely with Neve partner ANK on the signal flow for the live room, two isolated rooms and a vocal booth. “I designed the signal flow with Mr Park, from ANK,” explains Lee. “When designing the signal flow and patchbays, Mr Park was my lifesaver.”

PoCheon Music Factory (PCMF) is a dedicated studio and community centre in the north of the Seoul

The rooms at PCMF are all connected to allow all audio and video signals to be shared between spaces, enabling the facility to accommodate film scores or large-format sessions if required. To ensure the ultimate audio quality for every recording, Lee decided to invest in a Neve 8424 console to be the heart of the system.

“I always wanted to include a large console at PCMF,” says Lee. “I started my career with a large-format console. I love the sound that consoles produce, and it’s a familiar format for me to work with. I’ve always chosen to work on a console, but If I just do my work in the box, I design my master channel in a similar way to a console’s master section.”

The reason behind the selection of the 8424 was the quality it brings to the mix. “I chose the 8424 because it has the 80 series’ master section, and I love the way it sounds,” explains Lee.

“I can’t imagine my mixes without them passing the 8424’s master section. The 80 series’ master section sounds brilliant, and always helps me to make proper decisions.”

The console in use at PCMF also features Neve’s DAW control upgrade, which has made a major improvement to the studio’s workflow. “It’s a huge difference,” says Lee. “Having a DAW control on the desk makes the engineer’s work even faster. Also, Thanks to active fader control on the 8424, I have no worries on recall!”

David Lee working on the 8424 console in Pocheon, north of Seoul

A further benefit from the 8424 is the remote-control app.

“The biggest advantage of the remote control on the 8424 desk is that I never have to leave the sweet spot to operate it,” explains Lee. “I can always stay in the sweet spot, and make sure everything sounds perfect.”

While the 8424 is at the heart of the studio’s workflow, it is not the only piece of Neve gear put to use at PCMF. The studio also invested in a 33609 stereo compressor which works in tandem with the console. “It should be defined as Hybrid mixing,” says Lee. “The 8424 console and 33609 are always engaged either in a tracking or mixing process. The 33609 is brilliant. I use it more like a dual-mono compressor for vocals or kicks and snares.”

David with the 33609/N unit installed in the studio

In addition to this, the studio also uses the 1073OPX remote controllable preamps for tracking.

“I can track 32 channels one at a time, and the combination of the 8424 console and 1073OPX always helps,” states Lee.

“The 1073OPX is great, and the integration with 8424 makes my life so much easier.”

The result of this setup is the characteristic Neve sound that Lee describes as “cozy like home”, which gives the chief engineer reassurance that every mix will sound great. “The 8424 is the core of my studio and it always helps me to be more confident,” he surmises.

Thanks to government involvement, Pocheon has a top-of-the-line studio that is accessible to its local community and can help support up and coming artists. Thanks to its solid technical setup, PCMF will be a perfect starting point for Korea’s next generation of global stars.

Learn more about the 8424 console by visiting the product page here. 

Interested in purchasing the 8424 console? Reach out to one of our authorised Neve Dealers here.

The post 8424 drives hybrid mixing at PCMF appeared first on AMS | Neve.

AN EXCLUSIVE EVENT AT TILEYARD STUDIOS WITH NEVE, NEUMANN AND DOLBY

Friday 12th July, TYX Studios, Tileyard, 6pm – 10pm

The post Immerse Yourself in 3D Sound Innovation appeared first on AMS | Neve.

Known across the world for his work as part of British indie band Bastille and electronic duo Tyde, Kyle Simmons has grown up with music production in his veins. His fascination with instruments from an early age drove him to create his own electronic compositions from his first home studio setup that he describes as “begged, borrowed and just kind of like a Frankenstein’s Monster”.

While his passion and talent were recognised and supported, he also felt the same sense of frustration that many young producers experience – why didn’t the tracks he was putting together at home have the same sound as the music he was listening to. The answer to this question came to him though the experience of his music technology degree and sessions with Bastille in some of the world’s finest recording studios.

“It’s important for any aspiring producer to know how effective a good signal chain is”

“I remember listening to other people’s productions and trying to work out ‘why does that sound like a real-life thing that would be in a song, and why is what I’m doing not? It just sounds flat’. I just couldn’t figure out what that was. But as soon as you start running a good microphone into a good cable into a good preamp, you understand. Unfortunately, particularly for someone just starting out, all that stuff does cost money.”

