“This expansion marks our commitment to production studies and allows for our continued growth in the arts community,” said Jeffrey Rabhan, chair of the Clive David Institute of Recorded Music. “It’s an integral part of our mission here at the Institute to provide the best facilities and opportunities for our students.”

The studio, comprising a Live Room and Control Room, measures approximately 600 sq. ft. and will serve as a new mix/overdub and teaching facility. It contains a 16-channel Rupert Neve Designs 5088 discrete analog mixing console, and is additionally outfitted with eight Portico 5032 Mic Pre/Equalizer and eight 5033 5-Band EQ modules in the console’s penthouse section. Jeff DelBello of dB Sound Design oversaw design and supplied and installed the audio equipment in the room. Chris Bowman of CHBO Inc. provided acoustical treatment for the space.

“The studio contains all top-quality equipment in a professionally appointed, acoustically balanced space, and reflects the current trends in pragmatic and economically feasible studio design,” said Nicholas Sansano, associate arts professor and production faculty head. “It also had to be easy to work in and not require a lot of setup time, and Jeff DelBello of dB Sound Design did an outstanding job of making the facility user friendly for our students.”

The 5088 is integrated into a hybrid setup that combines the console’s high quality, discrete analog front end, signal processing and summing buss facilities with an Avid Pro Tools|HD system and Artist Mix control surface. Analog outboard gear includes high-end units by Pendulum, Chandler, Universal Audio, and Empirical Labs, as well as instruments and amps by Fender and Ampeg. Sterling Modular supplied a leg set and custom monitor stand for the 5088 together with a custom desk for the Euphonix mix controllers.

The new studio occupies the former Studio A within the Soundtrack Film and Television multi-studio facility in Manhattan. It was a hit-maker in the 1980s for such well-known music artists as Run D.M.C, Taylor Dayne, Madonna and Steve Winwood, among others. The Clive Davis Institute also maintains two other large recording and teaching facilities on the NYU campus in Greenwich Village.

The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music is the first of its kind to provide professional business and artistic training toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. The undergraduate program is designed to provide professional training for students who aspire to succeed as creative entrepreneurs in the music industry. Since it opened its doors in 2003, the program has been a leader in training aspiring music entrepreneurs. It has been on the cutting edge of music education, offering innovative courses like “The History of Def Jam,” “Emerging Music Trends,” and “Branding.” The program bears the name of its chief patron and advisor, Clive Davis.

The new Stereo Module for the 5088 uses the same high-voltage, transformer-coupled topology found throughout the 5088, and allows both twice the density, and considerable cost savings when compared with mono modules. The Stereo Module is outfitted with a single 100mm fader, individual left/right pans, individual trims, 6 auxes and a stereo width control. When Aux to Groups on Aux 5/6 is activated, the stereo channel signal can be routed with an independent mix level to any of the 8 groups.

The 5051 combines a classic three band EQ based on Rupert’s vintage designs with the power and flexibility of the Portico Series compressor. Utilizing a discrete, class-A signal path and high performance input and output transformers, the 5051 delivers the performance and musicality expected from a Rupert Neve Design.

The EQ design on the 5051 certainly invokes sonic similarities with some of Rupert’s classic EQs. The 5051 uses a custom tapped inductor with selected capacitors to form the mid range equalizer band and the shelf curves are based on Rupert’s vintage modules, using very similar frequency choices as well. Each EQ section also uses low feedback class-A discrete to prevent low level artifacts and harshness from detracting from the tonal shaping. The EQ however, is a modern design with advantages offered by techniques that were not possible 35 years ago along with improvements in electronic components currently available, and should not be considered a clone. Let’s just say it has heritage.

Both the High and Low Band can be switched from Shelf to Peak curves and offer 15 dB of boost or cut. The High can be switched from 8 kHz to 16 kHz and the Low Band selected at 35 Hz, 60 Hz, 100 Hz or 220 Hz. The inductor based Mid Band offers 6 center frequencies; 200 Hz, 350 Hz, 700 Hz, 1.5 kHz, 3 kHz and 6 kHz. The Mid Band also has a High Peak switch to narrow the bandwidth or increase the Q of the filter. The 5051 includes an 18 dB/octave High Pass Filter with two corner frequencies on a lit button that toggles through “OFF, 60 Hz then 120 Hz indicated by a blue or red LED respectively.

