deif
Junior Member
Posts: 60
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Post by deif on Nov 29, 2022 12:44:12 GMT -6
Sound On Sound met with Solid State Logic service engineer of 25 years Karen Down for a comprehensive look at the revolutionary Solid State Logic SL 4000 E mixing console.
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 16,107 
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Post by ericn on Nov 29, 2022 13:46:14 GMT -6
Those were the days, it seamed so much quicker in the late 80’s.
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Post by chessparov on Nov 29, 2022 14:48:00 GMT -6
For good? Or bad?  Chris |
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Post by drbill on Nov 29, 2022 15:20:05 GMT -6
For good? Or bad? Chris You were reading my mind Chris! |
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Post by bchurch on Nov 29, 2022 15:25:39 GMT -6
Those were the days, it seamed so much quicker in the late 80’s. I'm sure compared to the previous decade, it was. A guy I learned the SSL consoles from liked to say "E is for 'excellent', G is for 'great', and J is for 'just book the 'e' room again'". I tend to agree, the SuperAnalogue / no-capacitors-allowed circuits are impressively clean and quiet - but man oh man are they sterile. It's like lighting your living room with 8-foot cfl tubes. |
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Post by jeremygillespie on Nov 29, 2022 15:34:36 GMT -6
Those were the days, it seamed so much quicker in the late 80’s. I'm sure compared to the previous decade, it was. A guy I learned the SSL consoles from liked to say "E is for 'excellent', G is for 'great', and J is for 'just book the 'e' room again'". I tend to agree, the SuperAnalogue / no-capacitors-allowed circuits are impressively clean and quiet - but man oh man are they sterile. It's like lighting your living room with 8-foot cfl tubes. Yeah but you can see how WIDE your room is with those bulbs! |
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Nov 29, 2022 16:01:08 GMT -6
Those were the days, it seamed so much quicker in the late 80’s. I'm sure compared to the previous decade, it was. A guy I learned the SSL consoles from liked to say "E is for 'excellent', G is for 'great', and J is for 'just book the 'e' room again'". I tend to agree, the SuperAnalogue / no-capacitors-allowed circuits are impressively clean and quiet - but man oh man are they sterile. It's like lighting your living room with 8-foot cfl tubes. Nobody really booked a 4K for its sound, it was about the automation, recall etc. That changed with the J suddenly everyone wanted the 4K tone, go figure. The counter to that is the J suddenly was considered the SSL alternative to the Neve of the same era, they like them for film and scoring for the reason pop guys would rather something else at the time that was who was still buying big boards. |
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Post by nobtwiddler on Nov 29, 2022 16:44:19 GMT -6
Ahh yes....the gold ole days.
I remember the joy of locking up two MCI JH-24 machines, while trying to run the Allison Automation on our MCI 636 (she talks about in the beginning of the Video)
A total nightmare.
Especially after hours of mixing.
Since the data being printed to the tape tracks would go from one to another, each pass, it would always deteriorate (if it was a long session) and being 48 track mixing, it was always a long session, sometime days....
So we would have to come up with ways to fix the printed data as to save everything we did for the last few days...
I must admit, we got very, creative, and somehow, we always got thru it.
But for those of us who lived thru those times....
MY GOD, do we have it easy now.
It's almost a joke....compared to when I started.