This understanding has served Simmons well with the latest iteration of his home setup which has recently been enhanced with the addition of a Neve 88M dual mic preamp and USB audio interface. “With a smaller setup with a lot less tech, high-end gear is where you see the biggest difference,” he reasons.

“I have a load of synths and to run all of that through the 88M, it was like ‘oh wow, there’s all the warm colour I’ve been missing”.

“I found that ultimately there was a lot less to do to the audio file once it’s in the DAW because it’s been put through the preamps. It was a real step up and often means that once you’ve finished the day, you haven’t really got to go back and run through all those things.”

While this has proved to be a real advantage for Simmons in his home studio, the portable nature of the 88M has also made it a vital tool for capturing sessions when he’s touring with Bastille. “Portability is huge, particularly for someone who travels, being able to reduce the amount of obstacles that you need to manoeuvre and to go from ‘I’ve got an idea’ to ‘I’m inputting my idea’, he explains. “When you’re on the road, normally you would have to come back and re-record stuff. The signal we get and the way that it was taken on the day, which is often the best take, it was all recorded through the preamps so we don’t need to go back and try and replicate the vibe that we had on the day in Germany somewhere or in America in a different room.

“We took the 88M to the States and it’s just so easy because it’s bus powered,” he continues. “You can just be on a tour bus sat with your laptop and you plug it in and you can do something within 10 seconds. If you’ve only got a bit of time between doing a sound check or some promo or going out for the day or whatever, in a heartbeat you’re up, you haven’t got worry about really anything. You plug it in and it’s good to go.”

As well as running synths through the audio interface, Simmons also uses his 88M for a variety of sources.

“I’ve run mics through it and they’ve sounded great. I’ve done that and basses guitars. We have a studio down in South London and they’ve got a side production room and I’ll take the 88M with me and that’s what we choose over the stuff that is in the room. It’s just such a leg up from a line straight through. It gives it the warmth.”

It is this warmth that defines the Neve sound for Simmons. “It’s rounded and warm,” he states. “That’s just what I pair with Neve products, it’s what you expect and that’s what I’ve noticed from what I’ve been recording.”

Learn more about the Neve 88M by visiting the product page here. 

Interested in purchasing the Neve 88M? Reach out to one of our authorised Neve Dealers here.

The post 88M captures the moment for Bastille’s Kyle Simmons appeared first on AMS | Neve.

A quick tour of Tobias Menguser’s studio is enough to take anyone’s breath away. It is a constantly evolving space filled with vintage synthesisers, stomp boxes, and reams of processing gear. Sitting at the heart of this space is an 8424 console which he uses to tie in his whole sonic palette.

Tobias has been working in sound design since the early 1990s. He has experienced everything in his illustrious career from programming synths to chart success. However, it was the creation of software instruments and designing samples that really captured his imagination.

What started as a way to maintain his creativity while he worked in a more business-oriented side of the industry has blossomed into his full-time job. “Around 2010 I randomly met a guy who worked on trailer sound design in Hollywood and started providing sounds for trailers. It’s producing catalogues of single sounds like risers and hits. Those catalogues are handed over to the trailer companies and when they want to use a certain sound, they pay for it. Today I have more than 500 trailers using my sounds and quite often one sound is used in many trailers.”

Tobias has recently been focusing on his new company, 10 Phantom Rooms, designing instruments for film composers and all other kind of music producers. The samples that he creates are not trying to be perfect emulations of real instruments but take a hybrid approach to combine real sounds with highly processed versions. The result is something completely unique. “I’m taking real piano samples, using the Neve desk, routing it to my modular system, making a dirty piano out of it, and combining the real piano sounds with the dirty ones in a unique way and trying to create new sounds based on my processing skills and possibilities.”

The processing that goes on behind the creation of one sample is remarkable. “When I’m doing a sustained string processed sound, I’m using multiple channels on my 8424 to create that sound,” Tobias explains. “It’s not just I have the original sound, send it to a modular filter and that’s it. On other channels I use, for example, harmonic distortion being sent through another filter, being sent to my 500 rack and to other channels. So in the end, you would see in Nuendo 10 to 15 tracks but it’s mixed down to one sample. It’s much more than one track with one filter treatment. It’s multiple tracks over the Neve desk that results in the new samples.”

The 8424 proved itself to be the exact tool that Tobias needed in his signal chain. He already had two 500 series racks providing his pre-amps, external stereo equalisers, analogue compressors and other secret sound shapers, he just needed a large routing console, which was exactly what the Neve desk offered. “There is no other product that does this of this size and with these possibilities,” he states.

