Kingside Studio has become the latest recording facility in Sweden to install a Neve 8424 console.
Originally established in Stockholm in 2004 by producer and engineer Otto Wellton, Kingside Studio moved to Södermaland in 2009 when Wellton and his wife Linda decided to pursue a more tranquil, rural life.
A new studio was created next to their home and this is now proving very popular with artists who also want to escape to the countryside.
“The studio is residential and is in a stunning setting with forest views and several lakes nearby,” Wellton explains.
“It has a large control room, a large recording room with high ceilings, two adjoining booths and a separate writer’s room. There is also a pool and a lovely outside bar area where customers can relax and hang out.”
Kingside Studio has always been heavily invested in Neve equipment. Prior to buying an 8424 console, Wellton had already purchased a 1073 OPX, a 1073 DPX and various 500 Series products.
In addition, his previous console was a Neve VRP60 - and it was because this was coming to the end of its working life that he decided to investigate a replacement.
“Our old Neve VRP60 console had strong merits but it started to give us some reliability issues due to its age,” he explains.
“That feeling of anxiety led us to utilise a growing number of external preamps and that, combined with today’s way of constantly changing mixes until they are literally on Spotify, made it hard to make small changes or balance more than one project at a time. As a result, we were working more and more in the box and using the console as a very substantial monitor controller/summing device.”
Given the way Kingside Studio customers were working, Wellton felt that the Neve 8424 would fit the bill perfectly. Launched in 2020, the console offers a centralised platform with connectivity between the worlds of analogue and digital.
Although it is a small format console,it still delivers the iconic sound of the large format Neve 80-series console range as well as providing exceptional routing flexibility and modularity so that artists and producers can combine modern, digital workflows with analogue outboard equipment.