There are times in your day-to-day when you get the chance to try out a great many tools. When that happens, there is usually something on the list that suddenly grabs your attention in such a way that, between the curiosity you already had and the opportunity in front of you, you put all your senses to work to see what it offers. In this case we have a Neve 8801, which consists of a preamp (equalizer) and compressor (gate), what is known as a channel strip. But first of all, let's explain what Neve is.
Neve has been making professional audio products for more than 40 years, from audio consoles to post-production consoles, broadcast, and more. The company also enjoys a very good reputation in the industry, since every product it makes is of great quality. So, given that we have a preamp with a compressor, we can sum it up as a channel we can use for recording acoustics, electrics, vocals, kick drums, and so on. In other words, it's a perfect place to run any track through. But let's describe, knob by knob, input by input, output by output, and so on, what makes up this rack unit.
Construction
I have to confess that I've always been drawn to anything that lives in a rack, and the Neve 8801 was no exception, since it comes housed in a rack unit, on the front of which we see a large number of knobs and controls, plus an input, and on the back we have the whole arsenal of inputs and outputs: balanced, jack, and so on, which we'll use to bring the signal into or out of the system.
Thinking about the architecture of the unit itself, you can see how they've taken care to separate the preamp/EQ section on one side from the compressor and noise gate on the other, since, as we'll see, we can use one and/or the other depending on what we want.
Front Panel Description
We'll go through each of the controls the Neve 8801 gives us. We'll start with the front, which is where we can operate all the knobs:
1.- The last button on the front, at the far right, with the Neve logo engraved on it, is for turning the unit on and off.
2.- IP-Gain: the IP-Gain control lets us do a couple of important things: one is choosing which type of input we'll use, that is, mic, line, DI, or the digital output, which we can access when it's connected. For that we need to push the knob itself; the other function is choosing how much input gain we want. On the mic input we can engage the PAD control to attenuate by 20 dB. We also have a control for supplying phantom power to the mic input. And a control for choosing the phase we want to use. Of course all of this relates to a Mic/DI input as the input to the system.
3.- High Pass Filter and Low Pass Filter: We enter the filter section, that is, they give us two knobs to control the high-pass and low-pass filters. Of course, the knobs are push/pull and can be “switched,” and an LED will show the status of the filters. We also have a (push) control that lets us lock the filters in place.
4.- Compressor and Gate: We move on to one of the most important sections of the whole system, the compressor and the noise gate. They are served by the following controls: Make-up Gain, Threshold, Ratio, Hysteresis, Range, Release. Plus LEDs that show the status of both the compressor and the gate. There is a “Dynamics” button, which lets us bypass the compressor and the gate, but we can never treat them separately; if the control is on we can use both compressor and gate, and if it's off we can't use either. But it doesn't end there: each of the knobs can be pushed, giving access to different options. Make-Up Gain gives access to Hard knee, and with Threshold we can access Link, which is used when we have several 8801s (this relates to stereo sounds). Pushing the Ratio control lets us set the speed (normal or fast) of the attack itself. Pressing Release switches on the auto release mode.
5.- EQ Section: As I just anticipated, we're going to focus on the part where the preamp resides, and therefore where we can give color to the sound. All of this is possible thanks to an EQ button, which switches the EQ section on or off. Getting more fully into the parameters section, they offer us:
· Low Frequency Band: Pushing this knob lets us choose the curve type, peaking or shelving.
· Low mid Freq, High Mid freq: Two midrange controls to be much more precise in that section.
· High Freq Band: It also lets us choose the curve type by pressing the knob itself.
In addition, we can use the Insert control to feed any effect, preamp, etc. into the rear section (Insert Send, Insert Return), so it works as a loop, letting us “route” the signal to that input/output. And finally, the Audio Router control lets us choose the order of Dynamics, EQ, and the Insert itself.
Rear Panel Description
Let's go through the rear section, where all the connections are:
- We have a Line I/P input and a Mic I/P input, both XLR.
- A jack input for the DI input.
- A Key input, which is 9-pin, for controlling dynamics inputs and so on.
- A USB port to connect the unit to a PC or a Mac and be able to record, recall the different settings, etc.
- Ground. A ground control to assign its own ground, or in case it is provided by the whole system the 8801 is installed in.
- A headphone output. This is quite unusual for these cases, since it isn't common on this type of preamp. Note that it is a stereo jack output.
- The Insert input and output, which works as a “loop.”
- A socket for the digital O/P.
- The fuse and power, which comes through a multi-pin input and an external power supply that is separate from the rack itself.
Sound
As we said at the beginning, talking about a tool like a channel strip is not simple, for many reasons: its complexity and the difficulty of putting an auditory sensation into words, which applies to every product used in sound but is accentuated in the case of the 8801. It's a tool very sensitive to changes and capable of altering very noticeably any work we do in the studio.
So, within the possibilities we have, we'll focus on a series of typical situations we can run into:
As soon as I plugged in the Neve preamp, I began the test by recording some acoustic guitars. Mainly, the part consisted of very rhythmic chords, soft pick, and lots of right hand. The guitar I used was a six-string Larrivée, with a fairly soft pick, mainly with the intention of getting the most rhythmic sound possible. The end result when using the Neve can be divided into two parts, at the level of the preamp itself and at the level of the compressor. In the first case, the preamp gives us a great deal of midrange; no matter whether we try to cancel it, it contributes plenty. Of course we can bring in the extremes, that is, lows and highs, but where it feels like a fish in water is in the midrange frequencies. At the same time, when using the compressor we realize how well thought out it is and the good result it can lead us to simply by running through it, even if only discreetly. The compression is extremely dynamic and not at all abrupt, very sensitive to any variation. Even a good solution is to use the compressor and not the preamp, if you have an instrument that doesn't need much signal preparation.
- Another situation where I tested the possibilities of the preamp/compressor was miking a kick drum. I should mention that the drum sound being sought was a primarily rock kit, where the goal was a pointed kick with a high attack. The kick I used was a 20" Yamaha. The preamp acted exactly as with the acoustic guitar, with the excess of mids, which in this particular case gave us the punchier sound we were after. At the same time, the compressor helps keep in check the peaks a kick drum like this can produce. Also, since it has so much dynamics, it is very sensitive to any brush or any variation in the attack, and everything gets captured.
- I also used Neve's 8801 to record the bass line; that way we can close the circle and cover more or less the whole spectrum. For the occasion I recorded with several basses: a five-string Music Man, a Fender Precision, and a six-string fretless Roscoe. The Neve 8801's preamp works in a quite similar way in all cases, that is, it gives us plenty of mids, which doesn't allow great definition. I should also say that the open fifth string of the Roscoe gave us spectacular pressure through the 8801, especially because the bass sat completely in place, without needing to touch anything for the mix. On the other hand, the compressor let us bring out and define the bass, even getting harmonics and broadening the timbre.
Conclusion
The Neve 8801 is a full-fledged channel strip; indisputable are the high quality of the materials used and the quality of the machine's sound itself. It will give us that extra that we don't usually have in our studio, but always with the Neve stamp. Worth highlighting are the great number of options and the multitasking of each of the knobs, as well as all the possibilities the unit's rear section offers. In terms of sound, you have to consider the large amount of midrange in the preamp section, as well as the great result from its compressor. So, if we add to this the ability to split between the preamp and the compressor, it makes the Neve 8801 a very competitive tool.
