SSL Control Surface System Review

foreign recently released their uf-1 control surface which is one fader with a screen and a transport it was something that really appealed to me because I've been looking for a smaller low control surface to do punch ends with my UA Apollo system because it's difficult and then just something to do automation on as well so it was something that was really appealing to me and I think thought would work in my system here the other cool thing is that the uf1 kind of completes ssl's system that they've been working on the past few years with the uc1 control surface and the uf-8 fader control surface so now you kind of have basically an SSL console that's basically controlling their digital system and to me that was a kind of cooler bigger picture thing to explore you know what if we treat this as a console and kind of just turn off the computer screen after we set up a session just use it like a console and not like a computer because at this point we've got the transport with the scrub so it can get around the session pretty easily we can use all SSL plugins with their Channel strip and control that with the uc1 we've got extra faders with uf8 to kind of get around a little easier so at this point there's a lot of you know videos on YouTube kind of going over the technical aspect so I kind of want to approach this differently as you know let's just treat it as something really cool kind of a hybrid analog digital console and just treat it more like a tangible analog console and see what we can do so we're going to do a song front to back and use only SSL stuff we're gonna I'm gonna show you how I've set up the session but then we're going to get rid of the computer and just go from there so this band's called Hilo I recorded them in Austin Texas like almost a decade ago we're digging the sessions up again so the timing was good so let's pull up the session I'll show you how I've set everything up then we'll get rid of computer and go from there hopefully this is the last time we look at a computer screen because again I want us to kind of think of this as an analog control surface and we're going to get rid of the screen and just use this so we're not focused on the screen because it changes how you mix sometimes to be honest it's a lot more fun to have buttons so think of this as like our patch Bay talk I'm going to walk you through how I've got everything patched in on the console so here's my session laid out in Pro Tools vocals electric guitar electric guitar solo bass and our drums it's a pretty simple session there's also a split track down here that's just a technical thing I use sonarworks speaker correction in here and I don't want you guys hearing the speaker correction when you're listening through it because it only applies to my room so I had to split stuff out so the recorder is not capturing what I'm hearing essentially so yeah minor detail I've got the SSL 4K plugin on everything this song's got a little bit of a Mojo feel to it it's okay if we add some color so I figured the 4K has got a little bit cut more color than what channel strip two that's modeled after the SSO 9k so we've got that on every channel as far as the bus compressor I've got it on a few buses because it's a bus compressor that's what you do with it so the electric guitars there's three sources on the main electric guitar line there's a mic on two different amps and then I recorded the line signal as well so we're probably going to end up fading hard left and hard right on those two amps and blending in a little bit the line level there's a solo but the main electrics are going to an electric bus so I've got the bus compressor on that one same with drums on the main drum bus I have the bus compressor We'll add a little bit of glue in with that the way I mix drums almost every time I've got all my drum tracks and those feed to two aux tracks I have one that's clean just a clean pass through then one that I call comp which is usually one that I parallel compare the parallel compress and blend in just a little bit so we're going to stop that a little bit and see how the bus compressor too sounds when you hit it hard and then of course I have it on my main bus on the master bus because that's where it sounds the best I love the SSO bus compressor on my mix and then I did apply the channel strip too to the main bus I don't think I'm going to do much I might just add a little bit of EQ to the mix overall now of course we've got the meter plugin on the master fader and that'll be on the uf-1 showing up on the uf1 screen and yeah Sonar works but you guys aren't going to hear that I am yeah let's get rid of the computer screen and dive in some fun buttons all right computer screen is off let's play with some faders I'm going to roll through this really quick and get a rough mix going I just kind of like to have everything set and roughly when I add my bus compression and kind of bus EQ and mix into things so let's do that quick we'll start with drums move down to base and electric and get the vocals in there just a little bit and go from there thank you let's get my meter plug in up there we go [Music] [Music] [Music] so one thing to note this recording was done 10 years ago maybe when I lived in