The Neve 8078 was the last of the "80 series" hand-wired analogue mixing consoles designed and manufactured by Neve Electronics, founded in 1961 by the English electronics engineer Rupert Neve, for high-end recording studios during the 1970s. Some were custom built for major studios like CBS Sony.
The rarity of these consoles makes them quite valuable. The classic Neve sound has featured on records by artists including Steely Dan, Nirvana, Megs McLean, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Quincy Jones, George Clinton, and Chick Corea.
A limited number of these consoles were ever made and there are now only a few select studios who have 8078 consoles still working perfectly after almost 30 years. These include:
Blackbird Studio A (72 inputs) in NashvilleClubhouse Rhinebeck, NY (8028)Dockside Studio in Milton, Louisiana 52 input 8058 with automationEastWest Studios (closed and reopened Cello) in Los AngelesElectric Lady Studios in New York CityElectraSonic Sound Recording Studio in North Vancouver, BC, Canada.Grandmaster Recorders Ltd. in Hollywood (24-channel 8028)Lattitude Studio South in Leipers Fork (Nashville) Tennessee owned by producer, writer, engineer, mixer Michael Lattanzi, console came from Los Angeles owned prior by Dave WayLong View Studios in North Brookfield, MassachusettsOcean Way in NashvilleOscilloscope Laboratories in Tribeca (custom modified with 72 Channels of flying faders), formerly housed in Threshold Sound + Vision, with an API sidecar, which was formerly housed at Sony Music West in Santa Monica, CA prior to that.The Parlor Recording Studios in New Orleans, LA.Pedernales Country Club Willie Nelson's studio outside of Austin, TX.Royaltone Studios in North Hollywood, CA (now owned by songwriter producer Linda Perry)The Site Recording Environment in Marin County, CASonic Ranch in Tornillo, TX. Custom console has 80-channels of pres (two consoles combined by Pat Schneider and Wes Dooley) with GML Automation, 32 channels of monitor inputs, and 24 buses. Originally in Motown West Coast, it moved L.A.'s Brooklyn Studios owned by Freddy Demann and Madonna, then acquired by Yoshiki from X Japan.Sound City Recording Studios (operating one 28-channel 8028 and one 40-channel 8078) in Van Nuys (which has closed in May 2011. The board has been purchased by Dave Grohl for his personal studio, Studio 606. In 2013 he produced a documentary about it and an album recorded with it with a large panel of rock stars, called Sound City)Sphere Studios in Los Angeles, CaliforniaThe Way Recording Studio LondonHowever Air Studios recording studio in Montserrat founded by George Martin which recorded Dire Straits award winning album Brothers in Arms was recorded on a custom-made Neve console (A4792) constructed in 1978 that removed many of the inadequacies of the 8078 series and is now in operation at Subterranean Sound Studios in Toronto, ON. Only three of these consoles were ever made with the other two originally installed at Air Studios in London. Air Lyndhurst still has one of the two remaining consoles in operation today; the other console is in use at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, B.C.
