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Awards Special

We take a look at the winners of this year’s

most prestigious awards in Film and Music

This Month:

Awards Season 2014 Winners‘Spotlight On...’

Audio Cavern : Genesys Install1073N is voted BEST MIC PRE

**PLUS** WIN a 1073LB!

The only place to get the latest on all things Neve

PRODUCT NEWS & UPDATES INTERVIEWS COMPETITIONS & GIVEAWAYS YOUR VIEWS & MUCH MORE

MARCH 2014

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"Waking up the morning after your university just won the NationalNational Championship to find out that you won a 1073N was an unforgettable experience. I remember the first time I ever heard an instrument recorded with a 1073, it was a grand piano, I was blown away and could not believe how good it sounded. Music for the most part is [my] hobby. I interned at a local studio for about a year, then went back to school. This is a piece of gear that will never leave my collection. Thank you Neve!"

Hi Guys!

Thanks to all who entered December’s 1073N Giveaway - Here is the lucky winner - Elliot Teachey - a student at Florida State University.

Welcome to the March issue of the AMS Neve newsletter. This month, we take a look at the sound behind some of the big winners at this years Academy Awards and BAFTAs as well as bringing you more AMS Neve product news.

For this month’s giveaway - READ ON!Winner of the signed 88RLB giveaway in September’s issue - Buzz ‘The Sound Engine Ear’

A selection of your tweets!

@misterthreeten : Did some work through the Neve V3 console at Sonic Temple today. I love school :) #studiolife #recording

@anniewallace : @AMSNeveLtd @liz8wilkinson All this retweeting Neve stuff makes me wibble a bit, Liz, because their consoles are just TO DIE FOR >snivvle<

@snapoutband : @SSR_London @AMSNeveLtd It was awesome to record at SSR! And the Neve VR they got there is just freaking extra tasty! Love it!

@iandgbennett : Makes everything sound BETTER for me EVERYDAY! @AMSNeveLtd #Neve #analog #outofthebox

@CherryPiMonsta : @AMSNeveLtd thank you for making such #epic compressors. #allnightsaesessions

@2FlyStudio : @AMSNeveLtd Party time!!

@mariaelaisa : That new Neve Genesys Black board is so sexy.

@adassumpcao: Now this is thrilling! AMS RMX 16 plugin for the UAD coming soon!

@emmamcgann : I made a new best friend in Landan town tonight @amsneveltd

AMS Neve Product Specialist, James Towened, visited Carsten Drue, owner of Audio Cavern, to talk about the new addition to the studio - the Genesys - and find out why they chose the console.

www.ams-neve.comMARCH 2014

L-R: Carsten Drue (Audio Cavern) and the Genesys Console with AMS Neve’s James Townend

“Since end November 2013, when the Genesys was actually put into operation, Audio Cavern has produced 2 local Luxemburgish bands (one being the “John Dell Jazztet” (Jazz), the second one GRACE (Rock) ) as well as a German pop-folk band called “Corona in the Pipebag”. The customer feedback has consistently been positive. Everyone seems to notice and appreciate the difference between an “in-the-box” mix and a mix done with the Genesys console; a difference in sound, which was not given by the digital console before.”

“To conclude, I am the proud owner of the first and only Neve Genesys console in Luxemburg, and look forward to many joyful hours of work with satisfied customers.”