Texas so it's kind of fun it's a snapshot in my past self and how I did things one thing I did was uh most of my room mics were pretty close to the kit and I usually compressed them more when I'm mixed so overheads and rooms sound similar but we've got both of them we'll roll with it let's add the Toms in Toms are another fun one here let's solo them foreign universal audio Apollo when we were tracking this and so I probably printed a lot of the uid plugins um definitely had a gate on there but another thing I did with Toms I distorted them a lot especially floor tom just a phase I was going through but it sounded a little weird on their own but in context I think they will work just fine thank you [Music] cool yeah that's good starting point let's get those high hats in there [Music] cool let's get that parallel compression track set in the drums let's cut the clean one turn up parallel all right I'm going to engage the bus compressor on the parallel track and stomp it a bit [Music] actually what we need to do first is we need to select to the direct one with the u c one there's drums use this guy to do that all right nope actually we don't need drums we need comp parallel compression track all right here we go [Music] all right that's close um one thing I like to do on my clean and parallel compression track just it's an OCD thing I like both of those faders to stay around Unity or as close as possible for when I start tweaking so I'm going to put that there I'm going to turn makeup gain on the compressor all the way down and set it as close as I can there so the fader stays around Unity all right [Music] foreign [Music] starting point we'll play around with them more let's get the SSL compressor on our drum bus now and it's not going to be heavy we're just going to kiss it give it a little bit of glue [Music] thank you it's a good starting point let's move down to bass guitar [Music] let's move to a chorus where was that around cool [Music] just going through a real Foo Fighters phase for bass tones back then so there's probably a lot of distortion either from a pedal or an amp Blended in there I usually Blended bass tracks back then into one I was into committing two still am [Music] cool let's get electric guitar set so I believe what happened here is my bus for the electric guitars it's three tracks one of them is a wet AMP one of them's a dry amp and one of them is the line so I'm probably gonna hard Pan the wet and dry amps to make it sound bigger [Music] [Music] there's the wet one you hear some drum bleed we did all this live for the most part [Music] line just to add some clarity I'm usually not this crazy about multi-micing amps or anything but since this song was pretty simple and there's only one main electric we kind of went nuts and fine-tuned to make it sound big [Music] [Music] thank you that's close enough let's get the focal in a little bit [Music] all right let's get a little Reverb on the vocal we will flip this where I'm at is that focal yep cool [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] Reverb plug-in it's fine there's a lot of options in there I need to Deep dive into that a little bit more let's rewind to a course and check that Reverb [Music] it's close enough uh let I'm Gonna Leave the bus compressor off the electric guitar bus for now let's go to our Master bus and turn on the bus compressor on the master bus and go back to a course [Music] [Music] [Music] I'm going to turn that Reverb off just for now I like to just kiss the bus compression so not too much foreign [Music] [Music] cool all right that's a good starting point for the overall mix I think got everything in there except for the solo electric guitar let's turn that on this [Music] [Music] foreign that Reverb Trail is crazy but it sounds good in context I don't know if I'm gonna keep that solo panned right we'll see but yeah that's a good starting point let's dive into individual instruments all right let's start with the kick drums we have a inside kick mic and an outside kick mic so let's listen to inside foreign cool outside I'm usually not too worried about bleed in general it's just my philosophy I kind of embrace the bleed but we're definitely going to use the gates because SSL gates are really good so let's start with inside kick we are going to go to kick in down here so we have the kick in Channel strip all right let's hear it uh just FYI this is I've got this set to be the master bus compressor so I can see how much I'm compressing overall I'm just going to leave it there all right [Music] [Music] foreign let's look at the gate on the outside kick because I think it might actually need it that's a little aggressive but let's see how it sounds in context solo both the kicks cool all right let's go to kick in because I think I'm going to need a little bit of attack on my inside Kick Drum so let's hear everything in context real quick natural yeah let's add just a little bit of uh attack on the kick in just find a frequency play find the frequency [Music] okay let's hear that in context might be a little too much but I think we're okay all right um let me try to add just a little bit of low end on the kick in and see what happens I don't think we'll need it but we'll try it [Music] [Music] see if