The 179-120 was built in 1975 for the very first Neumann mastering consoles, the SP 75 and the SP 77.

When I started at Masterdisk in ’77, it was just there, bolted into the wall, part of the furniture.

Bob Ludwig leaned on it. I leaned on it. It became a staple for both of us on records all through the ’80s and ‘90s, and most people who love those records have never heard its name. That’s exactly the point. It’s the most unobtrusive stereo bus compressor ever made.

The sound is big and smooth; it holds a record together without ever telling you it’s there. In my opinion, it’s one of the finest-sounding stereo compressors ever produced.

I still have my pair racked up in Laurel Canyon, and for years when people asked me how to get that glue, the honest answer was - you can’t.

There are only a handful of these left in the world. That‘s what makes what Metric Halo and Make Believe Studios did so special, they didn’t build something ‘inspired’ by it, they captured my actual units, exactly.

Music today doesn’t need more loud. It needs more glue, more weight, more smooth. This is where I’ve always gotten mine, and now it’s in your DAW.”