Obtain The Multitracks Right here: https://producelikeapro.lpages.co/david-bowie-lets-dance-form/
Test Out The SSL Revival 4000 Right here: https://sweetwater.sjv.io/5kjxBD
There’s something deeply satisfying about working with a bit of drugs that immediately feels acquainted.
That was precisely my expertise with the SSL Revival 4000.
In case you have seen the sooner video the place I tweaked just a few knobs and blended with it, this was the following logical step. I needed to do extra than simply experiment. I needed to trace with it, commit sounds on the way in which in, and actually see whether or not this contemporary recreation of the traditional 4000 channel strip may ship the factor that made the unique consoles so beloved within the first place.
The reply was fairly apparent fairly shortly. Sure, it completely can.
A contemporary tackle a legendary channel
The Revival 4000 is precisely what the title suggests, a revival of the SSL 4000 channel. For anyone who grew up listening to data made within the Nineteen Eighties, Nineteen Nineties and past, that sound is all around the music we love. These consoles weren’t simply combine desks. They have been a part of the sound of numerous data.
I had my very own 4000 for over 20 years, and it was unbelievable. Again when these consoles have been new, they break the bank. We’re speaking about one thing that would simply run into the quarter of one million vary, generally extra relying on the body and configuration.
What’s exceptional now’s that you could get a lot of that performance and character for a tiny fraction of the unique value. Electronics have change into cheaper, manufacturing is extra environment friendly, and the result’s one thing just like the Revival 4000, a channel strip that offers you the pliability, tone, and workflow of a traditional SSL with out requiring you to purchase and keep a whole classic console.
And it truly is versatile. You possibly can transfer between EQ choices, entry dynamics, use the B collection fashion DS performance, compress, develop, form and commit sounds in precisely the way in which many people used to when engaged on huge desks.
That’s what makes it thrilling. It isn’t simply nostalgia. It’s sensible.
Why I needed to trace with it
For this session, I made a decision to make use of eight channels of the Revival 4000 and monitor drums via them. That felt like the absolute best check.
We selected to document a canopy of David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, which felt fully becoming. It’s certainly one of my favorite songs by certainly one of my favorite artists, and naturally the unique was recorded at Energy Station on an SSL. So if ever there was a track to place this unit via its paces, this was it.
And I used to be fortunate sufficient to do it with a completely implausible group of musicians.
Ray Hearne from Haken performed drums. Max Kendall from the band Deco dealt with the lead vocals. Michael Garding from our Produce Like A Professional Academy performed all of the sax components superbly. David Bennett from David Bennett’s Piano and Chris Ibbertson additionally from the Produce Like A Professional Academy took care of keys and programming. I performed the rhythm guitars, bass, and background vocals, and Jamie Humphries contributed that sensible lead guitar half.
So we had an incredible track, an incredible band, and eight channels of SSL-inspired goodness. Excellent.
Recording drums via eight channels of Revival 4000
The drum setup was easy and efficient. We had kick in, kick out, snare high, snare backside, hi-hat, ground tom, overhead left and overhead proper. Eight channels in whole.
What struck me instantly was simply how good the sounds have been coming straight via the channels.
On the kick drums, I did what I’d usually do on an SSL. A wholesome little bit of 60 Hz, a reduce round 350, a contact of high finish round 2.5k, and a few compression stepping into. I mirrored the EQ on each kick channels so the within and out of doors mics labored collectively as one full sound.
The snare bought a little bit of 100 Hz for physique, some 7k and above for assault and presence, plus compression on the way in which in. Once more, very a lot the traditional SSL strategy. Not timid, not overcooked, simply committing to a sound that already felt like a document.
The overheads have been a lot less complicated. Only a mild excessive go round 60 Hz to do away with low-end rumble, and that was mainly it. No fancy EQ strikes, no overthinking.
That was actually the theme of the entire session. As soon as the supply sounded proper, and as soon as the channel strip had formed it in a musical method, there was not a lot left to “repair” later.