Audio Cavern’s website is under construction. Meanwhile, you may want to check this one out:

http://www.facebook.com/audiocavern.com

“In the analogue domain, clipping or driving analogue amplifiers or tapes into saturation creates the warmth of the sound that makes the difference. When I then first heard about the Neve Genesys console, I immediately fell in love with its concept and with its digitallydigitally controlled analogue circuitry. The combination of the best of the two worlds, the possibility to store and recall analogue console settings, the Encore motorized fader automationautomation and the guaranteed analogue Neve sound quality makes the Genesys console worth the acquisition. Audio Cavern’s Neve Genesys console is configured as a 24 channel console, equipped with Encore automation, recall functionality, transformer balanced mic.-preamps, 16 Neve 1084 EQs and 16 VCA style dynamics. It provides great options for expandability which was to me one of the driving factorsfactors to select this console.Audio Cavern is a small studio with a cosy atmosphere, on the country side in the South of Luxemburg. It is accommodated in the basement of a private house and has an available space of roughly 80 m2 in total. Two recording rooms can be used, one of them being 16 m2 and the second one being 35 m2. The control room itself (15 m2) and the vocal booth (3 m2) are rather small. To the facilities of Audio Cavern belongs as well a small lounge area. As the Genesys is made for small size studios, it perfectly fits to Audio Cavern. With increasing business, the requirement for an expansion of the console might arise, and, as the Genesys can be expanded to up to 64 channels (which is by the way a great feature of this console), the initial investment will then for sure pay off.”

“After having worked a long time with digital mixing desks, and thus appreciating the luxury of storing and recalling console settings (including fader automation and DAW control), I was longing again for the purity and warmth of an analogue sound. And, when it comes to analogue, there is no way around Neve. Having studied sound engineering more than a decade ago on a Neve VR24 console and a 2“/24 track tape machine, I have to say that the warmth of music recorded with this technology cannot be achieved by only using digital technology (there is always the feeling of “something is missing“). In addition to this, digital – very often said to be linear and perfect – shows that quite often the best takes are useless if a little digital clipping or a drop-out arises during the recording; errors which can hardly be repaired without any remaining artefacts.”

Recording & Music Production in the AudioCavern StudioAudio CavernIn The Studio

MARCH 2014

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The legendary Neve 1073 microphone preamp adds yet another award to its ever-growing collection - voted the winner in the category of Best Mic Preamplifier 2014 by the worldwide readers of Sound On Sound magazine for the second year running.

The Neve 1073 is sheer class. Quality both in build and in performance.performance. No other microphone preamp comes anywhere near the unbelievable achievements it has reached. Now availableavailable in several formats; the original hand-built 1073 Classic mic pre & EQ module, the versatile 1073DPA and1073DPD dual mic preamp units, the 1073LB - the award-winning and best-selling 500-series mic preamp for the last 2 years and the all-new 1073N standalone mic preamp & EQ module, the best microphone preamp is available in every application and delivers the ultimate in recording quality.

The 1073 is so good, we even use it as the microphone preamp in the Neve Genesys console to achieve the highest quality recordings of any modern console. Thanks once again to the readers of Sound On Sound magazinemagazine for taking their time to vote and proving beyond any doubt that the Neve 1073 microphone preamp is simply the best available. Neve - no question.

Sound On Sound's worldwide reader vote shows the Neve 1073 is the best – for the second year running!

UK Business Secretary Enjoys AMS Neve Factory Tour

AMS Neve at MusikmesseThanks to everyone who stopped by our stand this year at Musikmesse in Frankfurt.

The feedback on Genesys Black has been fantastic - keep your thoughts coming via Facebook and Twitter!

AMS Neve were delighted to welcome Rt Hon. Dr Vince Cable Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills (UK) last week, as he visited our Burnley-based factory as part of on a high-profile tour of the town's businesses.

The Business Secretary enjoyed a tour of the site with AMS Neve’s Managing Director, Mark Crabtree, and even got behind the mixing desk – enjoying an exclusive demo of the Genesys Black.

