Apogee Clearmountain’s 8068: Get Bob’s famous Neve Channel Strip in your DAW
A channel strip from one of the all-time great mixing engineers.
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Apogee Clearmountain's 8068: Get Bob's famous Neve Channel Strip in your DAW · Source: Apogee
Clearmountain's 8068 · Source: Apogee
Menus · Source: Apogee
The Apogee Clearmountain’s 8068 is the famous channel strip from legendary mix engineer Bob Clearmountain’s Neve console in plugin format.
Apogee’s collaboration with Bob Clearmountain has yielded a range of effects plugins, featuring presets from some of Bob’s most famous mixes. This time, Apogee has worked alongside the fabled mixing guru to recreate a channel strip from his favourite console, the Neve 8068.
Apogee Clearmountain’s 8068
The 8068 was introduced back in 1976 and was the first of Neve’s in-line monitor consoles, and it features the 31102 Mic Pre/3-Band EQ in each of its 80-series channel strip modules. Easily one of the most sought-after Class A channel strips, oozing with vintage flavour, it features a switchable high-shelf (10, 12, and 16 kHz) and hi-q switches on the midrange band, as well as the high and low-pass filters.
Similar to the 1084, these features set it apart from the famous 1073. Over the years, 8068 consoles have been used by artists and producers like Daniel Lanois, Herbie Hancock, and Benny Andersson (ABBA). Meanwhile, Bob Clearmountain’s 8068 console at The Power Station produced so many timeless hits, including We Are Family by Sister Sledge, C’est Chic by Niles Rodgers and Chic, and Avalon by Roxy Music.
Apogee has carefully recreated every aspect of Bob’s 8068 console, from the characterful EQ curves to the preamp warmth and saturation, and even the fader. Also, with a choice of mic and line modes, you can go for detail in line-level or more saturation with mic mode. What’s more, there is an auto-gain function in mic mode to keep your output levels consistent, even when driving the input.
Overall, the Clearmountain’s 8068 is a useful tool for adding that classic sound to any part of your mix when you need it. In particular, the addition of the fader is a nice touch for getting that vintage console automation feel when mixing.
Pricing and Availability:
The Apogee Clearmountain’s 8068 plugin will be available soon from Thomann, priced at $99.
More about Apogee Clearmountain’s 8068:
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