Additionally, the EQ can be switched Pre or Post the compressor. Normally the EQ precedes the compressor but the order can be selected so that the EQ follows after the Compressor. The 5051 also has two XLR balanced inputs that can be switched from the front panel. This allows the user, for example, to have a mic preamplifier and line input from a DAW to be pre-patched and easily selectable.

The 5051 Compressor also features a discrete class A signal path proven used in the Portico Series. The Threshold has a range of -30 dBu to +10 dBu. The Ratio can be set from 1.1:1 to 40:1. The Attack has a range of 5mS to 75mS and the Release allows from 100mS to 2.5 S to be set. Final Gain can be set from -6 dB to +20 dB.

The Compressor allows the user to select either a modern Feed-Forward topology or the traditional Feed-Back style of compression. Each has advantages depending on the source and desired sound. The 5051 includes a 250Hz high pass filter that can be switched into the compressor side-chain to reduce the chance that loud low frequency material inadvertently affects the gain reduction. There is also a LINK switch and associated 1/4″ phone jacks on the back panel so that 2 (or multiple) 5051′s can be properly used for stereo where gain changes happen together. Speaking of the back panel, there is also a pair of 1/4″ phone jacks to patch in your own EQ into the side-chain for de-essing and finessing. The 5051 has two fast acting accurate LED bar-graph meters to indicate Gain Reduction and Output Level.

It should be pointed out that the 5051, at this time, is intended exclusively for 5088 consoles. The 5051 uses a shared central power supply designed to feed up to 25 5051′s. This both reduces heat build up within modules and reduces the costs associated with DC-DC converters in every module.

The new Portico II Master Buss Processor (MBP), which combines two compressor channels, each with limiting, and a stereo field editor, offers revolutionary capabilities that redefine the concept of two-channel buss processing. The MBP is based around the high-voltage, Class A discrete analog signal paths made famous in the 5088 mixer and Portico II: Channel, and incorporates mastering grade detented pots throughout for accurate repeatability of its dynamics, tone, and stereo field settings.

For Rupert Neve Designs’ Engineering Team Leader William “Hutch” Hutchison, the purchase is telling: “I’ve known Scott over the last couple decades, and I truly respect his opinion as one of the top mastering engineers in the world. It is extremely encouraging for us to have an ambitious new design like the Master Buss Processor get such an immediate acceptance at the highest level. Once people hear what it can do dynamically and spatially and experience the big door it opens for creative productions, it probably will become the secret weapon of choice in many well equipped racks.”

The MBP will be especially beneficial in those situations where a client would like some additional character added to the sound of the project, Hull believes. “It’s got a very pleasant style,” he reports. “I had another engineer, Randy Merrill, listen to it and he wanted one, too. I expect even more of my mastering engineers will interested in adding the MBP to their rig once they have heard it.”

Masterdisk, located on West 45th Street in Manhattan, was established in 1973. Hull’s clients have included Bob Dylan, Sting, Lou Reed, Steely Dan, Bruce Springsteen, Panic at the Disco, and many, many others.

As a result of the shift in the record business, explains Plati, “I began to do more and more work out of my own space. Around 2001 or so I was still mixing entirely in commercial studios in New York, carting all my gear around with me. But, as budgets began to shrink over time, it became necessary for me to do more and more production work at my own place – to the point where II actually had to mix certain projects there. So, over time I began to add more equipment to my studio, especially high end audio gear like compressors and EQ.”

A passive summing box had served him well, says Plati: “But I knew that, for me, I needed a console if I was going to mix at the standard I wanted to meet.” Price and size considerations meant that it was impractical to consider a large-format vintage console, so he began to research the new generation of small-format analog desks. “In late 2009 I got a chance to work on a 5088 that was set up at the Magic Shop in Manhattan, and I pretty much knew right away that was going to be it for me,” he recalls. “It was all there for me – warmth yet punch, and a depth I’d not felt in the other desks I’d auditioned. It was loaded with 5032 Portico modules; I was really taken with how flexible they were and how great and musical they sounded.”