AMS Neve Managing Director Mark Crabtree, with the Business Secretary, Vince Cable - with the Genesys Black

Neve 1073 votedBEST MIC PRE

MARCH 2014

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The main 5.1 and 7.1 mixing was performed at Warner Bros De Lane Lea Studios on the DFC Gemini and the final Atmos mix was completed at WB Burbank. Other work was undertaken at British Grove Studios: “Although we are only credited as ‘Recorded at’ – as we did a couple of days of string and other pick-ups – we actually did the 7.1 music mix here over 17 days,” remarked David Stewart of British Grove. “[This was] a quite extraordinaryextraordinary and complex feat involving three MADI-linked Pro Tools, hundreds of audio tracks, Apogee and Prism Audio I/O analogue interfaces, four offline suites and a direct ISDN link to Los Angeles.” (ProSound News Europe)

Other winners on the night included 12 Years A Slave (Best Film) and Philomena (Adapted Screenplay), which incidentally also had their sound/music mixed on AMS Neve consoles.

It was an amazing night at the BAFTAs in London, with Gravity (starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock) winning 5 awards including Best Sound and Best Original Music, as well as Best Director, Outstanding British Film and Best Cinematography.

TheThe victory for audio was well deserved by the team from Sound 24, Glenn Freemantle’s post-production service based at Pinewood Studios, who began working on Gravity in late 2010. Freemantle, in the role of sound designer and supervising sound editor, led the Best Sound Bafta-winning team of Niv Adiri (sound design editor/ sound re-recording mixer), Skip Lievsay (sound re-recording mixer), ChristopherChristopher Benstead (music editor and sound re-recording mixer) and Chris Munro (production sound mixer).

“There’s no sound in space… but there you go, we’re all right!” joked Freemantle on receiving the award.

Steven Price won the Best Original Music award for the Gravity soundtrack, recorded in part at Abbey Road (through the AMS Neve 88RS console) and British Grove (AMS Neve 88R console). “Thank you to my Mum and Dad for having such a great record collection and starting this whole thing off,” said Price as he collected his award.

Steve Price and his BAFTA

The ‘Gravity’ sound team with their BAFTAs

Gravity scooped 7 Oscars

Awards Season 2014A round up of the Awards Season 2014, from the world of Music & Film.

Well over half of the 2014 Oscar® nomi-nees had their soundtrack mixed and/or music recorded on AMS Neve’s consoles. These included “Gravity”, “12 Years A Slave”, “Frozen”, “The Great Gatsby”, “Inside Llweyn Davis”, “The Croods”, “Captain Phillips” and “Philomena”. The studios, engineers and mixers who produce Oscar winning scores and soundtracks rely on AMS Neve consoles – the Neve 88RS with SP2 scoring panel for the score, and the AMS Neve DFC (itself an Academy Award winner) for the final dub – to deliver the power and sonic qualityquality to match the director’s vision.

MARCH 2014

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AMS Neve DFC and Neve 88RS consoles dominated the awards, being used to produce the sound for Oscar winners ‘Gravity’, ‘12 Years a Slave’, and ‘Frozen’ – ensuring a clean sweep of all sound related categories and also Best Picture and Animated Feature Film. After it’s victory at the BAFTAs, British Film - ‘Gravity’, swept the board with 7 wins taking visual effects, cinematography, editing and more importantly original score, sound editing, and sound mixing. 12 Years A Slave - another British triumph, which had part of its soundtrack recorded on the 88RS at Abbey Road Studios - won Best Picture. Even the Oscars Orchestra was recorded on a Neve 88RS at Capitol Studios!

The 88RS in Abbey Road Studio 2

12 Years A Slave takes Best Picture

Gravity sound team adding to their award collection

THE WINNERS

Best picture "12 Years a Slave" -- WINNER

Sound editing "Gravity" -- WINNER

Sound mixing "Gravity" -- WINNER "Gravity" -- WINNER

Directing Alfonso Cuaron - "Gravity" -- WINNER

Writing (adapted screenplay)" "12 Years A Slave" - John Ridley -- WINNER

Animated feature film "Frozen" -- WINNER

Music (original song) Music (original song) "Let it Go" - "Frozen" - Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez -- WINNER

Music (original score) "Gravity" Steven Price -- WINNER

Visual effects "Gravity" -- WINNER

Cinematography Cinematography "Gravity" -- WINNER

Film editing "Gravity" -- WINNER

Production design "The Great Gatsby" -- WINNER

Full winners list can be found here: http://oscar.go.com/nominees

The AMS Neve DFC Gemni at WB De Lane Lea

MARCH 2014

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It follows Grohl's purchase of the studio's custom analogue Neve 8028 console, which he moved to his personal studio, Studio 606. ‘Cut Me Some Slack’, and indeed the rest of the songs on the soundtrack were recorded on the Neve 8028.

