The now renowned Focusrite brand was first formed way back in 1985 by Rupert Neve, with a vision of creating quality, reliable products for the professional audio market. After some initial success, which included a commission from Beatles producer George Martin, Focusrite began to struggle due to their extremely expensive products, which limited their appeal to high-end professional studios only. The Focusrite company initially lasted around three years before it was dissolved due to financial difficulties.
Focusrite re-born! (Click to read more…)
However, in April 1989, Focusrite was reformed by Phil Dudderidge, a co-founder of Soundcraft and since then the brand has gone from strength-to-strength.
Many years later Focusrite are still going strong, manufacturing a range of popular products, including audio/MIDI interfaces, effects units, plug-ins, preamps, mixers. control surfaces, analogue EQs and more, which have found homes with numerous professional users (e.g. Carl Cox, Ed Sheeran, Magnetic Man, etc.) and in a large number of home studios. In August 2004, Focusrite acquired Novation, expanding their range even further to MIDI controllers and software synths, although still branding them with the Novation name.
Focusrite - the company (Click to read more…)
The Focusrite company is based just outside London, in High Wycombe, comprising of employees who are engineers as well as musicians, and working with top designers from all over the world to ensure that their products deliver on all levels. Focusrite operate with the principle that their products should be easy to use, logically designed and give class-leading performance.
Focusrite today (Click to read more…)
Nowadays Focusrite hold a dominant position in the audio interface market, particularly with their budget-mid range, producing exceptional interfaces with award winning clean preamps for highly competitive prices. Their Saffire and Scarlett ranges are highly popular products with home and professional studio users alike and products such as their renowned Liquid Channel have found homes in prestigious studios around the world, including the legendary Abbey Road studio.
Focusrite are also responsible for creating the innovative VRM (Virtual Reference Monitoring) Technology, which allows you to monitor a mix through headphones just as if it were being projected from a pair of speakers in front of you, directly to the sweet spot. VRM even features a range of selectable virtual monitors and environments, allowing you to refine your mix to suit all situations - an excellent concept for if you do not own a pair of professional monitors or are temporarily working away from the studio. Focusrite’s portable VRM Box interface was even honoured with an award at the 2011 NAMM Show.
We at Absolute Music stock a range of Focusrite and Novation products, suitable for both home and professional studio use. Check them out today!