The console has changed the way that Plati works and improved the audio quality of his mixes, thanks to the generous headroom created by the high voltages used in Mr. Neve’s 5088 circuits. “I used to have to work so hard to get a mix to sound half as good as it does with me just putting it through the 5088 without doing a thing to it,” he reports. “I can really hit the output of Pro Tools a lot beefier than I used to, simply because the 5088 modules can take that kind of input. It feels like Pro Tools is a bit more open than I was able to make it before. And I can really hit the 5088’s mix bus – it takes it, and it likes it! What this all means for me in practical terms is that I can now focus more energy on being creative.”

The ShadowMix fader automation has also had an impact on his mixing workflow, Plati comments. “ShadowMix has enabled me to go back and forth between sessions and recall mixes in a shot. It’s changed the way that I work. I’ve been mixing two albums simultaneously on the desk, just by changing patches and using different outboard for the different projects. The faders snap back to where they were and follow all my moves – for my little studio, it’s just genius!”

A musician since the age of 10, Plati also worked as an engineer and mixer for many years before starting a 10-year association with Philip Glass, working with Bowie, The Cure, Hooverphonic, Alisha’s Attic, Duncan Sheik, Dave Navarro as well as Glass at the minimalist composer’s The Looking Glass studio in New York. Plati went on to produce, record, mix or perform on most of Bowie’s musical output for the six years following his 1997 album, “Earthling,” which Plati co-produced and co-wrote. Having first started to focus on projects in Paris in 2005, Plati continues to work with various European artists, including Catherine Ringer, the former vocalist with French band Les Rita Mitsouko.

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Founded by Rupert and Evelyn Neve, Rupert Neve Designs is built on passion, experience and a desire to create products embodying the highest musical quality. In continuing his legacy as a pioneer in audio circuit design, Mr. Rupert Neve is currently focusing his talents on creating innovative solutions to the issues facing the modern recording engineer. For further information on Rupert Neve Designs please visit www.rupertneve.com

Portico is a trademark of Rupert Neve Designs, Inc. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.

“The room was designed for surround sound-an immersive musical experience in which the music is captured with more depth,” says Michael Lynn, Associate Dean of the Conservatory, who served as project liaison. “Oberlin wanted to offer students the experience of working within a real recording studio, to give them a shot at making a spectacular recording. The studio will afford our students free and direct access to high-level excellence in recording new music, old music, and everything in between.”

The centerpiece of the control room is the Rupert Neve Designs (RND) 5088 console, a 24-track, discrete analog mixer outfitted with Tonelux Shadowmix fader automation. “The RND 5088 is distinguished by its neutrality and high headroom, both of which are critical in our jazz and classical applications,” says acoustic consultant Dana Kirkegaard, of Kirkegaard Acoustic Design, LLC, of Downers Grove, Illinois. “We selected the RND after carefully auditioning desks in Los Angeles; the great sound and solid feel of the console was critical in our decision.”

Sterling Modular Systems Inc., a Pennsylvania-based company that designs and produces furniture for the audio recording and broadcast industries, built the custom console that houses the RND 5088. Oberlin’s team chose Sterling’s “Pro Series” system for its custom design and its ability to ergonomically integrate the RND 5088 console and accessories in a way that is thoughtful, attractive, and comfortable for the user.

“The selection of Sterling to build the custom console was based upon our desire for an array of analog outboard equipment within easy reach,” says Kirkegaard. “Sterling offers a standard console for the RND 5088 and matching patchbays that are quite handsome and well built, and with excellent acoustic properties. We started with that design and modified the patchbays to serve as side racks; we then wrapped the console around the operator to facilitate access to the equipment. One of the features that puts the console design over the top is an automated monitor stand that raises and lowers a pair of Apple cinema displays at the touch of a button.”

The construction of the Clonick Studio is an especially noteworthy achievement in a time when recording studios are declaring bankruptcy due to a rise in more economical, often lesser-quality digital recording formats. “I think that what Oberlin is doing to support the arts is really extraordinary,” comments Kirkegaard. “Studios have been closing all over the place for 5 to 10 years, and here we are building a studio. That’s a huge credit to the conservatory and their leadership. A place like Oberlin is in a unique position to build a studio at the highest level and support these artists.”

