Rupert Neve has died at the age of 94. His console and preamp designs have played a massive role in defining the sound of modern music.
Arguably the single greatest contributor to the design of equipment for the art of recording and mixing, Rupert Neve, has died at the age of 94.
You might have been lucky enough to use some of the consoles and preamps that bear his name. But whatever gear you use, it’s bound to have been inspired by — to varying degrees — by Rupert Neve.
Born in England in 1926, Neve cultivated his passion for electronics at an early age. Crucially, at the heart of his designs was solid-state technology. Power-hungry and less reliable tube-driven circuits were the norm until the ’60s, which is when the young Neve had his first breakthrough — a console he built for Phillips’ Recording Studio in London.
Not long after that came one of his seminal achievements: the development of the 1073 preamp. Still widely regarded as one of the best ever preamp designs, it made its debut in 1970, going to populate several of his famous multitrack consoles throughout the 1970s.
The consoles that bear that iconic badge are housed in studios all over the world, with a discography that’s too deep to list here.
Farewell to a true innovator.