that makes a difference in context okay can actually change to the E-Type eqs real quick with a push of a button I think oh no never mind I was wrong about that we'll get back to that let's hear that one more time cool everything's doing its job okay let's move to snare drums same with kick there's two mics it's near top and a snare bottom let's check them out cool snare bottom okay together [Music] all right let's see if we can get these guys see how that goes near top yep we are snare top here all right let's do some gating [Music] cool let's move to snare bottom thank you [Music] depending on how much ring you want on those snare wires usually it's okay to be a little aggressive on your Gates if you like to do that so I might do that this time I don't normally do it but hey we're trying new things [Music] all right let's see how it sounds in context I'm a little uncomfortable about that but again we'll see how it sounds context is King let's try both of them together [Music] thank you [Music] and back the gate off just a little bit [Music] yeah cool chairman context I think that button the gate on the bottom one clean things up pretty well let's go to the top gate and make sure that's not bad natural who was brother and praise yourself okay that top snare gate might be a little too aggressive but it's fine for now move to some EQ start with the snare top I think I want just a little bit of snap a little more snap out of that so let's find the frequency [Music] thank you foreign [Music] context cool um I might try I do this sometimes but it's not an always thing to add some mid-range to that snare bottom see if we can get a little bit more weight out of it [Music] cool let's hear that in context yourself cool um I'm gonna compress now you'll notice I didn't compress on the kicks we might go back to that but usually that's something I do towards the end find with Kick Drum if I have a compressor on the overall drum brush usually I'm happy so we might come back to that don't think I missed missed it I didn't forget just not how I usually do things let's go to snare top and do some compression okay snare top so that's our gate meter this is our compression meter [Music] thank you okay it's definitely making things louder so I'm going to compensate [Music] the meter is still showing it as being a little louder but to my ears it sounds about the same so I'm going to trust my ears let's compress that bottom snare a little bit all right [Music] [Music] cool close enough quotes here in context all right I'm gonna mute the bottom snare and we're going to listen to what that's doing in context with the channel strip on the top snare we're going to bring the channel strip in and out this is natural awesome yeah it's getting buried without what I did just go ahead and bring that in and out now on bottom snare cool um I do believe I'm happy with that let's move on okay so off camera I've done a couple of little things to the other drum tracks like the overheads and rooms and the Toms but I don't think you want to see this so keep this rolling we're just going to go over drums overall and play with the drum bus a little bit all right let's go ahead and solo drums I think I'm gonna have to sell all of them yeah I don't think I solo safe stuff that was my bad go through and solo all these because I don't know how to use Pro Tools pretty embarrassing all right here we go [Music] let's move this guy to meter the drums overall [Music] that's adding a lot I'm digging it here in and out again [Music] brings everything forward it almost sounds like there's a room Reverb on there it's bringing out the trails on the room a lot more digging it I'm going to brighten the drums overall just a little bit foreign [Music] but I'll try it never hurts to try but I think we're good don't want to overdo it the bass guitar is pretty beefy [Music] oh I'll add One DB of low end just so I can play like I did something significant let's turn on [Music] no we're good so I'm not going to use the compressor on the channel strip at all and the drums overall we'll just stick with that I think the drums are in a good place let's hear everything in context real quick and I'll take this in and out in context because I think that's the winner cool aside from that crazy long Reverb trail that I'm getting sick of um drums are in good shape let's move on bass guitar sounding pretty good in context I think I was a little heavy-handed during tracking but that's probably because I went with the heart things just felt right so I went for it but to get a little bit of compression on there and see if we can get just a little more presence on the notes we'll see what happens all right basis solo let's find it down here base cool [Music] [Music] okay we're getting a pretty good volume jump so let's volume match real quick foreign [Music] [Music] that's doing what it needs to it's kind of holding those notes let's try to add in a little more presence see what happens find the frequency [Music] so my only concern is that frequency range is bringing out the presence but it's also bringing out that ground grounding issue is probably in the amp but it sounds like a line line ground but let's see what that's doing in context and if it's worth boosting the noise floor on