The great thing about committing on the way in which in
One of many greatest reminders from this session was how highly effective it’s to document sounds the way in which you need to hear them.
Lately, as a result of all of us have infinite plug-ins and limitless undo, it is vitally simple to go away each determination till combine time. Nevertheless, there’s something liberating about making decisions early. The Revival 4000 actually encourages that mindset.
I discovered myself utilizing EQ and compression precisely as I’d have on my outdated SSL console. On bass, for instance, I printed the tone I needed as an alternative of leaving myself a bland DI and promising to kind it out later. On background vocals, I compressed and EQed on the way in which down, then barely touched them within the combine aside from excessive passing and including a little bit plate reverb.
The identical was true of the lead vocal. We used an Austrian Audio OC-S10, which sounded implausible, and the Revival’s high finish on that vocal was simply lovely. Clean, open, and flattering with out ever feeling harsh.
That is among the nice strengths of SSL gear on the whole. There’s a type of sweetness within the high finish that simply works. We frequently speak about low-end character on different consoles, nevertheless the SSL magic for me has all the time been that elegant excessive finish and the way in which the dynamics can add perspective with out wrecking the efficiency.
The SSL “spank” is actual
Certainly one of my favorite issues concerning the outdated 4000 was all the time the channel routing choices, significantly the flexibility to drive EQ into compression and get that unmistakable SSL spank.
That’s all right here.
While you increase into the compressor, you aren’t simply altering the frequency stability, you might be altering how the dynamics react. The channel turns into half tone shaper, half instrument. Push the proper frequencies, hit the compressor a little bit tougher, and all of a sudden the sound comes alive in that very acquainted SSL method.
On bass, this was significantly enjoyable. A little bit low finish, some shaping within the mids, a contact of high the place wanted, then into compression. It jogged my memory how a lot folks underestimate the SSL on bass. Everybody talks concerning the console on drums and vocals, nevertheless the low finish might be attractive when you know the way to work it.
And sure, if you’d like that aggressive, barely grabby, thrilling response, it’s there.
Minimal plug-ins as a result of the sound was already there
After I bought to the combo, one factor grew to become very clear. There have been quite a lot of tracks, nevertheless there weren’t quite a lot of plug-ins.
That’s the greatest praise I pays to the Revival 4000.
As a result of I had already tracked via it, shaping the sound as I went, a lot of the combo was already sitting the place it wanted to be. The drums have been talking. The vocals have been managed. The guitars had perspective. The bass had form. As a substitute of spending the combo attempting to rescue or reinvent sounds, I may concentrate on enhancing what was already there.
I used principally SSL plug-ins all through the combo to remain in that world, aside from a handful of apparent exceptions. A little bit of Soothe on the lead vocal, as an illustration. A Waves Submarine on the ground tom so as to add some further sub data. Issues like that.
Nevertheless the bones of the combo have been already constructed at supply.
That, to me, is the most important lesson right here. The Revival 4000 is not only a pleasant color field. It modifications the way in which you’re employed as a result of it encourages dedication, and that makes mixing quicker, simpler, and extra musical.
Capturing the spirit of the unique monitor
As a result of we have been protecting Let’s Dance, it made sense to lean into a number of the traditional Nineteen Eighties aesthetics.
That meant gated reverb on the snare, in fact. If you will use an SSL channel strip and document an 80s monitor, chances are you’ll as nicely go all the way in which. The SSL gated reverb sound remains to be gloriously excessive in the absolute best method.
For the rhythm guitar, I DI’d the Strat straight into the Revival 4000. That permit us actually hear what the channel was doing. I carved out some mid-mids to get nearer to that clear, uneven Nile Rodgers-style tone, then later added the Bob Clearmountain-inspired ping-pong delay utilizing the Apogee Let’s Dance plug-in.
That was a kind of moments the place the manufacturing actually got here collectively. With out the delay, it sounded good. With it, it immediately felt just like the document.
The horns additionally got here alive with SSL delay and plate reverb, and since every thing had already been EQed and compressed stepping into, all of it dropped into place remarkably simply.
