Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Ash Soan Uses Neve 88RLB Preamps To Capture The Sound of An Iconic Neve Desk

16/09/2021

Neve's classic 88RS console weighs around two tons and certainly doesn't fit into most project studios, including the one owned by internationally acclaimed drummer Ash Soan. But when Ash wanted to capture the sound of this iconic desk on his recordings, he found a simple solution in the shape of two Neve 88RLB mono mic preamps.

Ash, who has toured and recorded with some of the biggest names in the music industry, has installed the 88RLB units into a rack that already included four Neve 1073LB mic preamps, which he bought over 10 years ago.

My studio is mainly used for drum recording and I have a selection of UA interfaces, with Neve preamps for the main kit, he explains. I use 1073's for my kick, snare and hats but I wanted the 88RLB for my overheads. They fit perfectly together and work great, and I'm very happy with the results I'm achieving.

Currently a member of Trevor Horn's band The Producers (along with Steve Lipson and Lol Cr me), Ash's impressive 30-plus year career has resulted in 58 Top Ten albums, 29 No. 1 albums and 10 No.1 singles for artists such as Cher, Seal, Robbie Williams, Billy Idol, Adele, Enrique Iglesias, Dionne Warwick, Rumer, James Morrison, Cee Lo, Celine Dion and Ronan Keating.

A music graduate from Salford University and a former student at Tech Music School, Ash Soan got his first big break as a drummer in 1994 when he joined the band Del Amitri. He toured and recorded with Del Amitri until 1997, then subsequently played with Faithless and Squeeze. He also played at the 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony with Mike Oldfield and was the house drummer on the television show The Voice for seven years. His film work is also extensive and incudes playing on the Terminator Genisys and Mission Impossible Fall Out soundtracks for composer Lorne Balfe and on the Kung Fu Panda 3 and The Lion King 2019 soundtracks for Hans Zimmer.

As someone who operates at the top of the recording profession, Ash has worked in many of the world's best recording studios and has often enjoyed the sound of high quality analogue Neve consoles such as the 88RS. It is this exposure to the best that inspired him to invest in Neve 88RLS units for his own studio.

I was at British Grove recently with Hans Zimmer and Stephen Lipson and I loved the Neve 88R console there, he explains. Installing 88RLB units is a very cost effective, convenient and accessible way of getting that sound into a small studio like mine.

Based in Norfolk, Ash's studio was originally set up as a practise space and somewhere to store his equipment, but while working on The Voice he began hosting sessions for clients such as Alicia Keys and Dua Lipa, so he decided it was time to focus more attention on the room.

I've since used the studio to record for Seal, Cher, James Morrison, Rod Stewart, Dua Lipa, Alicia Keys, Julian Lennon, Hans Zimmer, Sam Smith and Ed Sheehan, he says. It tends to be primarily pop and film sessions and I mainly use Pro Tools.

Ash's new Neve's 88RLB units are in the 500 Series format and use exactly the same technology as the preamps in an 88R console. However, they also come with useful extra features such as a sweepable high pass filter, intelligent phantom power control, a DI input and a REGenerate function that makes is easy to add analogue warmth to individual sources, or even entire mixes.

I just love the colour from the preamps on my drums, he says. I've had that sound many times in the past when I've recorded in large studios, but owning my own preamps is the perfect way to add that sound to the recordings I am making now.

-ends-

About AMS Neve

AMS Neve engineers have pioneered the greatest proportion of the ground-breaking techniques in the professional audio industry. Just a few examples of world firsts are moving fader automation, hard disk editing, digital console technology, digital audio for film, microprocessor-controlled effects units and standards such as MADI.

The most discerning artists, producers and facility owners regard AMS Neve products as No. 1 for desirability on their equipment list and have done so for the past fifty years.

Recognised by all the premier bodies in the various fields of music, TV and film, the products and their designers have been honoured by two Scientific and Engineering Academy Awards, an Emmy and a Grammy amongst many others.

All AMS Neve products are designed and built in-house at the company's Headquarters in Burnley, England. For more information please visit: http://www.ams-neve.com
LINK: https://www.kitplus.com/news/Ash_Soan_Uses_Neve_88RLB_Preamps_To_Captu...
See more stories from tvbay

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

06/03/2026

March 05, 2026

A new clue to how the body detects physical force Scripps Research scientists offer new insight into how the body detects light touch and how disruptions in tha...

05/03/2026

SVG GFX Forum Draws 250+ Industry Pros To Talk Creative Philosphy, AR/XR, Future of Live Sports Graphics

More than 250 sports-graphics professionals packed into The Cutting Room in New ...

