And when he began using one for himself, he quickly found that the new desk could stay cleaner and more “open” in sound than the earlier desks.īut it wasn’t just rock, pop and cinematic producers who were enamored by the 9000 J. When the timpanis entered, Brauer recalls being absolutely “floored” by the sound of the bottom end of the J compared to the earlier SSL's he had been working on.
Legendary mixer Michael Brauer, famous for his work with Coldplay, John Mayer, James Bay, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, and Luther Vandross was impressed by the bottom end of the 9000 J from the first moment he heard it on a visit to a French studio during an orchestral session. (In practice, the engineers at SSL had the good sense to limit its bandwidth to an impressive 10Hz - 80kHz.) Theoretically, this new approach could allow the new console line to stay clean from an earth-quaking low of 5Hz all the way up to 500kHz. The remarkably clean, big and open sound of the 9000 J was achieved through the use of SSL’s new “SuperAnalogue” technology, which allowed the company to completely eliminate the use of capacitors in its audio path. Before long, it was being used on major projects for artists from Aerosmith, Santana, and Evanescence to Britney Spears, The Black Eyed Peas, Usher, Kanye West, and countless others. Similarly, pop, orchestral, and even rock engineers with more forward-looking tastes longed for a console with more control, that was capable of putting out sounds that were fuller, cleaner, deeper, beefier and glossier than in the past. The tight, assertive tone and gentle saturation that made the earlier SSL consoles so popular with rock mixers turned out to be a liability for major hip hop and R&B producers who were in search of much bigger bottom and an even more extended top end. While the earlier SSL E and G consoles were especially popular among rock producers for both their flexibility and their signature sound-sometimes lovingly described as “aggressive”, “crunchy”, “gritty” or even “grimy” by their fans-they also had their limitations. The new 9000 J would fast become a key component in the sound of some of the biggest pop, hip hop, and R&B releases of the late 90s and throughout the 2000s, thanks to the newly-devised “SuperAnalogue” technology under the hood, which gave the desk a bigger, smoother and more impressively “hi-fi” sound than ever before. When the company’s improved SL 9000 J was finally released in 1995 (more than 25 years after the first 4000 G), it set a new bar for just how good an all-analog SSL console could sound. Thousands of these classic consoles were made, and they became key tools in crafting some of the biggest hit records of the 1980s and 1990s.īut SSL’s constant forward development didn’t end with the E and G series.
#Waves ssl 4000 youtube series#
Not always good, not always bad, and not always even huge, but different none the less.It’s no secret that Solid State Logic’s iconic E and G series were among the most successful large-format consoles ever designed. I am not trying to start a debate, but as someone who constantly switches, there is a difference.
Then there is the whole analog summing thing and the difference in imaging and depth that comes form a console as opposed to ITB stuff. In a big studio, there are no real compromises except the sheer budget it takes to stay there. The advantage that the major studios have is the raw sound quality capabilities and the sheer amount of options that are ALL of excellent quality as opposed to the home recordist who typically has a slew of tools, but only a couple cherished pieces so in many circumstances compromises have to be made. Basically, each different method has its own unique advantages and disadvantages. Sure you can make some cool stuff on the computer as well, but you would probably always miss using the canvass and the brushes. It also adds an excellent automation set which allows the engineers to create complex mixes with complex automation but still stay in the all so familiar analog realm where you really get to "feel" things. Something like a big SSL adds beautifully musical sounding EQ's on EVERY channel, and some of the best two buss compresison around. EQ is not just EQ just like a car is not just a car, a guitar just a guitar etc.
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