Abbey Road Studios have once again teamed up with Chandler Limited, this time creating a new modular console which they say to brings together every era of EMI’s legendary recording equipment in one elegant, expandable format. The REDD Mixing System will be the first EMI recording console to be released in over 50 years, and allows users to specify a of REDD, TG and RS channels and busses in any configuration.
The console has been six years in the making, and has been developed in a collaboration between Chandler Limited founded Wade Goeke and Mirek Stiles, Abbey Road’s Head of Audio Products, as well as the wider Abbey Road team. Each REDD Mixing System unit comprises a collection of channels (referred to as cassettes) derived from iconic EMI/Abbey Road designs, all of which are hardwired and hand-assembled in the same way they would have been built at the original EMI Hayes facility. There are no surface-mount components or ribbon cables in sight, and the console even features newly designed faders that mimic the look of the legendary REDD console but feature a modernised mechanism.
“Development of the new desk was a labour of love. I wanted to include all the different-sounding gear we make with Abbey Road as well as offering a modular approach that is more suited for modern recording setups. I can have a very small system at home and cover everything I need, whether it be tracking with tube or solid-state gear, mixing in the box, re-amplifying, inserting pedals with the sends, passive EQ on the busses, flexible control room options and even glow-in-the-dark faders that add a creative feel to a dimly lit studio. This has truly been the design of a lifetime, and one I hope adds to the legacy of EMI, Abbey Road and Chandler Limited.” - Wade Goeke, Founder of Chandler Limited
Cassettes
Units occupy 12U of rack space and can be fitted with any combination of channels and busses, and multiple racks can be combined to form a larger console. Here’s a breakdown of the available cassettes and what they have to offer:
Input Cassettes
- Class- A, TG2-style preamp combined with four-band Curvebender EQ.
- All-tube REDD mic pre/EQ with switchable Pop and Classic EQ curves.
- MKI TG Cassette with germanium transistors. Designed directly from the first TG desks circa 1969 (to be released Q4 2026).
Bus Cassettes
- Class-A, TG2-style bus circuit.
- Tube bus that uses a new RS61-type circuit.
- Each Bus Cassette Includes:
- Wet/dry mix on stereo bus with switchable insert point.
- NAB/IEC stereo bus EQ.
- Low-level insert on each send
- Preamp-style Coarse and Fine gain for driving busses or adjusting bus gain structure.
Low-Level Insert (on each console send)
- Re-amplification output allows for instant re-amplifying from any console input cassette.
- Allows for inserting any guitar pedal or low-level source on each of the sends. Easily insert a distortion pedal or old analogue delay directly into your workflow with no need for additional re-amp boxes.
12-Channel Expander Cassette
- 12 Class-A TG2-style circuits in each.
- 12 transformers in each cassette.
- Use multiple Expanders for large ‘mix-in-the-mix’ systems or for additional instrument/effect returns.
- Four Bus Four Send on each channel.
Master Bus
- Stereo channel master cassette out for bigger systems.
- Wet/Dry mix and switchable insert point.
- Class-A TG2-style circuit.
Control Room
- Switching for three sets of speakers.
- Selectable monitoring for Busses, Sends, Master Bus, Aux and External Inputs.
- Talkback to Busses, Sends, All or Audio Out for headphone systems.
- Discrete op-amp headphone amplifier — ultra-clean with discrete tone.
- Discrete op-amp speaker output — ultra-clean with discrete tone.
- Mutes, Mono, Dim and Polarity switches.
- Beautiful LED-backlit EMI fader design.
“I was introduced to the TG and REDD desks at Abbey Road Studios when I was 18 years old. I’d never seen or heard anything like them. I was blown away watching how producers like Mike Hedges, Jon Brion or Peter Cobbin would use them to colour the sound of their recordings and mixes in such a musical way. Examples of the original desks used on everything from The Beatles to film scores like ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ are very rare indeed, so it’s with great pleasure to witness Wade revive these beautiful engineering classics for artists, producers and engineers of today — all of course with a modern, innovative twist. Wade has created a modern classic, there simply isn’t anything else like this on the market. I truly believe the music production community now have access to a tool that will re-define what the mixing console is and how it’s used creatively.” - Mirek Stiles, Head Of Audio Products, Abbey Road
Pricing & Availability
The system will initially be available by special order for customers in the United States. The company say due to the fact that units are handmade in America, and because of the wide variety of possible setups, they will need time to establish infrastructure for building and sales of the REDD Mixing System.
As a result, sales will be offered initially in the US through Chandler Limited, with determinations of wider distribution to be made at a later date. Orders are being taken now — setup options, pricing and availability details are all available upon request — with delivery expected in August 2026.