It was also a triumphant night for British artists at the American awards show. Previous Grammy and Academy Award winner Adele won Best Song written for Visual Media for Skyfall (co-writtenwritten by Paul Epworth). Adele's vocal for the track was recorded in the classic studio to end all classic studios - Abbey Road, Studio 2 - on the 60-fader Neve 88RS console with SP2 scoring panel. For the orchestral backing, Epworth used Abbey Road's Studio 1.

Incidentally, ‘Skyfall’ also won a gong for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. Abbey Road was again the choice, this time with Thomas Newman's score recorded on the larger Studio 1 and the 72-fader Neve 88RS with Simon Rhodes as recording engineer. Here too, the SP2 scoring panel and stem-maker came into its own, for quicker, more efficient routingrouting and easy delivery of the stem mixes to the final mix. Once again, for ‘Skyfall’, the 23rd Bond movie, AMS Neve's flagship mixing consoles rose to the challenge.

Full list of winners can be found here: http://www.grammy.com/nominees

Other GRAMMY winners included ‘Cut Me Some Slack’ (Dave Grohl, Paul McCartney, Krist Novoselic & Pat Smear) from “Sound City: Real to Reel” -– was awarded Best Rock Song, while the film’s soundtrack was awarded Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. “Sound City” is a 2013 documen-tary film produced and directed by Dave Grohl (his directorial debut) about the history of recording studio, Sound City Studios, in Los Angeles. in Los Angeles.

Random Access Memories was recorded at various locations – including Electrical Lady Studios in New York and Capitol Studios in Hollywood. The duo used none other than Neve 1073 mic pres to record vocals and also live guitars, and recorded the orchestra in Studio A at Capitol Studios. Once the recordingsrecordings were finished, mixdown took place at Conway Studio C (Hollywood) using the Neve 88R, which has 24 remote Neve mic pres, consisting of 12 1081Rs and 12 1081R Air versions. They also spent a lot of time auditioning compressors with the Neve 33609 coming out on top. Daft Punk originally bought a vintage reconditioned 33609 but it didn’t quite produce the sound they wanted – so they traded it in and bought the 33609 thatthat Conway Studios had because ‘everybody loved that one’.

Daft Punk were the big winners at the 56th annual GRAMMY Awards in Los Angeles. The French dance duo took home Album of the Year, Best Engineered Album (non-classical) and Dance/ Electronica Album for Random Access Memories and Record of the Year and Pop/Duo Group Performance for last year's catchy "Get Lucky", their collaboration with Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers.Nile Rodgers.

Daft Punk collected 4 GRAMMY awards this year

Conway Studio C and their Neve 88R

Paul McCartney & Dave Grohl collect Best Rock Song award

Adele toook Best Song for Visual Media with ‘Skyfall’

MARCH 2014

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SPOTLIGHT ON...Here at AMS Neve, we love hearing from our customers about how you use your Neve gear! This issue, we introduce Paul Andrews, Owner/Engineer/Producer at Bridge Studios in Longmont, Colorado.

Bridge Studios is a semi-private recording studio that caters to both local and national music acts. Some recent projects include:include: Mandy Harvey, Hannah Holbrook, SHEL, Bonnie and the Clydes, Katey Laurel, Rocky Mountain Childrens Choir, Square Peg, and DPA Microphones. Paul’s collection of Neve gear includes 8816 Summing Mixer, 3 x 4081s, 2 x 2264ALB and AMS RMX 16! And he speaks highly of all of them...

