Rupert Neve

Arthur Rupert Neve (31 July 1926 – 12 February 2021) was a British-American electronics engineer and entrepreneur, who was a pioneering designer of professional audio recording equipment. He designed analog recording and audio mixing equipment that was sought after by professional musicians and recording technicians. His customers included the music groups the Beatles, Aerosmith and Nirvana, and the recording studios Sound City Studios and Abbey Road Studios. Companies that he was associated with included Neve Electronics, Focusrite, AMS Neve, and Rupert Neve Designs.

He received a Technical Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in 1997.

Early life Arthur Rupert Neve was born on 31 July 1926 in Newton Abbot, England. He spent much of his early childhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where his father was a missionary with the British and Foreign Bible Society. In 1961, he formed Neve Electronics, and began designing and building mixing consoles for recording studios. One of his customers during this period was the Beatles and their producer George Martin. This has resulted in several companies releasing products that are Neve replicas or clones. He is often credited for designing the modern recording console. In 1989, he was inducted into the Mix Hall of Fame, and in 1997 he was the third person to receive a Technical Grammy Award for lifetime accomplishment. In a 1999 survey conducted by Studio Sound magazine he was selected by his peers as the number one audio personality of the 20th century. Dave Grohl interviewed Neve for the 2013 documentary Sound City, a documentary about the recording studio of the same name. Some of his customers included music groups Aerosmith, Nirvana, and recording studio Abbey Road Studios in addition to Sound City Studios. As a condition of the sale Neve signed a 10-year non-compete agreement. The original Neve group was sold to Siemens in 1985. Siemens then merged Neve with another UK audio console manufacturer AMS (Advanced Music Systems) and formed AMS Neve. The company was later sold to Tom Misner of the School of Audio Engineering.

Focusrite Focusrite was founded by Neve with his wife Evelyn. The company manufactured equalizers, processors, and amplifiers. The company made rack-mounted recording equipment, outboard gear, dynamic processors, and equalizers. The company was liquidated in 1989. Phil Dudderidge, who incorporated a new company, Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd, bought the assets of the company.

ARN Consultants Neve started ARN Consultants, a consulting firm, with his wife in 1975, during a period of non-compete agreement with Neve Electronics. ARN Consultants also designed the two-channel mastering box, called the Masterpiece, for Legendary Audio. The company won multiple TEC Awards in recognition for their product innovation.

Neve partnered with sE Electronics in 2008, to design the Rupert Neve Signature Series of microphones. By April 2015, three models had been introduced: the RNR1 active ribbon microphone, the RN17 small-diaphragm condenser microphone, and the RNT large-diaphragm vacuum tube condenser microphone.

Personal life and death Neve was married to his wife, Evelyn, for nearly 70 years until his death. The couple had five children and moved to Wimberley, Texas, United States, in 1994, and became U.S. citizens in 2002.

Neve died on 12 February 2021 in Wimberley due to pneumonia and heart failure. He was aged 94.