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Post by bchurch on Nov 29, 2022 17:02:31 GMT -6
Nobody really booked a 4K for its sound, it was about the automation, recall etc. That changed with the J suddenly everyone wanted the 4K tone, go figure. The counter to that is the J suddenly was considered the SSL alternative to the Neve of the same era, they like them for film and scoring for the reason pop guys would rather something else at the time that was who was still buying big boards. Eh, the E's have fans for certain things (myself included). Not to the point I'd even consider comissioning one with all the money in the world. But if the studio's got one to mix on, I'm definitely going to use it more than a laptop stand and monitor controller. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2022 17:09:29 GMT -6
Nobody really booked a 4K for its sound, it was about the automation, recall etc. That changed with the J suddenly everyone wanted the 4K tone, go figure. The counter to that is the J suddenly was considered the SSL alternative to the Neve of the same era, they like them for film and scoring for the reason pop guys would rather something else at the time that was who was still buying big boards. Eh, the E's have fans for certain things (myself included). Not to the point I'd even consider comissioning one with all the money in the world. But if the studio's got one to mix on, I'm definitely going to use it more than a laptop stand and monitor controller. Everything is better than SSL’s, I mean Audiotonix’s, I mean Ardian’s “4K” circuit which turned out to be nothing but a clipped diode. |
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Post by chessparov on Nov 29, 2022 17:59:49 GMT -6
I don't know enough to make any kind of definitive judgment. But do know enough to prefer a room with a... VU! Chris |
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Post by bchurch on Nov 29, 2022 18:50:42 GMT -6
Eh, the E's have fans for certain things (myself included). Not to the point I'd even consider comissioning one with all the money in the world. But if the studio's got one to mix on, I'm definitely going to use it more than a laptop stand and monitor controller. Everything is better than SSL’s, I mean Audiotonix’s, I mean Ardian’s “4K” circuit which turned out to be nothing but a clipped diode. Talking about the actual 80's/90's consoles here, but okay. We can at least agree that the '4k circuit' was one of the weirdest marketing gimmicks predicated upon the prosumer / musician's friend crowd at least. "Legacy 4K - analogue colour enhancement, inspired by classic SSL consoles" - which iirc consisted of a diode and a slightly different resistor value on a relay. Yeah, that's uh.... nooo..... |
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Post by chessparov on Nov 29, 2022 19:04:52 GMT -6
When I actually measured a mint SSL Console's circuit...
Sure enough it came out exactly at 4.01K.
Perfect for any CD's.
Chris
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Nov 29, 2022 19:34:31 GMT -6
I don't know enough to make any kind of definitive judgment. But do know enough to prefer a room with a... VU! Chris I don’t know plasm has always kept me going. |
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Nov 29, 2022 19:36:38 GMT -6
Everything is better than SSL’s, I mean Audiotonix’s, I mean Ardian’s “4K” circuit which turned out to be nothing but a clipped diode. Talking about the actual 80's/90's consoles here, but okay. We can at least agree that the '4k circuit' was one of the weirdest marketing gimmicks predicated upon the prosumer / musician's friend crowd at least. "Legacy 4K - analogue colour enhancement, inspired by classic SSL consoles" - which iirc consisted of a diode and a slightly different resistor value on a relay. Yeah, that's uh.... nooo..... I always wondered how much of the 4K sound came from a OK audio circuit being surrounded by all automation electronics 😎 |
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Post by drumsound on Nov 29, 2022 23:07:22 GMT -6
I'm sure compared to the previous decade, it was. A guy I learned the SSL consoles from liked to say "E is for 'excellent', G is for 'great', and J is for 'just book the 'e' room again'". I tend to agree, the SuperAnalogue / no-capacitors-allowed circuits are impressively clean and quiet - but man oh man are they sterile. It's like lighting your living room with 8-foot cfl tubes. Nobody really booked a 4K for its sound, it was about the automation, recall etc. That changed with the J suddenly everyone wanted the 4K tone, go figure. The counter to that is the J suddenly was considered the SSL alternative to the Neve of the same era, they like them for film and scoring for the reason pop guys would rather something else at the time that was who was still buying big boards. I believe George Harrison's reaction to the SSL was "why would I want to recall a mix I didn't like in the first place?" |
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Post by the other mark williams on Nov 30, 2022 1:29:15 GMT -6
Nobody really booked a 4K for its sound, it was about the automation, recall etc. That changed with the J suddenly everyone wanted the 4K tone, go figure. The counter to that is the J suddenly was considered the SSL alternative to the Neve of the same era, they like them for film and scoring for the reason pop guys would rather something else at the time that was who was still buying big boards. I believe George Harrison's reaction to the SSL was "why would I want to recall a mix I didn't like in the first place?" My gosh, you gotta love George. We're too precious about things now, aren't we? |
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Post by kcatthedog on Nov 30, 2022 3:53:41 GMT -6
Wasn’t revolution done on this and George hated the looped distortion ?