“My“My 8816 is really the center piece in the control room. From tracking to mixing, I take advantage of everything from the four monitor source controls to the talkback mic. I love mixing smaller projects right from the unit’s control surface! Plus, the Recall software and control allow me to bring back a mix, spot on! But the thing that really brings this unit to the front, I believe, is the two Carnhill transformers in the master buss. In a word, awesome!II hope to someday complete my 8816 with the fader pack for the added features and tactile control.”

“Currently I own three 4081 units giving me a total of twelve 1081 mic/line pres. Having the capability to track 12 channels of drums through the 4081’s is very important to me because of the consistency in sound and that great Neve character. In the mix I often run tracks back through the 4081’s for added color and warmth. I’m not sure if it’s the class AB circuitry in the unit that softenssoftens the transients, but the way it handles the signal is very pleasing to the ear! I also love using the digital control in these units. I don’t even have to turn my head to monitor the input gain, or change them from mic to line in. That’s so cool!”

“Once I did this, I knew I had found the missing link...”

“These compressors have such a rich, warm sound, they’re just fantastic!”

“I have two of the 2264ALB’s in my 500 rack. They have been strapped across the mix insert on the 8816 for the last year. Once I did this, I knew I had found the missing link. These compressors have such a rich warm sound, they’re just fantastic! I really enjoy the modern features like the signal indicator LED, and being able to link two of them together. In my setup, these little compressors complete the signal chain in a way no other can.”

“The RMX 16 was one of the first products I was able to purchase, almost ten years ago. I have used it on every album project from that time. The number 8 preset (plate reverb) is my absolute favorite on drums and vocals. There’s something about the limited bandwidth that just sounds natural in a mix. It makes itself known just enough to miss it when it’s not there, and know that it’s just right when it is. I can’t wait to hear the plug-in version when it’s released!”released!”

If you would like to be featured in our next issue, contact marketing@ams-neve.com

The AMS RMX 16 - the first piece of gear Paul purchased

Paul’s 8816 is the centre piece of his Control Room

“In a word, awesome!”

Paul with some of his collection at Bridge Studios

Paul Andrews

http://bit.ly/1nxF6qe

AMS NEVE Ltd. Billington Road | Burnley | Lancashire | BB11 5UB | EnglandT +44 (0)1282 457 011 | F +44 (0)1282 417 282

Nathan Bona - I use my 1073LB in my home studio in conjunction with a vocal booth for live recording and microphone such as my AEA A840 ribbon microphone and Rode Classic II limited edition with applications such as saxophones, vocals, guitars etc. The difference in quality the NEVE has given me to my previous pre-amps (both owned by me and studios I have been to) is astounding. I decided on the Neve after hearing about the Pre's that SAE had to offer and it has become one of the most fundamental parts of my studio. Without a doubt the 1073LB is the best pre-amp (especially in the 500 series) I have ever used! and will definitely be looking to purchase another in the future!

AnonymousAnonymous - I used the 1073LB on kick drum, guitars, vocals and upright bass. It's VERY solid. It's ease of use is as important as it's sound quality which is stellar. Having the front input option makes it so easy to use on anything - that's a big help. For the project studio like mine, this is cool. FYI, my kick drum and vocal tracks are just as good, if not better, as the tracks that we did in a full-service commercial studio. Great product. Would love to get the 1073LBEQ now!

Steve Loecher - I currently own two 1073LBs'. They are great sounding mic pres for the money. The 500 series format is a fantastic innovation. They are a part of every project I am associated with. Keep up the good work!innovation. They are a part of every project I am associated with. Keep up the good work!

Customer FeedbackHere at AMS Neve – we appreciate your feedback on all of our products and your user experiences. This month – it’s the Neve 1073LB.

Want to share your thoughts about your Neve products or find out more about features in this issue?Email us: info@ams-neve.com

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