When engineer, producer and educator Bob Bullock began his career in 1970s Los Angeles, he worked alongside iconic artists including Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac and Art Garfunkel. At the time, many studios were installing Harrison’s first mixing console — the 32C — introduced in 1975 as the first console to feature 32 tracking buses and inline monitoring.

Now based in Nashville, where he relocated in the early 1980s, Bullock has reconnected with the signature Harrison sound by adding three of the company’s new 500 Series analog modules — the 32Cpre+, MR3eq and Comp — to his Cool Springs Mix studio.

Bullock was on staff at Kendun Recorders in Burbank, California, when one of the first Harrison 32C consoles was installed in the area. “I worked a lot on Harrison consoles in the late ’70s; they were all over Los Angeles at that time,” he says. “It was a very well-designed desk, and I loved working on it.”

Fifty years later, Harrison Audio has released the 32Classic analog console and three 500 Series modules that carry forward the DNA of the original 32C. The 32Cpre+ features high and low pass filters, plus the same transformer-coupled mic preamp as the 32Classic console. The MR3eq, which also includes a high pass filter, is based on the 3-band parametric design from the 1981 Harrison MR3 console.

“The preamp and EQ modules are very much the same as the desk,” says Bullock, who has worked on more than 50 gold and platinum albums and nine Grammy-winning projects. “They work just as expected. I’ve always been a fan of that EQ — it’s very smooth, and I can zero in on things.”

His credits span artists like Shania Twain, Reba McEntire, George Strait, Tanya Tucker and Patty Loveless. Today, Bullock helps independent artists around the world refine their sound, typically tracking with live musicians and acoustic instruments. He and engineering partner Kyle Hirschman have tested the Harrison modules across a variety of setups. “Mostly acoustic stuff like guitars, mandolins and fiddles — and we’ve been very pleased,” Bullock says.

The third new module, the Comp compressor, was unfamiliar to Bullock since the original 32C didn’t include built-in compression. “It works really well,” he says. “It has very few controls, so it’s quick to dial in. One of the things my assistant and I noticed is that it’s very musical — it’s not harsh, and I feel like I can’t over-compress with it. You can compress quite a lot without any pumping.”

Like many classic outboard compressors, Harrison’s Comp offers just four controls: makeup gain, release time, ratio and threshold. “You plug it in and don’t have to fuss with it very long,” Bullock says. “It either gives you what you’re looking for at that moment or it doesn’t — but you don’t waste time.”

Reflecting on his early days, Bullock says the Harrison desk’s layout was always part of the appeal. “You had to work quickly and efficiently. You want gear that sounds great, works consistently and won’t distort or break up under pressure — and Harrison’s inline channel strips delivered.”

Recently, Bullock visited Harrison Audio’s Nashville headquarters to try the 32Classic console firsthand. “We recorded some things that turned out like I expected,” he says. “I didn’t have to do a lot to make them sound really good. I was very pleased.”