Sonic Circus designs new, turn-key studios around custom Rupert Neve Shelford 5088 consoles. We wanted to share an inside look at the latest 5088 in build and QC at Rupert Neve Designs in Wimberley, Texas. We are having this one custom designed with a 19″ 500 Series 10 Slot Rack, as well as additional stereo modules. This will give the console 16 returns for 8 stereo sources. The Neve is an excellent choice for today’s demands of hybrid Analog/Digital studio production. The Shelford has an unbelievable bandwidth of 10HZ to 200kHZ! (Yes that’s right) due in part to Rupert’s unique transformer coupling and understanding of musical, upper partial harmonics. The console’s input section operates at high voltage +_ 45V. The noise floor is dead quiet.

Because the Penthouse (The section that holds the EQ modules) is highly customizable, the console can be tailored to your needs and expanded if your workflow changes. We can add a DAW center section along with Swiftmix DAW moving fader automation. Build time can take 4-5 weeks once you order the console from Sonic Circus, so you should plan accordingly. If you’re interested in getting in front of one, we generally have a demo console here at our shop, and we can arrange demos for you in one of the several studios where we have installed them.

The advantage to the new Blue Shelford console is clearly the 5051 and 5052 inductor modules. Rupert has incorporated some similarities to the much sought after Vintage Neve 1073/1066/1084’s, but the modules have a much faster slew rate and hold together really well on mixes. Our friends working on the 5088 tend to find their sweet spot and really improve their game as mixers, producers etc. Considering that a vintage Neve 8068 would cost close to $1M to build by todays standards, streamlining the console build process has taken great planning and development. Rupert and Crew have done an amazing job keeping discrete analog consoles moving ahead for future generations to make music.

We are going to be adding some user stories to this Blog so if you stay connected we can provide some more insight as time goes by.  Basically, theres a good reason users like Jack White, Dweezil Zappa, Willie Nelson and countless others are trading in their war torn old consoles in for new Rupert Neve 5088’s. If you have problem in the future and need service, pick up the phone and call the Sonic Circus Tech Shop or Martin Arthurs at Rupert Neve and we will take care of the issue.