Tokyo, Japan (January 9, 2020)—Rupert Neve Designs recently updated the main studio at engineer Neeraj Khajanchi’s NK Sound Tokyo facility with the largest 5088 sold to date, an 80-input console that includes 48 channels of Shelford 5052 mic preamp/inductor EQ modules.
Rupert Neve’s longtime Japanese distributor, Hook-Up Inc., supplied the 5088 to Khajanchi, who opened his facility in 2015. NK Sound Tokyo comprises four rooms: AQQA, a mastering room; Ruby and Silver, two dubbing and mixing rooms; and Gold, the tracking room that houses the new 5088.
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“Originally, we had a 48-channel SSL E Series,” comments Khajanchi. “When we revamped the studio in 2019, I had been trying Rupert Neve Designs’ Portico 5024 4-channel preamps, then purchased two Shelford Channels. Overall the stability, sound quality, ease-of-use and customizability of the 5088 is amazing.”
The studio also has a massive XLR patchbay for its collection of outboard gear, so Khajanchi said that keeping all of the studio’s connections XLR to XLR was important to him.
Khajanchi works on a variety of musical projects at NK Sound, including J-Pop, video game music, commercial music for television, rock, and high-fidelity jazz recordings. “The 5088 is just super clean,” says Khajanchi. “I get out of it what I put into it, which is great. Having all that headroom really helps give me the beautiful reverb tails and super clean sustain on all my instruments. But when I do need some character, I go straight for the Silk switch and add color to my tracks that way.”
Since re-opening the studio in September 2019, Khajanchi says the facility has been busy. “Just within the past two months, we have tracked albums for over 15 artists and are now in the process of mixing all the albums. Recording and mixing on the 5088 has sparked my love for analog gear once again.”
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