the annoying Buzz love and run um it may be short but the ways is ready foreign let's listen one more time I'm worried that spring not the Fret noise too much when he's sliding [Music] unfortunately that's bringing out the Fret noise a little too much so I'm going to turn it down um that might be all we're going to do on base I turned it up just a little bit I might compensate on here to keep the fader more around zero but the ways let's find where that's happening I need to narrow in on that and fix that slide so balloon that's annoying made that slide so calm probably right where I boosted let's take it down and see [Music] okay I think what's happening is I just had the base a little too loud we might turn it down a little bit towards the end but that's all I'm going to do on base I mean if it ain't broke don't fix it I'm trying to fix it and it wasn't broke so we're good A little bit of compression leave it at that all right we're getting towards the end of everything we're on the electrics now again there's not we didn't stack a lot of instruments in this song the main instrument is one electric guitar so when we tracked we had a dry amp we had a wet amp and a line signal so I think we're gonna fade dry amp to one side wet amp to one side line down the middle just add a little Clarity to things so let's check out we have an electric bus we have the first electric guitar and everything's centered right now so this is the dry electric find it on here electric one I think that's one yep there we go cool all right electric one okay that's the dry electric this is the wet it's the line [Music] I think he had a Roland amp for the wet Channel it sounds like all the effects are on the amp the line's dry again this was I recorded this 10 years ago so memories are sketchy right let's start on dry okay [Music] if I am discrepancy let's solve that [Music] thank you it's good to volume match when you're compressing because sometimes that volume jump kind of plays tricks on you and you're like man that sounds so much better no just sounds louder we're all susceptible foreign [Music] plugin for I'm usually I don't process electrics a lot plug-in wise I just use Renaissance X on there and hit about 3 DB so matching that because that's kind of where I'm comfortable TQ it a little bit and see what happens just add a little presence maybe take out some muddiness we'll see [Music] we're going to filter out some high because I'm afraid that's going to be a little too harsh so we'll see what happens if we boost some high-end then get that filter close to that point foreign [Music] it's brighter well taking out some high end that's always a good thing let's try the filter on the low end [Music] saying I'm sitting around 50 hertz on there I like that when you play with the filters and stuff that it shows up on the screen but honestly I also like that the readout's not there because I can trust my ears and not go man I'm filtering out everything under 100 Hertz that's way too much sounds right go for it [Music] cool that's a before and after play that again [Music] I can be too aggressive on compression because I might add a little bit of the bus compressor on the electric guitar bus once we have all three done it's a good starting point let's go to the wet amp okay let's find that that's electric too [Music] yeah we need to take out some muddiness let's compress first [Music] gotta be a little heavier-handed on this track since it's the wet track I don't think you'll notice the compression as much let's dip this time instead of adding compression play find that annoying frequency get the cue narrower and widen it as we go [Music] yep right about there let's widen the cube [Music] foreign sorry I should a lot of people won't know what fine the frequency means um when I started out doing live sound um they always told you if you needed to notch something out you played fine the frequency so you boost it first because it's easier to tell when you obnoxiously boost something you find that obnoxious frequency you want to get rid of and then you turn it down [Music] yeah cool I'm gonna brighten it up just a tad [Music] not much going on up there let's move down [Music] it's filter [Music] cool perfect all right one [Music] compressed just a little bit I think I'm just going to leave the line as it is it sounded good to me I'm just going to use it for some presents [Music] all right before and after we're not doing much [Music] cool all right let's fade everything out I think I want the dry amp to the left oh whoops that was my electric bus actually that's fine that's pan left and right right dry amp I'm going to want over to the left what amp I want to the right line I want Center cool [Music] all right foreign [Music] context real quick [Music] [Music] cool let's play with the electrics overall now [Music] all right oop got out of order yeah yeah trick and it on here as well let's add the bus compressor on the electric bus [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] never goes away [Music] cool I'm not going to EQ the electric bus that seems like it's sitting well all right vocals all right vocals are pretty much the last thing I know a lot of people say start with vocals first um I've never done that I probably need