Focusrite // The Story of the Focusrite Studio Console 

What a legendary console blown away I like classic music equipment but this is something else

I didn't know till watching this that Rupert Neve started and built Focusrite..What a genius he was..Rest In Peace

Seeing the flooded console and live room after the storm almost made me cry

I think the focusrite console 'add on ' that arrived at AIR studio 1 was the first of it's kind. It was to complement the Neve 8068 . Desperately trying to remember the session that we needed it for.....anyway, I was a little engineer back then, '87 , and it was a wonderful sounding set of channels!

Great Video! A bit high end for me! Don't have any experience with these type of boards but I became interested in this because I use a Focusrite audio interface. I've been interested in audio engineering since high school and when I tried to intern at a big studio in the Bay Area years ago the studio owners and managers didn't let me go too far so I built my own home studio and taught myself engineering. I've made some really good demos! It's always good to look for second hand gear that is well maintained! Lots analog consoles are going for very cheap prices these days! I purchased a Soundcraft LXII 32 channel console (very compact) for my home studio for about $500 and it was well taken care of!! My first console was a Mackie console which got screwed up by a repair shop so I didn't record for awhile! I think I might have been a victim of BS here! Another repair guy that I took my Mackie console to had the nerve to tell me that I didn't know how to operated my own console instead of putting it on the bench to test it!! I wonder how these repair people would have treated me if I was white, I'm a Afro-American guy who has performed lead guitar with a few great entertainers! Charles Brown, who, before he died, played in Bonnie Raitt's band and Little Esther Phillips! There just aren't many reliable repair people around or least I don't know any now! I used know a few who were top notch guys who could keep my tape machines running great! Alway test your equipment before you leave any repair shop! My Soundcraft console, I think it might have been used in a church situation (sound reinforcement). Engineers are going digital nowadays because it is easier to recall settings of the console where before you would take pictures of your different settings or right them down on a console diagram! That's just too much work! I found it interesting that this video didn't show any black engineers that may have used these consoles! I know there are many black engineers because I hear their productions all the time!

Mad love to focusrite. BOP studiis is close to wherr i live. Hope it stays alive. Not much goes on there now it seems. This was mad interesting.

This video was amazing

Great documentary!

P-pop at 0:23 makes me chuckle at the irony.

This is awesome 👏

OK, I give up Burning Building at 3:43??????? Thanks nice Vid!

I have a Isa 110 lunchbox style I love it best 500 bucks I spent

what says Joseph at 6:08? Mie-cree-in? i cant find anything on google...

OW studio A looks so iconic then you see those horrendously crappy digi 192 units in the rack and it negates everything.

Oceanway’s Focusrite #4 was ‘my console’ too, from 1994 to 97. It was the first large format console I have worked on, and it was love at first sight. I just loved the bus routing and design! So cool to see this video, a blast from my past for sure!

love the Spanish Guy that saved all his money up from engineering and snagged one second hand, only to put it in his house. that's amazing well done that man. I'm Jealous.

Got this channel strip from Plugin Alliance. Love this documentary.

This doco has given me another level of appreciation for my Focusrite equipment, thanks Focusrite!

shocker. another set of boards that are damn near perfect and who's fingers are all over them? Rupert Neve. Man is a damn genius.

Great documentary. Happy that Focusrite put this together for us to learn from.

I fortunately had the opportunity to work a lot with JJP and Alan Sides on console #4 at Ocean Way in Hollywood CA on my first solo record (Leroy) for Hollywood Records. I was alway blown away by the sound that console produced. JJP had a lot to do with it as well! Those were great times!!! After seeing this doc I feel like I've been a part of something really special. Thanks for making and sharing this doc!

A lesson to us all, put your good shit on the second floor.

Had no idea Focusrites root's were so deep.

Thanks Focusrite for this wonderful and well made documentary. Also, thanks for keeping quality audio alive.

Love the focusrite sound for recording! I produced an album at console number 2 when it was at Paramount studios in .LA. A complete wonderful experience! Thanks for sharing all this history. Great video👍 Lot’s of great memories. Mike Rosario

I think this is my third(?) time watching this doc, and I'm here this time bc of the ISA channel strip plugin I just got last week. I don't remember the last time I was so excited about a plugin! I've only had the chance to use it on one little project so far as I'm sort of between living arrangements again, but I can already tell it's going to be my new go-to channel strip! I've got others I love for various things, but I can just tell, even in plugin form, the ISA sounds good on *EVERYTHING*. Congrats and thank you to Focusrite (and Brainworx), and keep up the great work!

