Rupert Neve shares an outline of his remarkable life, career, honors, and some personal stories. Includes many photos of vintage equipment, much of which is still in use today by the most discriminating professionals in the pro audio, film industry, and broadcast industries.

 

 

The road to this moment had been filled with a lifetime of dedication to perfect audio. As a boy in Argentina growing up during the days of shortages in world war two Rupert took advantage of the need for people to be able to hear the news on radio. He mended radios, built radios and sold them to friends, studied the Radio Amateurs handbook, knew the valve catalogues by heart, and haunted the local radio shop discussing the merits and demerits of components, building a store of practical knowledge.

 

At the age of seventeen, in company with British boys all over the world, he volunteered to serve King and Country to fight the war. He joined a convoy sailing very slowly for England, where he served in the Royal Signals. Civvy street saw him in the West Country of England using a small legacy from his Grandmother to buy a Van which was an ex US army Dodge ambulance. He set about building and installing equipment to convert it into a mobile recording and public address control room. He recorded choirs, amateur operatic societies, music festivals and public events on 78 RPM lacquer disks (before the days of tape) where there are no second chances.

 

He provided public address for Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth) at the opening of St. Andrews Church in Plymouth City Center rebuilt after the blitz. When Winston Churchill came to support the political campaign of his son Randolph in Plymouth, Rupert was there with a massive PA system covering the whole city center, microphones and loudspeakers feeding in and out of amplifiers he designed and built.