scratch, eliminating the transformers he was
familiar with, and searched for newer trans-
former designs that would allow for a quicker
slew and better transient response that wasn’t
available on his earlier desks.”
In hunting for more information, they
also learned that Neve would spend hours
listening to the quality of the sound through
the prototypes of the strips he was creating
to determine which component/transformer
combination worked best. “Then,” Sairan says,
“I’m assuming, he would show George Martin.”
Removing the transformers from the equa-
tion means removing a stage of colouration,
he adds: “One of the things that makes the SSL
unique is that it’s basically colourless. There’s
always been an unwritten rule that you record
on a Neve, but mix on an SSL because all your
colouration happens in the recording and when
mixing, you don’t want to recolour it.”
That said, at Subterranean Sound, Lake
uses the Neve for tracking and mixing: “It’s a
killer mixing desk. I started on a Neve 8028 and
I’ve never understood the whole thing about
wanting to mix on an SSL. I like the colouration
of the Neve.”
As for why only three of these boards
were made, Sairan believes the cost of making
them was simply too high. “One of the things
I heard from folks who worked with Rupert
back in the day was that whenever he built
anything, he’d have at least double the amount
of components necessary. If he needed 90
transformers for the output section of a con-
sole, he’d need 180, because he actually tested
each transformer by listening to make sure
they were working and functioning properly,
sonically, and throw away half the stuff he’d
ordered.”
What makes it truly special, though, isn’t
just its design, its history, or its sound; it’s the
fact that working on it is inspiring. Engineers,
like musicians, approach each instrument, each
tool, differently, and in some cases, depending
on the gear, perhaps with a certain degree of
reverence. That’s definitely the case here.
(L-R) ELLIOTT SAIRAN & JAY YOUNG OF MOD MY GEAR & SUBTERRANEAN
SOUND ENGINEER SCOTT LAKE WORKING ON THE NEVE
NEVE NOTES
Quick facts on the Air Montserrat Neve
from AirStudios.com
• 52 channels, 24 busses, 32 monitor
channels, 8 cue sends & flying faders
• first Neve designed around twin
+-15-volt rails running TDA1034
operational amplifier (later called
the NE5534A)
• standard Neve transformers
replaced with toroidally-wound
construction
• 31106 EQ module frequencies
chosen by George Martin & Rupert
Neve owing to their being “the most
musically useful”
• 40 unique 34427 remote mic pre-
amps residing in the “studio live
area” remote controlled via a “phan-
tom” current signal
• a design philosophy & implemen-
tation that results in a frequency
response ranging from 40 Hz-180
kHz, +-1dB
• -+26dBu headroom with typical
0.003% THD in a given channel
• noise floor of -80dBu and a resulting
dynamic range of 106dB
colouration of the audio path.
The debate about which is ul-
timately better, while subjective, is
ongoing.
“It’s almost as polarizing as
whether or not digital sounds as
good as an alog,” Sairan says. “When
you start getting to the upper end
of anything – using a 1959 Les Paul
with PAF humbuckers and a Marshall
amp from the 1960s, there’s a cer-
tain sound quality to it, because the
sound is the sum of all those parts.
If you use an off-the-shelf 1980s Les
Paul, there’s an audible difference. So
when SSL was producing their 4000,
6000, and 8000 Series consoles in
the 1980s, they chose to go without
transformers. To the layman’s ears it
would be akin to going from a tube
amp to a solid-state amp in a way.
One function of a transformer is it
isolates the signal from the rest of the
console, so if you have signal coming
into one channel, the potential for
that signal to get crosstalk informa-
tion from adjacent channels, or gen-
eral noise generated by the power
supply, is high.”
He continues: “Also, when you
transfer signal from one section to
another – even within the same
channel strip – there’s going to be a
certain amount of signal lost and a
qualitative difference in the sound.
By having a transformer at the end
of one section and a transformer at
the input of the next, Rupert was ef-
fectively creating an impedance dif-
ference that would allow the maxi-
mum amount of signal to pass un-
changed with the minimal amount
of signal loss.” Neve had continued
that mode of design in the Montser-
rat, but as Sairan continues, “He had
to completely start his designs from
“You don’t want to fight the gear
in order to get a good sound and that’s
one reason why Jay and I started Mod
My Gear,” Sairan says. “The unfortunate
reality is that a lot of professional and
semi-professional gear that’s out there
for the professional and home enthusi-
ast alike is created as cheaply as possible
so companies can increase their profit.
When you look at Rupert Neve, he went
out of business twice. His Focusrite
consoles were a million dollars back in
the ‘80s. Today, that’s just shy of three
million a console.”
The process of restoration has also
inspired Sairan and Young to consider
designing and creating their own audio
gear, Sairan says – “With the idea of
standing on the shoulders of giants to
see what we can do with today’s equip-
ment to make it sound better.”
Kevin Young is a Toronto-based
musician and freelance writer.
PROFESSIONAL SOUND • 33