Pianist and composer Hiromi Uehara recently mixed her newest CD with Cleveland-based producer Michael Bishop in the studio’s control room. Bishop is one of the studio’s first end-users; his Five Four Productions, an audio team formerly associated with Telarc Records consisting of Bishop, Robert Friedrich, and Thomas Moore, has 15 technical Grammy Awards to its credit. Bishop says that he and his colleagues typically travel to recording studios in Los Angeles and New York City in order to meet their clients’ needs. With the arrival of the Clonick Recording Studio, he is now able to supplement his technical requirements closer to home.

Spearheaded by Kirkegaard and Lynn, plans for the recording studio began in 1999. A desire to rehearse Oberlin’s large jazz ensemble inspired the size of the room. Once the dimensions of the space had been determined, acoustic consultants were able to easily turn the space into a recording facility for all kinds of music, taking sound isolation and acoustic treatments into careful consideration. According to Director of Audio Services, Paul Eachus, Oberlin’s chief recording engineer, the Clonick Studio “is unique to this region; there just isn’t anything like it being built right now.”

The facility has also attracted the attention of other luminary musicians. Cellist Zuill Bailey, pianist Orli Shaham, Richard King, principal hornist of the Cleveland Orchestra, and Tod Bowermaster, third hornist of the St. Louis Symphony, are among the distinguished classical musicians that have come to Oberlin to record. Amidst dedication events for the Kohl Building, which houses the Clonick Studio, music legend Stevie Wonder spent 40 minutes playing the new Hamburg Steinway. During a concert appearance in Oberlin in March 2011, Esperanza Spalding, the acclaimed jazz double bassist and vocalist and winner of the 2011 Grammy Award for Best New Artist (the first jazz musician to ever win the award), visited the studio and expressed a desire to record there as well.

Built around Mr. Rupert Neve’s custom transformer designs, each 543 module encompasses individually controllable threshold, attack, release, makeup gain, ratio, sidechain HPF, Feed-forward/Feed-back selection and Peak/RMS detection modes. With the compressor inactive, the 543 may be used as a transformer-coupled, high-performance line amplifier. Two 543s may be linked for stereo operation. The chassis is built to standard 500 series specifications, with power and I/O provided by the rack.

One of the more unique features of the 543 is the new Peak/RMS mode also found in the Portico II Channel. This switch allows the VCA (voltage control amplifier) to respond to both RMS (Root Mean Square) and peak levels. RMS circuits are considered to better mimic the way the ears perceive apparent loudness, while peak circuits tend to directly respond to the waveform voltage, which may be more of a concern for prevention of clipping and maximizing levels. In this case, peak mode uses a combination of both methods to get the best of both worlds, and avoids the drawbacks of each method on its own.

The 543 also has the ability to switch between feed-forward and feed-back modes. In most of Mr. Rupert Neve’s earliest designs, feedback detection – controlling the VCA with a rectified voltage from the unit’s output – was intrinsic to the musical dynamic response. However, the very nature of a feedback compressor limits the attack time of the compression circuit. To offer faster, more technically accurate response times, feed-forward detection was implemented on Mr. Rupert Neve’s more modern designs. With the unit’s FF/FB switch, both classic and modern VCA responses are available.

Founded by Rupert and Evelyn Neve, Rupert Neve Designs is built on passion, experience and a desire to create products embodying the highest musical quality. In continuing his legacy as a pioneer in audio circuit design, Mr. Rupert Neve is currently focusing his talents on creating innovative solutions to the issues facing the modern recording engineer. For further information on Rupert Neve Designs please visit www.rupertneve.com

Portico is a trademark of Rupert Neve Designs, Inc. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.

Studio owner Dominic Camardella, noting that the facility has housed a vintage Neve console for a majority of its years of operation, says of the 5088 desk, “The board is wonderful. It’s modern sounding and yet looks back to the vintage past without any of the flaws that the vintage consoles had. The vintage consoles tended to be noisier; the noise floor on the new Neve is just impeccable. The vintage consoles, although they had enormous headroom, would dull over on the top end and you’d lose low-level signals. They would get puffy and thick around the waist. None of those issues are present in this Neve 5088 console.”

