Audiomachine: Sounding Better and Mixing Faster with the 5088

Paul Dinletir, owner of the multi-room Audiomachine production music studios, has installed a 32-input Rupert Neve Designs 5088 discrete analog mixing console in his composing suite.

The 5088 adds mixing capabilities to the Burbank, California-based facility, which produces music that has been used for motion picture advertising campaigns for such feature films as Avatar, Star Trek, District, and the upcoming Robin Hood, Prince of Persia, and Secretariat. 

Dinletir and his team of composers produce epic music with massive string, brass, and percussion sounds. ”We’re producing long, full tracks that have what the trailer industry is looking for, but in different styles, be they orchestral, rock orchestral, hybrid, or whatever,” elaborates Dinletir. “We also do sound design.” 

The 5088 was installed to allow Dinletir to see his projects through to a satisfactory conclusion. “I’ve always tried to get somebody else to mix our music and never was happy,” he explains. “Not that they’re not great people, but I’m very specific about what I’m looking for. A lot of the tracks that we do have close to 196 tracks in Pro Tools, so I realized I couldn’t do it all in the box, once you run something into a buss in Pro Tools you lose headroom.” 

The Rupert Neve-designed console not only provides Dinletir with the control that he needs but it also speeds up the mixing process, which is critical when he typically must mix up to five tracks a day, he says. “Mixes come together faster. A capable person with Pro Tools and a summing mixer might be able to give you a great mix, but I guarantee that it will take five or six times the amount of time. I can do a mix that used to take a whole day in two or three hours it’s just like the console glues it together. When you output from the Pro Tools channel directly into the console it sounds better and it comes together faster. I’m thrilled!” 

Dinletir had previously tried using various outboard summing solutions but was dissatisfied with the results. He called pro audio dealer Vintage King and asked head of west coast sales, Jeff Ehrenberg, who has a 5088 installed at his Infrasonics Sound studios, for suggestions. “Jeff was extremely helpful with the process of getting the 5088 console and the Portico modules. Having the console himself, it was very easy to get into all the details with him. That’s the most important thing, I think, that somebody has the gear, uses it, and can vouch for it.”

Attempting to replicate an outboard equalizer working in the box requires multiple plug-ins, observes Dinletir. “I would literally have to open three or four plug-ins just to get the body and the thickness. It never sounds as creamy. Whereas you can open up one EQ on the 5088 and there it is.” 

Despite the large number of Pro Tools tracks and console channels, noise is never an issue, he continues. “I can put the console faders at zero and the noise floor is amazing, I don’t have to worry about muting anything. I have 32 channels and I really wish I had 32 more, just so I could split out the choir and brass and the strings and the percussion and all the MIDI.” 

He concludes, “Today’s world is so digital, and this thing fits perfectly into it. I would never have thought that I would have a hardware box that I can’t do recall on. But if you want a mixer that you can just throw anything at, this is it.” 

Founded by Rupert and Evelyn Neve, Rupert Neve Designs, LLC 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 details on Rupert Neve Designs, visit www.rupertneve.com.