Best known for his work with The Black Angels and Widespread Panic, Austin-based producer and front of house engineer Brett Orrison built his Austin Recording Service studio from the ground up in 2017. After a 16-year journey to find the perfect console, it centres on a 16-channel Rupert Neve Designs 5088, loaded with 16 of the company’s Shelford 5052 mic preamp/EQ modules.
‘I’ve been shopping for a console for 16 years – and after a ton of research, I found the 5088,’ he explains. ‘I met Rupert at Namm a few years back an,d after hearing the thought process behind the board and the pedigree, I was sold. I took a trip to Wimberley, Texas and got to play around with the 5088 being built for Willie Nelson – I had to have one.’
The studio’s name pays homage to The Memphis Recording Service (and later Sun Studios). Its design and interior was inspired by the Kubrick movie 2001: A Space Odyssey: ‘The live room has a 16ft ceiling and three iso booths,’ Orrison says. ‘One is an all-aluminium room used as a reverb chamber.’
Orrison recently finished the first record on the console with producer Paul Leary (Butthole Surfers, Sublime, Melvins, U2) and has this to say: ‘The console sounds incredible. The EQ is unbelievable. I couldn’t be happier and more confident about my set-up. He [Paul Leary] absolutely loved the sound we captured with the 5088 and the Studer A827. It was an amazing experience.’
More: http://rupertneve.com