to try that more because I think it's probably the right philosophy to take especially since so much modern music is you know centered around the vocal but I move the way you saw me I kind of do vocals last so that's me but yeah let's play with the vocal take hold of the thing that never goes even if even okay cool um I've recorded this guy a fair amount he's got a beautiful voice and usually he's got pretty good mic control so I'm a little heavier-handed during tracking because um that means less time to spend on vocal and mixing so I'm probably not going to do much I think the vocal is sitting pretty close big hold of the thing that never goes even after we fade anyone in the millions that's discovering life as it is at best somebody Fades away somebody face is Gonna Come my day we're giving all away cool I know he pushes his voice towards the end of that section so that's why I picked it going between 360 and 60b of compression let's filter a little bit and see if that helps take hold of the thing that never goes even after we fade anyone in the millions that's discovering love is it cool um might try adding just a little bit of high frequency in there and see ing egg holder [Music] hold of aid and you won in the millions that's disgusting all right let's try to add some umph down low just a little bit of push take hold of the thing that never goes even after we fade anyone in the millions that's discovering life cool found the frequency take hold of the thing that never goes even after we fade a new one in the millions that's discovering life is it so at the very end I was liking what it did but it just sounded a little Tad muddy so I turned the cue down just a little bit to narrow in on that frequency range I wanted let's hear it in context context is King take hold of the thing keep the Reverb off for now we'll come to that in a minute I'm going I'm gonna leave my vocal fader at zero and I'm gonna get it sitting well at zero so I'm gonna control the output for getting the vocal set [Music] cool let's hear the channel strip in and out there's probably gonna be a volume jump now because I've mismatched the two [Music] so I'm hearing a little bit more presence up top I'm hearing a little bit more push in the low end and it's not sounding muddy or getting lost in there so cool we did that right all right um I think that's all I'm going to do for vocals now we're going to move to the overall mix and do some stuff so this is the wrap-up phase we're doing final tweaks to the song one thing I need to do that I saved for last was I'm still not sure what I want to do with the guitar solo part that's in the choruses I think I've decided to pan it off to the right and then make it a little wet send stuff to the Reverb bust so let's get that set up I'm going to mute his vocal for this actually cut I also need to flip we'll get to flip hold on just a minute all right cool all right let's go to solo get that over here cool [Music] [Music] foreign so the way I do Reverb majority of the time is I have a completely wet Reverb send so the cool thing about that is when you have sins on this you can hit the flip button and that is here on the eight channel one that's down here on the uf1 so what I'm going to do is so there's our solo guitar solo I've flipped it so that it's now giving us the fader for the send and to the Reverb so let's add some Reverb foreign [Music] cool digging that it's just a little dead now on vocals let's go ahead and do the same thing I'm going to unmute the vocal flip it we're gonna add some Reverb to the vocal is not a soul and turn the vocal up just a little bit actually [Music] [Music] [Music] that trail is crazy but it's working for me overall um let's go back to a chorus where was that probably around the 22nd mark [Music] [Music] s away [Music] yourself as is a natural let's go back to a chorus I think that's going to be about 1 30. [Music] there's not a song [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] I could go over automation stuff I mean it's very easy you can set read write and everything but I don't want to waste time doing that in the video because it's going to be a little boring and I think levels are good overall but I mean it is very easy to set up your automation on here as well as over here so uh probably what I would do at this stage is I would automate the vocal overall a little bit and automate the reverbs into the vocal as well because I think the Reverb is needs to be just a little quieter in the verses and louder in the courses but that's good so right now probably what we need to do is we just need to play through the song once and listen to it [Music] [Music] do we fade [Music] away [Music] thank you in Wide Open Spaces of the mind everything is [Music] is it is [Music] [Music] really anymore [Music] still Don't Wanna Give it away but did you hear the secret today next [Music] is and it is [Music] [Music] really I've been getting itself as this is natural [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: MillSounds

Views: 25,632

Keywords: SSL, Solid State Logic, SSL UF-1, SSL UF1, SSL UC-1, SSL UF-8, SSL Control Surface, SSL Console, SSL Plugins

Id: 0lhhOzEcyG4

Length: 57min 39sec (3459 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 26 2023