Tobias essentially treats his 8424 as a patchbay. He assigns specific channels for a certain effect and then he choses the different ones that he has stacked up. “I can route a signal by pressing one button to a filter or to two different filters entirely.”

One of Tobias’ unique ways of working is that he uses the digital side to decide where to put audio on his desk. The console is connected to his Nuendo DAW so when he changes the channel in Nuendo, it automatically changes the routing on the mixer. “It’s super quick to move tracks on Nuendo and to route sounds to different insert channels.”

With his recent addition of motorised faders for greater speed and automation, the desk is central to Tobias’ setup and there are some key features that he cannot live without. “It’s the sound quality, which is that warm, big sound which is the Neve sound for sure, and all the routing possibilities to quickly be able to route signals,” he explains.

Tobias is part of a large and growing community of electronic sound designers who rely on the 8424 desk, with the console really coming into its own for his unique workflow.

Learn more about the 8424 here.

Learn more about 10 Phantom Rooms here. 

The post The 8424 Fuels the Creative Process for Tobias Menguser appeared first on AMS | Neve.

Legendary Preamps

For six decades, Neve preamps have led the charge in studio technology, offering a premium front-end system that instils confidence in engineers, artists, and producers, allowing their creativity to flourish. The 1073SPX propelled this technology forward, catering to modern workflow demands. Now, the 1073SPX-D elevates this legacy to even greater heights.

Digital Innovation

The 1073SPX-D represents Neve’s drive for innovation in the esteemed 1073 line, by seamlessly integrating a full and genuine 1073 channel strip with a robust digital audio interface. USB and ADAT digital connections transform the 1073SPX-D into a versatile one-stop solution for recording, mixing, and monitoring in any studio setting or audio application.

Custom Workflows

The SPX-D’s innovative digital interface offers versatile functionality, catering to a multitude of workflows. Musicians can seamlessly connect the 1073SPX-D directly to a PC/Mac, streamlining the process with a simple ‘plug & play’ setup. Additionally, the 1073SPX-D acts as an ADAT audio expander for existing audio interfaces, allowing home studio users to integrate a complete 1073 channel strip into their setup with ease.

Analogue Legacy

The 1073 reigns supreme as the epitome of preamp excellence, embodying the Neve sound revered by professionals. Attempts to replicate its essence have all fallen short. The 1073SPX-D combines class-A circuit design with pristine AD/DA conversion technology derived from their immensely popular range of converters, delivering unparalleled sonic character.
Meticulously crafted by the expert Neve engineering team, the 1073SPX-D offers pure audio, to audio purists.

Robin Porter, Chief Engineer at AMS Neve says:

“The 1073SPX-D is a natural evolution of our analogue and digital circuit designs. After extensive research, it became clear that there was no single device that can handle both the analogue processing and digital conversion capabilities that the 1073SPX-D now offers in a single rackmount unit. Now, small home studio setups, or artists on the road can access the famed 1073 sound directly from their desktop or laptop computer, without the need for additional equipment. When our team began development of the 1073SPX-D, a no compromise approach to circuit design was applied throughout, ensuring that the 1073SPX-D remains true to the Neve name, and delivers the sound quality that our customers demand”.

Key Feature Snapshot

• Complete 1073 Channel Strip in 1U 19” rack format, perfect integration into modern studio setups.Class-A circuit design delivering the legendary Neve sound.
• New transformer balanced DI for Marinair harmonics for all instruments.
• Packed with extra features, including balanced Inserts, metering, output fader & more.
•  Complete audio Interface provides a powerful all-in-one solution for multiple studio workflows.
•  Pristine 192kHz and 24-bit AD/DA conversion to complement the classic 1073 analogue circuitry.
• Plug-and-play connectivity via class compliant USB connection.
• ADAT to USB integration enables I/O expansion for enhanced tracking and mixing capabilities.
• ADAT expansion mode allows the 1073SPX-D to enhance your existing audio interface with a complete analogue 1073 channel strip.
• DIGI I/O routing for using the 1073 as a hardware insert in your DAW.
• Multiple DAW monitoring pathways for ultimate flexibility.
• Monitor blend feature for custom latency-free monitoring capability.
• Powerful headphone amplifier to drive any vintage or modern headphone set.

The post 1073SPX-D: The World’s First Genuine 1073®Interface appeared first on AMS | Neve.

Inside the Home Studio of Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott

Play VideoPlay Video

The post Inside the Home Studio of Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott appeared first on AMS | Neve.