During a studio renovation in 2004 Camardella was unable to find a suitable contemporary replacement for an aging classic Neve console that had become very costly to maintain, and instead opted for a digital worksurface. Five years later, when it came time to renovate again, he was pleased to discover the 5088 and arranged for an in-studio evaluation. “It was immediately an eye opener, sonically. We just moved two cables over to the center section of the 5088 and monitored Pro Tools and, with a number of people that I trust in the room, everybody’s jaws dropped,” he reports.

Having since had a chance to use the 5088 on a wide variety of projects, Camardella, who is also an adjunct professor in the Music Department at Santa Barbara City College, says, “What’s really refreshing is how sonically diverse it can present. It’s a little SSL-like at times, and a little vintage Neve-like at times, and never to the detriment of the sound.”

One of the first projects to use the studio’s new 5088 was Robert Cray’s Grammy-nominated album, “This Time,” which was recorded by the late Don Smith, a renowned engineer who worked with the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, U2 and Bob Dylan, among many others. “He used it for much of his drum and guitar grouping,” recalls Camardella.

Subsequent projects using the 5088 have included tracking sessions for eight new Rascal Flatts songs; blues guitarist Stu Heydon’s “3rd Degree” album; Lawson Rollins’ “Espirito” album; mix sessions for MTV darlings Loomis and the Lust; and overdubs with the Jackson family for an A&E special that aired earlier this year.

“Being in Santa Barbara I’m blessed with a number of actors and authors living nearby. So a significant portion of our business is audio books and dialog replacement for film and television. Nature film documentary work is one of my specialties,” says Camardella, who performed all of the sound design and mixing for “Superfish,” an award-winning documentary that aired as part of the “Nature” series on PBS and on television around the world.

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For further information about Santa Barbara Sound Design please visit: www.sound-design.com.com

About Rupert Neve Designs: Founded by Rupert and Evelyn Neve, Rupert Neve Designs is built on passion, experience and a desire to create products embodying the highest musical quality. In continuing his legacy as a pioneer in audio circuit design, Mr. Rupert Neve is currently focusing his talents on creating innovative solutions to the issues facing the modern recording engineer. For further information on Rupert Neve Designs please visit: www.rupertneve.com

As with other Portico Series modules, the 517 provides industry leading sonic performance with a versatile feature set capable of functioning in many different capacities. The same engineer could use a 517 as an inexpensive means to add new high-end analogue mic amplification, instrument amplification, vari-phase adjustment and compression to his or her studio while also utilizing the 517′s unique DI/preamp blending functionality. The Portico 517 is like a Swiss army knife for the lunchbox.

For Rupert Neve Designs Marketing Director, Tristan Rhodes, the move into the 500 series makes perfect sense: “Engineers have been requesting that Rupert design modules for the 500 Series for years now, and with the 517 we’ve developed a module that really takes the format to its limits. To be able to offer a Rupert Neve Designs preamplifier, instrument amplifier and compressor with the same transformers as the 5017 in a 500 Series module is simply tremendous.”

The Portico 517′s microphone and instrument amplifiers provide the sweet, musical response expected from a Rupert Neve design. With ultra-low distortion, exceptional bandwidth and the flexibility of Silk, the 5017′s amplifiers can faithfully reproduce and even enhance every detail captured by a microphone or instrument.

Based around a new LDR (light dependent resister) design, the 517′s opto-coupler compressor has been simplified to a single threshold control with auto make-up gain and a fixed 2:1 ratio. To set the compressor, simply dial the threshold control down until the desired amount of compression is achieved. A built-in LED indicates when the compressor is active.

Used as a single channel device for instruments, the 517 can be used to phase align, combine and compress direct and amplified signals. To achieve this, the instrument’s direct signal is sent to the DI input and the speaker cabinet signal via the mic preamp input. The blend control is used for mixing direct and amplified signals to achieve the desired tonal blend between the two sources, and the Vari-phase control is used to minimize or attenuate phase cancellations between the two signals. The compressor can be applied to both channels. This technique could also be used to create a single, mixed output of a guitar and vocals or any other pair of sources.

