Rupert Neve, Audio Equipment Pioneer, Has Died at 94

A music industry giant has died. Rupert Neve, one of the leading pioneers in creating the analog recording equipment that many a band used to record their albums over the years, has died at the age of 94.

"It is with great sadness that we announce that Rupert Neve, whose name is synonymous with quality audio recording equipment worldwide, has died," began a statement from Rupert Neve Designs. "He remained in great spirits to the end, enjoying his life in Wimberley, Texas, where he and his wife Evelyn have lived for 27 years. At 94, Rupert remained engaged and passionate about his work, spending most days on a perpetual series of audio electronics projects and continuing to mentor our engineering team on numerous design and development projects."

Finding a passion for music and electronics at a young age, Neve pursued a career that he continued to enjoy for over 80 years. In that time, he founded several companies and created some of the most revered analog equipment of all time.

Neve's work got an extra spotlight in Dave Grohl's 2013 Sound City documentary with many of the musicians who had recorded there marveling over the sound of the Neve board (as seen below). Grohl also offered more detail on the Neve console he has in an interview with 60 Minutes that can be viewed as well.

Among Neve's many accolades are a Lifetime Achievement Technical GRAMMY Award in 1997, Studio Sound Magazine’s Audio Person of the Century Award in 1999, an Audio Engineering Society Fellowship Award in 2006, and 16 TEC (Technical Excellence and Creativity) Awards with Rupert Neve Designs. His full obituary can be read here.

The death of Rupert Neve generated a number of comments from the rock and metal world. See a sampling of social media posts below.