Wow, quite a bit of nostalgia for me here. I helped to commission console number 9 at Beartracks with Rob Jenkins, in I think, February "94. Dredging the memory banks here. I do remember lots of deep snow, and Rob and I sitting in an Italian restaurant after a long days work somewhere in upstate New York on Valentines day - everyone else was having a romantic evening with roses on the table! Nice to see the guys at SST are keeping number 9 going as a hybrid of 2 consoles after the flood wrecked it. The sort of madness I admire. Watching this video makes me feel like I was part of something very significant, and it's good to see people still care so much about those old consoles. I know in my time at Focusrite we were definitely striving to do something different and better "the way it should be done". Perhaps sadly - as far as consoles are concerned anyway, it was near the end of an era. I'm still an analogue guy through and through tho. I took a marker pen and left a message on the console frame back at Beartracks for anyone who took it apart in future to see, something like "Commissioned by John Emmerson and Rob Jenkins February 1994", I wonder if that message survived. John

This was an awesome video!!! Rupert was involved in a lot of things. I'm very happy with my Clarett 8pre purchase. Just have to get all the right components so my computer will run it. I felt this video. Loved the journey. Focusrite I'm officially a fan and user. First it was Chris and Tom Lord-alge using Big Red Focusrite on their Mix bus that made me a fan. But then to find out in this video Mr. Rupert Neve was involved. Its a no brainer for me. I'm all in.

I absolutely love the passion in this documentary . That alone will make me buy some focusrite gears

Really enjoyed that - great documentary, never knew they only made 10 of these.

What a wonderful documentation of a the Rupert Neve/Focusrite heritage and why it is so important to preserve for future generations to come to love and appreciate. RIP Rupert Neve. We love you.

I love this Console! I have the ISA 430MKII it's my favorite channel strip

Damn. RIP #9. Hope you make it through surgery 😇😇😇

It is a beautiful documentary with very nice details. Analog still gives a better sound than digital.

i feel happy about my little Scarlett 2i4

Sound recording both art and science! This is a mind blowing, must watch, documentary of when synergy between the two! Thanks for sharing this bit of history!

A must watch for any Audio Engineer!

Loved this story of these old Focusrite consoles…The ISA-110 vocal preamp, and equalizer epic… ☮🔥

gotta love the Spanish guy, tracking a single acoustic guitar with the Focusrite crammed into a space the size of my bathroom...looks impressive though

how good is the Plugin Alliance BX software version compared to the HW? If anybody can share would be appreciated!

So honoured to be a part of it! Well done to all involved!

This was beautiful! . These consoles are a work of art and in the future will probably be in museums!!! Beautiful and emotional story!

As a budding engineer and overall gear nut I really enjoyed this doc. I respect the people that put the work into maintaining/repairing these consoles and I feel it is definitely not in vain. At the end of the day it is all about the sound and striving to make the best impression on our listeners. Analog is definitely better for archiving and playback on high fidelity systems. I am now planning on purchasing a Focusrite ISA430 MK II producer pack channel strip, lol. If only Focusrite could make a stereo version of the producer pack for home studio types that can't afford to buy two channel strips. I guess I'll have to tell my mono stems to fall in line!

Very nice! I have some focusrite gear in my home studio and I love them. The voicemaster pro platinium and saffire pro 14.

I wish I could mix on this big Old beast of a console

I was desperately lookin for this video a few months ago thrn stumbled back across it today!

What a brilliant documentary! Right I'm going to re-mix my recordings with a totally new perspective on things. Thank you!

I have to admid this is the best documentary/storytelling I have ever seen about a high end audio product. Anmazingly well done guys! Make some more of this very educatting and informing studio stuff reports.

GONNA TRACK IN TOKYO AND MIX OUTSIDE MADRID. THATS THE PLAN

I wish I could afford a beautiful desk like that, the best I could afford was a second hand Allen and Heath GL2800. I loved its simplicity and ruggedness, it might not have been the most neutral or dynamic desk but it did us proud. Now we use Focusrite octoPre's and a mixture of Pro Tools, Reaper and Adobe Audition. Sadly if you don't master all the recordings yourself it's irrelevant how good the recordings are you can be sure they will be compressed to death, have no dynamic range and sound utterly crap.

I enjoyed this, being a sound buff myself. But I find it quite funny that the film doesn't seem to have been mixed at all. The radio mics are not filtered to sound good or natural and the sound clips are not faded in or out very beautifully, the sound suddenly poops in, kind of. Just saying concerning the topic of what I just watched...

Ok.. Cool. Now I'm away to listen to some paper.

Makes me happy to be a focusrite user. Good sounds.

Wow! I had no idea about the history of this company when I bought my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 interface for doing my podcast! I love the way it works!

Great video! This is amazing. The fact that engineers, people, specialists, and others are capable to design and build such an enormous, complicated desk. Deep respect for al those people who build it, designed it, ownded it recorded with it and mainitained it, and still do.

Oh God! It was an amazing video where I could see huge consoles...where brilliant people worked.

I hope the Brainworx VST comes close to this, because that’s the only way I’d ever be able to come close to work with this.

