This Neve 8028 has helped record many rock hits. Unlike many studio mixing desks used to make hit songs, this desk only has 24 tracks. It forced many artists to make creative decisions to help make sure that the song would work in 24 tracks. Dave Grohl (Drummer for Nirvana) said “One of the things I think that makes good music is some sort of…restrictions…”. In this blog I will go through the history behind the console but most importantly the man behind the invention, Rupert Neve.
How it came on to the scene
Firstly let’s jump into the history of this mixing console to show you just how only 1 of many mixing consoles designed by Neve impacted the music industry. You can’t talk about this console without talking about the recording studio that brought It to popularity, Sound city in Los Angeles. From the 1970s onwards this recording studio would be associated with a ridiculous amount of great music. Some great artists include Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Neil Young and Rage against the machine. Dave Grohl (In charge of making the sound city documentary who I mention alot in this recorded at Sound city with Nirvana in 1991. It changed rock music to say the least. Dave Grohl stated that during the 60s and 70s recording equipment had just begun to improve and Neve consoles were being installed in a majority of studios at that time. It was like the ‘cadillac” of consoles. Yet it was simple he said. Anytime an artist would record on the Neve 8028 their recording would make them sound better with a warm rich timbre. It sounded real yet better according to Dave. Alot of artists when recording tend to focus on the microphone or what room the recording is in but the Neve 8028 made artists such as Dave Grohl think about the impact that the mixing console may have.
Rupert Neve
Now let’s jump into talking about the main man, Rupert Neve was a British engineer born in 1926 on July 31. He was considered a pioneering designer of professional audio recording equipment. He even served his country well during World War 2. He was enlisted in the Royal Corp of Signals which had the purpose of providing communication support to the army. After the war he could focus on things that he loved so in the 1960s he did just that and founded Neve Electronics in 1961. After that comes in great tracks that would define the genre as discussed previously.
Neve’s EQ design
One of Neve’s many great achievements was the creation of his flagship EQ design, which would be implemented in most of the mixing console for years to come. The “Neve sound” as it’s referred to. This great idea came from his idea to remove the need to rerecord after a live performance.
Conclusion
To my eyes this man can be seen as the Steve Jobs of audio equipment. What he has done for the industry as a whole is phenomenal to the point where even artists praise the genius. However I must inform you that he unfortunately passed away on February 21st 2021. Rest in peace to a king. We won’t leave it on a sad note however cos in 1997 he was awarde with a technical Grammy for his achievements within the field.