Originally from Hawke's Bay, Prebble learned piano from his mother before taking up guitar at age 12. Following this he started working weekend night shifts at a local radio station, which lead to him studying radio broadcasting at Christchurch Polytech. During the course, his focus shifted towards recording and production.

After finishing his studies, he sent his CV and a bottle of whisky to Marmalade Audio in Wellington, who promptly hired him.

Prebble worked at Marmalade Audio for four years, during that time networking with local musicians and collecting audio equipment. In the early 2000s, Prebble left Marmalade Audio and opened up his own studio, The Surgery, which he has operated for the 18 years. Alongside this, Prebble worked as a live sound engineer until the late 2000s, when he opted out to focus on studio work.

In 2008 Prebble won the awards for Best Engineer and Best Producer at the New Zealand Music Awards for his work on Happy Ending by The Phoenix Foundation. In 2010 he again won Best Engineer for his work on the internationally lauded Buffalo by The Phoenix Foundation. He won Best Engineer again in 2015, with Oliver Harmer, for their work on Drylands by Mel Parsons.

Prebble still runs his studio The Surgery, which moved to a location in Newtown early in the 2010s. Artists he was working with in 2018 included L.A.B. (on their second album), and Grawlixes, an indie-pop group originally from Dunedin. 

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Updated by Taya Kennedy Robbins, 2019