Great doc. We lost our house in Long Beach to hurricane Sandy. I'm actually more saddened to hear about the damage to the console at SST Studios. God Bless em for restoring it!

We just don't realize how much the sound industry owes to Brits like Neve. Rest.

quote of the day: "you don't need a lot"! Are you kidding?? DUDE has the console in his bedroom! lol.

Air Montserrat had the first Focusrite sub-mixer made up of 110's installed in their new SSL desk(1986), I went down to Air London with Rupert, Betty Watts, and Rupert's son Jonathan, Rupert and Betty with the Air engineers fired it up checking everything was fine before shipping to Montserrat. The Neve console that was in there, probably the greatest console ever built got bought by A&M in LA . You can see the Neve Air Montserrat console in the video for Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic by the Police.

Live the video! One thing though, it's hard to understand Crispin Herrod-Taylor. The sound of his voice seems to hit similar frequencies to the music bed. It's drowning him out a bit.

Grand documentary. definitely saving this doc for future reference. Shout out to Rupert Neve!! Next Level Brain!!

I'm amazed by the resurrection of the flooded one. And deeply thankful to Rupert Neve for what he'd done.

What a brilliant piece of documentary making.

What a Lucky "barn find"! Wow... amazing.

this is brilliant, absolutely fantastic to watch, gives inspiration to young *future* engineers!

Beautiful documentary. Man, I never thought watching the part about the water damaged Focusrite console🖤🖤🖤

Why was there a random shot of cla mixing on his ssl at the end 🤔 37:47

Phenomenal Story ... Great Movie .... FOCUSRITE .... Yea !!

Unreal - how the absolute pinnacle of recording desk technology could rise so high and then fall so far… Consoles in storage garages?? Dear lord……

This WAS the pinnacle of analog consoles. Did Master Rock ever receive their console?

Fantastic production. I cried at the flood.

Many of us simply do not understand what people talk about when they mention noise floor, or open high end, today when everything sounds transparent and noise free it is difficult to appreciate this.

Masashi Yanagisawa at Studio Jive was so soft spoken and it was so calming... that need to make him a plug in! Lol

An incredible story, truly glad you guys are telling it.

This made me very, very happy. Thank you so much for putting this together!

I’ve been using this isa110 for a decade now. When I got my first decent check from music it’s the first thing I bought, period!

Focusrite today make some of the best affordable gear in the marketplace.

Such a powerful story. It really touched my heart. Especially the Sandy story and the devastation in Hoboken, etc. I remember that time well. I learned alot from this. Thank you.

do you know jon fausty and irving greenbaum those were the only ones that used to mix songs for fania all stars and many latin singers

may i just say your customer service guys are awesome.. :) lifetime member.

so much luv for recording. truly and art form.

Much love for the crew that made this video and the focusrite dev team. Something this special should have a special history and a great story; thanks for telling it!!

Great job. Being from NJ, the SST story really weighs heavy for me... wishing all the best to them bringing that console back.

I want to record at SST on that desk with good microphones

This is great. Thank you all for your time, and dedication, to share this wonderful video with us all. I wish this documentary was available for download.

I never got to work on a Focusrite. Most of my career was spent behind MCI's (with their God-awful EQ). I did however, get to mix for two weeks in 1977 on a Neve 8078 at Capitol Studio "B". Was never the same after that......

All I can say is wow and I wish to one day hear the sounds flowing through that console.

I was expecting Dave Grohl to walk in any minute...

Always good to watch this again. A story well worth documenting. I did a lot a writing when digital started, but I believe that as good as the revolution is, an analogue desk in the mix makes things a whole lot better.

visited the one in south africa (former bophuthatswana)

I've worked on the Focusrite at Oceanway and the one that was at Beartracks. They were both great consoles!! I'm thinking about doing a project at IIWI in NJ. Love this documentary and Focusrite! Thanks.

No computers kids this is all real unbeatable

9:48 Hugh and Wauter's description of subtly and the analytics of emotion were beautiful ... and TRUE. "It's what you feel, what you dream maybe... what you want to hear." I just watched a Rupert Neve interview when he said the same thing about EQ distortion and harmonics. Specs aside, what you hear is what's most important, even when in contrast of specs. I cant believe there's a seperate PSU for each bucket of 8 channels! Sheesh what a beast.

"mixbuss, simple !!!" "But complex" ??? huh? is that like "the same" ...... "but different"?

I'm a small (but proud) shareholder in Focusrite (LON:TUNE). Watching this makes me happy.

This is just an amazing documentary. The story literally had my emotions going hahaha. Thanks for this!

What's in a mixer? Sonic life. Thanks for sharing the clarity.

I'm currently in the journey into building my own sound and studio. I'm glad you made this RU-vid channel and video. Thank you. I use your Scarlett Solo currently and am looking to upgrade to either an audio mixer or audio recorder as you keep motioning here in this video.