Founded by Rupert and Evelyn Neve, Rupert Neve Designs is built on passion, experience and a desire to create products embodying the highest musical quality. In continuing his legacy as a pioneer in audio circuit design, Mr. Rupert Neve is currently focusing his talents on creating innovative solutions to the issues facing the modern recording engineer. For further information on Rupert Neve Designs please visit www.rupertneve.com

The Portico II is a self-powered 2U channel module incorporating a fully featured mic preamplifier, 4-band EQ, compressor-limiter, “Texture” control and level metering that together offer users boundless creative possibilities. For Khaliq, it has made a strong first impression: “This box is absolutely awesome; it’s my new secret weapon. Even something simple like an SM57 or 58 running through this baby sounds like a completely different type of microphone; it adds serious character. And if you’ve got a high-end microphone, it’s really amazing.” One of the final overdub sessions for the project involved Orianthi, the Australian guitarist who had been rehearsing with Jackson for the This Is It tour prior to his untimely death. The guitarist was recorded using a Royer R-121 ribbon microphone through the Portico II alongside a Shure SM57 into a vintage Neve 1073 module. “Royer mics sound amazing on guitar anyway,” Khaliq says, “but the Portico II Channel really dialed it in. We didn’t have to use a lot of anything, but the compression and the EQ really set her guitar right where it needed to be in the track, dynamically and tonally.”

The Portico II can make a big difference to a track with only minimal adjustment of the controls, comments Khaliq: “I tried the compressor on several different things, and tried it versus plug-ins. Sometimes with plug-ins you have to really push and turn them up to 10 dB of gain before you hear something that’s acceptable. You don’t have to do a whole lot on any section of the Portico II channel to get something that really fits in perfectly.”

According to Khaliq, the Portico II Channel Strip’s Texture control, which is combined with switchable Silk modes, is a favorite feature of the unit and was especially useful on the sessions. The continuously variable control allows the user to fine-tune the negative feedback on the output transformer and adjust the frequency response to more closely resemble Mr. Rupert Neve’s vintage designs.

The compressor section also came in handy, says Khaliq. “I tried it on several different things, and re-recorded some tracks through it.” Although the album’s track listing has not been announced, Khaliq reports that some of the more recent songs required additional overdubs, which he recorded using the Portico II module. “There’s a lot of material, and different songs needed different levels of work,” he explains, noting, for example, “Paulhino da Costa came in and put some percussion on.”

Glover has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry during nearly 30 years in the business, including Prince, Herbie Hancock, Justin Timberlake, Marcus Miller, Jermaine Jackson, Donna Summer, Kenny Rogers, Jeffrey Osborne, and many others. The new Michael Jackson album completes a circle for Glover, who worked as an engineer on the original recording sessions in 1985 for “We Are the World,” which was written and performed by Jackson with Lionel Richie and Stevie Wonder.

As Khaliq observes, life doesn’t get much better: “I’m working with super-producer Teddy Riley; Teddy is the second most successful producer with Michael Jackson after Quincy Jones. And Michael Jackson is the most successful artist in the history of the world. So I’m extremely lucky.”

Owned by Rupert and Evelyn Neve, Rupert Neve Designs Inc. was founded on passion, experience and a desire to build products embodying the highest musical quality. In continuing his legacy as a pioneer in audio circuit design, Mr. Rupert Neve is currently focusing his talents on creating further innovative analogue solutions to the issues facing the modern recording engineer.

Based around the High Voltage and Discrete circuitry developed for the 5088 Mixer, the Portico II Channel stands as the pinnacle of Mr. Rupert Neve’s designs. By combining the exceptionally pure, transformer coupled architecture of the 5088 with a revolutionary feature set including the new variable texture control, silk / silk + modes, 4-band EQ, tunable de-esser, compressor-limiter and outstanding preamplifier, the Portico II achieves both irreproachable sonics and unparalleled versatility.

The Audio Pro International Awards are acknowledge the best products, companies and people in all sectors of the business. Readers send in their nominations for the award categories and a wide judging panel, drawn from all sectors of the business decide the winners.

This years Best Studio Product Nominees were:

Avid Heat
Sontronics Saturn
Studer Vista 9
Lexicon PCM Native Reverb Plugin bundle
Rupert Neve Designs Portico II