Burnley, UK (June 13, 2024)—As part of British indie band Bastille, Kyle Simmons started out working in his home studio, frustrated that tracks didn’t have the verve and vibe of music that he loved. Once he began working in professional studios, however, the answer became apparent.
“It’s important for any aspiring producer to know how effective a good signal chain is,” Simmons reflects. “I remember listening to other people’s productions and trying to work out ‘why does that sound like a real-life thing that would be in a song, and why is what I’m doing not? It just sounds flat’. I just couldn’t figure out what that was. But as soon as you start running a good microphone into a good cable into a good preamp, you understand. Unfortunately, particularly for someone just starting out, all that stuff does cost money.”
This understanding has served Simmons well with the latest iteration of his home setup which has recently been enhanced with the addition of an AMS Neve 88M dual mic preamp and USB audio interface.
“With a smaller setup with a lot less tech, high-end gear is where you see the biggest difference,” he reasons. “I have a load of synths and to run all of that through the 88M, it was like ‘oh wow, there’s all the warm color I’ve been missing’. I found that ultimately there was a lot less to do to the audio file once it’s in the DAW because it’s been put through the preamps. It was a real step up and often means that once you’ve finished the day, you haven’t really got to go back and run through all those things.”
Neve 88M Dual Mic Preamp/Interface Launched at NAMM
While this has proved to be a real advantage for Simmons in his home studio, the portable nature of the 88M has also made it a vital tool for capturing sessions when he’s touring with Bastille.
“We took the 88M to the States and it’s just so easy because it’s bus-powered,” he continues. “You can just be on a tour bus sat with your laptop and you plug it in and you can do something within 10 seconds. If you’ve only got a bit of time between doing a sound check or some promo or going out for the day or whatever, in a heartbeat, you’re up, you haven’t got to worry about really anything. You plug it in and it’s good to go.”