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Post by jeremygillespie on Nov 30, 2022 5:53:21 GMT -6
I quite enjoy mixing on a 9k from time to time when I get a chance these days. Not often enough but it feels like home to me 🤷🏻♂️I can’t imagine somebody walking into a room with one and complaining. Actually it happened every now and again but the work never suffered…
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Post by drumsound on Nov 30, 2022 10:51:03 GMT -6
I believe George Harrison's reaction to the SSL was "why would I want to recall a mix I didn't like in the first place?" My gosh, you gotta love George. We're too precious about things now, aren't we? We really are. I just interviewed Kirt Shearer about the making of CAKE's Fashion Nugget. They mixed that record with no automation and most mixes were done in about a half hour. I quite enjoy mixing on a 9k from time to time when I get a chance these days. Not often enough but it feels like home to me 🤷🏻♂️I can’t imagine somebody walking into a room with one and complaining. Actually it happened every now and again but the work never suffered… That's the thing, these are just tools. We like the things we like, but we can and will make things work with whatever is in front of us. --- The world got used to the SSL sound without knowing that is what they were hearing. And the reason is the people like music. Listeners, by and large, don't care about anything but what the song and the band are telling them. |
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Nov 30, 2022 11:12:57 GMT -6
My gosh, you gotta love George. We're too precious about things now, aren't we? We really are. I just interviewed Kirt Shearer about the making of CAKE's Fashion Nugget. They mixed that record with no automation and most mixes were done in about a half hour. I quite enjoy mixing on a 9k from time to time when I get a chance these days. Not often enough but it feels like home to me 🤷🏻♂️I can’t imagine somebody walking into a room with one and complaining. Actually it happened every now and again but the work never suffered… That's the thing, these are just tools. We like the things we like, but we can and will make things work with whatever is in front of us. --- The world got used to the SSL sound without knowing that is what they were hearing. And the reason is the people like music. Listeners, by and large, don't care about anything but what the song and the band are telling them. Tony a very big part of your last point in the era before streaming was the fact that we were sort of trained by what made it into the radio as our sonic definition of what a record should sound like. It evolved but what was ever in heavy rotation sort of set the Sonic standards for that point in time. |
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Post by christopher on Nov 30, 2022 11:35:01 GMT -6
I really enjoy hearing the alt mixes and rough takes of Beatles. George had a good point, it appears they used to print a few different versions, listen to them and choose the one they connected with the best. Tomorrow Never knows is one of those, I really loved (mix 11) first time I heard it.. but after a few listens I realized they were right: it did lose a bit of the message behind the song, and made sense why they stopped the presses to swap it out with an earlier mix (mix 8 I believe)
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Post by the other mark williams on Nov 30, 2022 11:35:28 GMT -6
We really are. I just interviewed Kirt Shearer about the making of CAKE's Fashion Nugget. They mixed that record with no automation and most mixes were done in about a half hour. That's the thing, these are just tools. We like the things we like, but we can and will make things work with whatever is in front of us. --- The world got used to the SSL sound without knowing that is what they were hearing. And the reason is the people like music. Listeners, by and large, don't care about anything but what the song and the band are telling them. Tony a very big part of your last point in the era before streaming was the fact that we were sort of trained by what made it into the radio as our sonic definition of what a record should sound like. It evolved but what was ever in heavy rotation sort of set the Sonic standards for that point in time. YES, Eric - absolutely. That's also really what enabled particular trends to permeate so thoroughly. Like the paper-thin piccolo snare drum sound that dominated for a brief time in the 90s. "Hey, it's the Carter Beauford sound, man!!" |
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Post by christopher on Nov 30, 2022 11:42:00 GMT -6
Cake mixes done in 30 minutes? So that’s how they afforded their rock and roll lifestyle
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ericn
Temp
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Post by ericn on Nov 30, 2022 12:43:47 GMT -6
Cake mixes done in 30 minutes? So that’s how they afforded their rock and roll lifestyle You have no idea how often after 100+ mix passes people sat back and reviewed them and decided #1 was the one! |
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