BAE vs AML Neve Clone Shootout

摘要

It's a Class A battle of the transformers as two Neve recreation specialists go head-to-head. I don't know about everyone else, but I'm getting a little tired of the extremely tall pedestal that Neve's vintage recording equipment sits upon these days. I'm not sure whether it's the online frothing of nerdy engineers and producers, the dewy-eyed look the Neve name elicits from young up-and-comers, or the increasingly obscene asking prices of genuine vintage items offered up on Ebay and Reverb.com. In any case I can't help feeling like the whole Neve thing is way overblown... and yet every time I track through Neve preamps, mix on a Neve console or run something through a Neve compressor there's that sound again: the sound of countless great records and doubtless many more great records to come. It's gluey, thick, musical, undeniably satisfying, even culturally significant, and nothing else out there quite does the same trick. There's no fighting it! Indeed BAE and AML are two companies (American and British respectively) that wouldn't dream of putting up any resistance and are delighted to go with the flow and give the people what they want: accurate yet modernised Neve recreations at more attainable prices in everybody's snack pack favourite, the 500 series format.