05/03/2026

Cosm Atlanta Set to Open at Centennial Yards on June 10

Cosm announces that it will open its third immersive entertainment venue at downtown Atlanta's Centennial Yards on June 10, 2026. Its first public event wil...

05/03/2026

The CW Network to Broadcast Six Banana Ball Games During 2026 Season

Following last year's broadcast television debut, The CW Network is growing its partnership with the Savannah Bananas, announcing that it will be the exclus...

05/03/2026

AT&T Named Founding Partner and Official Connectivity Provider of TGL Presented by SoFi

TGL presented by SoFi, the primetime, men's team golf league, announces AT&T...

05/03/2026

Netflix Goes Live with Ateme's TITAN

Ateme, which specializes in video compression software, announces that it has entered into a multi-year agreement with Netflix for the deployment of its TITAN L...

05/03/2026

NEP Launches Software-Based OB Unit for Scalable Live Production Across Europe

As part of its strategy to deliver flexible and scalable media solutions, NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has redesigned an outside broadcast (OB) unit to help b...

05/03/2026

Net Insight's Nimbra Edge and Nimbra 400 Now Verified for YouTube Live

Net Insight's Nimbra Edge and the Nimbra 400 series are now included in YouTube's Live verified encoders list. This confirms that the solutions have bee...

05/03/2026

Audinate Launches Dante Director Professional: Enterprise-Grade Management Platform for Distributed AV Networks

Audinate, the creator of the Dante audio networking platform, announces the laun...

05/03/2026

LiveU Marks First Large-Scale Global Deployment of AI-Driven LIQ at Winter Games

LiveU announces the first large-scale deployment of its AI-driven LiveU IQ (LIQ) technology at a global, multi-venue sporting event, setting a new benchmark for...

05/03/2026

SportsEngine Play to Stream 7 on 7 National Football Recruiting Tournament March 7-8

SportsEngine Play, a first-of-its-kind subscription streaming service for captur...

05/03/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Madison McCarter, Michigan State University

The senior from small-town Pennsylvania has had a huge impact on the Spartans' B1G Student U program In the live-sports-video industry, the future is brigh...

05/03/2026

ESPN, Disney, Pixar Team Up With NHL for Inside Out Classic' Animated Alt-Cast on April 5

Real-time animated presentation of Capitals-Rangers game blends tracking data, o...

05/03/2026

The Silicon Bowl Effect: How Big Tech is Reinventing the Sports Fan Experience

With Super Bowl LX taking place in Santa Clara, all eyes were not only on the field - but on the future of fandom itself. New technologies are being introduced ...

05/03/2026

World Baseball Classic 2026: MLB Network Provides World-Feed Infrastructure to Venues, Broadcasters

The network aims for a uniform production while accommodating tech differences i...

05/03/2026

World Baseball Classic 2025: FOX Sports Deploys World Feed Plus,' Adds Studio Presence for Semis and Final

MLB Network produces the host broadcast, and FOX layers in cameras, studio prese...

05/03/2026

Film Festival Watch: See These 18 Sundance Institute-Supported Docs at the 2026 True/False Film Fest

Barbara Hammer appears in Barbara Forever by Brydie O'Connor, an official se...

05/03/2026

Spotify's Creator Milestone Awards Honor the Latest Slate of Record-Breaking Podcasts

A little over a year ago, Spotify introduced the quarterly Creator Milestone Awa...

05/03/2026

SBS and Mint Pictures to chronicle the Bondi terror attack in major feature documentary

SBS and Mint Pictures to chronicle the Bondi terror attack in major feature docu...

05/03/2026

Winter Olympic stars return to the ice for ISU World Figure Skating Championships broadcast live on SBS

Winter Olympic stars return to the ice for ISU World Figure Skating Championship...

05/03/2026

Rohde & Schwarz enables rapid validation of next-gen Wi-Fi 8 networking platforms, including 5x5 MIMO capabilities

Rohde & Schwarz enables rapid validation of next-gen Wi-Fi 8 networking platform...

05/03/2026

Rohde & Schwarz acquires Software Radio Systems (SRS), specialists in software defined mobile communications solutions

Rohde & Schwarz acquires Software Radio Systems (SRS), specialists in software d...

05/03/2026

The Next Frontier of Quality Control - Verifying Content...

Quality control (QC) has long been a gatekeeper of technical fidelity. Editors and technicians have adhered to a simple, disciplined checklist: bitrate, resolut...

05/03/2026

Synamedia and Asport deliver global-scale streaming for G...

Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced it has partnered with Swiss sports technology specialist, Asport to deliver global live streaming for ...

05/03/2026

Advanced Systems Group Promotes Gretchen Taipale to Vice...

Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, announced the promotion of Gretchen Taipale to Vic...

05/03/2026

Clear-Com Supplies Cloud-Based Communications System for...

Clear-Com has provided Gen-IC virtual intercom, its cloud-based voice communications system for SaxaVord Spaceport, the first fully licensed vertical launch s...

05/03/2026

Hollywood Professional Association Concludes the 2026 HPA...

The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) concluded the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, convening more than 800 industry leaders, technologists, creatives and executi...

05/03/2026

LynTec 20 AMP Dual Output DMX Relay Now Shipping

LynTec, a leading manufacturer of electrical power control solutions for professional audio, video, and lighting systems, today announced that its new Dual DMX ...

05/03/2026

Snicket Labs Partners with ES Broadcast to Expand Access...

Snicket Labs is pleased to announce a new distribution partnership with ES Broadcast for its award winning solutions, Match and Enrich. Under the agreement, ES...

05/03/2026

LiveU Marks First Large Scale Global Deployment of AI Dri...

LiveU today announced the first large-scale deployment of its AI-driven LiveU IQ (LIQ ) technology at a global, multi-venue sporting event, setting a new benchm...

05/03/2026

CMAT wins RT Choice Music Prize Irish Album of the Year 2025

Celebrating 21 Years of the RT Choice Music Prize RT Choice Music Prize In association with IMRO and IRMA RT Choice Music Prize Irish Album of the Year 2...

05/03/2026

Sky News secures ninth News Channel of the Year award as Yalda Hakim, Yousra Elbagir and Mollie Malone honoured at RTS Awards

Thursday 5 March 2026 Sky News secures ninth News Channel of the Year award as ...

05/03/2026

Sky Sports launches first ever nationwide creator competition to find a Grid Insider for the 2026 Formula 1 season

Thursday 5 March 2026 Sky Sports launches first ever nationwide creator competi...

05/03/2026

Innovation for Filmmaking, By Filmmakers: Why InterPositive Is Joining Netflix

Back to All News Innovation for Filmmaking, By Filmmakers: Why InterPositive Is Joining Netflix Business 05 March 2026 Global Link copied to clipboard Dow...

05/03/2026

New LinkedIn Data Shows Women's Path to Senior Leadership...

New LinkedIn Data Shows Women's Path to Senior Leadership Is Narrowing Published on Mar 5, 2026 Categories: Data and insights LinkedIn Corporate Commun...

05/03/2026

Harmonic Accelerates Streaming and Broadcast Transformations at the 2026 NAB Show

SAN JOSE, Calif. - March 5, 2026 - At the 2026 NAB Show, Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT)...

05/03/2026

Comscore and Yahoo DSP Partner to Advance CTV Political Advertising with Proximic Political Audiences

Comscore and Yahoo DSP Partner to Advance CTV Political Advertising with Proximi...

05/03/2026

March Into the Cloud With 15 New Games Coming to GeForce NOW

March is in full bloom, and that means a fresh wave of games heading to the cloud. 15 new titles are joining the GeForce NOW library this month. Leading the Ma...

04/03/2026

Lega Basket Serie A Modernizes Media Operations Across Italian Basketball with ScorePlay

Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), the governing body for Italy's premier basketball...

04/03/2026

To Mark Five Years at Wrexham AFC, Co-Chairmen Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds Will Host Broadcast During Wrexham-Swansea City on March 13

Wrexham AFC co-chairmen Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds will host a first-of-its-kind ...

04/03/2026

FOX Sports Marks 100 Days to FIFA World Cup 2026 with Company-Wide Celebration

The countdown is underway and with just 100 days to go until the world's greatest sporting event begins on Thurs., June 11, FOX Sports, America's Englis...

04/03/2026

Exchange, NBCUniversal Team Up to Provide Service Members with Free Streaming of Paralympic Winter Games

No matter where they are in the world, service members and veterans can stream N...

04/03/2026

Telemundo Releases Somos Ms, the Official Anthem of its FIFA World Cup 2026 Coverage

Telemundo officially releases Somos M s, the anthem for the network's cove...

04/03/2026

Hollywood Professional Association Concludes 2026 HPA Tech Retreat

The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) concluded the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, convening more than 800 industry leaders, technologists, creatives, and execut...

04/03/2026

Case Study: How SEG+ Unified Utah's Biggest Sports Teams into a 40%+ Subscriber Growth Streaming Platform

Smith Entertainment Group transformed how local sports are consumed by creating ...