A reminder that SSLs have been used for recording too
I feel one factor we generally overlook is that lots of the data we love weren’t simply blended on SSL 4000s. They have been recorded on them too.
Folks usually discuss as if the traditional workflow was all the time monitoring via Neves or APIs after which mixing on SSL. Definitely that occurred loads of instances. Nevertheless an enormous variety of data have been tracked and blended on SSLs, and that particular sound is a part of what made these productions really feel so completed and instant.
Working with the Revival 4000 introduced that house once more.
It jogged my memory that these data sounded the way in which they did as a result of the sounds have been captured correctly within the first place. They have been being formed, compressed, balanced and dedicated by world-class engineers on the supply. By the point the combo stage arrived, quite a lot of the exhausting work had already been accomplished.
That’s precisely the sensation I bought right here.
And let’s not overlook, some actually legendary albums have been recorded and blended on SSL 4000 consoles. Suppose Peter Gabriel – So produced by Daniel Lanois and Peter Gabriel, with that massive, atmospheric depth. Phil Collins – Face Worth with Hugh Padgham’s iconic gated drum sound. U2 – The Joshua Tree with Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, filled with house and emotion. Easy Minds – New Gold Dream produced by Peter Walsh, dripping in that polished 80s sheen. And naturally Speaking Heads – Stay in Gentle, produced by Brian Eno, pushing boundaries sonically. These weren’t simply blended on SSLs, they have been formed via them from the very starting.
A fast have a look at the historical past behind the sound
One of many actually pleasing components of this undertaking was additionally diving into a number of the technical evolution behind SSL’s channel designs.
The 4000 lineage is filled with fascinating particulars, from routing flexibility and whole recall to the variations between E collection and G collection EQs, and the way in which the dynamics circuitry developed over time.
The early E collection dynamics used a special VCA design earlier than later transferring to DBX-based options. That shift modified the behaviour in refined methods, with a number of the early variations being described as a little bit grabbier and extra aggressive. SSL has clearly paid consideration to these particulars within the Revival collection, and that issues, as a result of these are the very nuances folks fall in love with.
Likewise, the variations between E and G collection EQs, whether or not it’s the filter slopes, mid-band behaviour, or shelf traits, all contribute to why engineers nonetheless obsess over these desks a long time later.
The purpose is, this isn’t nearly making one thing that appears like an outdated channel strip. It’s about preserving the musical selections and sonic behaviours that made these consoles particular.
So, is it price it?
In a phrase, sure.
At round £1,500 or roughly $2,000 per channel, it’s definitely not low-cost in on a regular basis phrases. Nevertheless whenever you examine that to what a full classic 4000 as soon as value, and when you think about what it offers you by way of tone, workflow, and usefulness, it begins to look extraordinarily compelling.
Actually, one channel would most likely deal with nearly all of what most individuals want. A stereo pair can be great. 4 channels, which is what I get, makes monumental sense. Eight channels on drums was an absolute pleasure.
That is a kind of items of kit that makes you need to document. It makes you need to commit. It makes you belief your instincts a little bit extra. And that, for me, is all the time the mark of one thing actually helpful.
Closing ideas
The SSL Revival 4000 just isn’t attempting to exchange the expertise of sitting in entrance of an enormous classic console. Nothing actually can.
Nevertheless what it does do is seize a lot of the sound, really feel, and workflow of the traditional 4000 channel strip in a format that’s sensible, versatile, and genuinely inspiring to make use of.
Monitoring drums, bass, guitars, and vocals via it was an absolute pleasure. The sounds got here collectively shortly. The combination wanted much less work. The highest finish was candy, the compression had perspective, and the entire course of jogged my memory why SSL consoles grew to become such an enormous a part of recording historical past.
Most significantly, it bolstered a lesson that by no means will get outdated.
Get it proper at supply.
While you try this, every thing else turns into simpler.
And the Revival 4000 completely helps you just do that.
Obtain The Multitracks Right here: https://producelikeapro.lpages.co/david-bowie-lets-dance-form/
Test Out The SSL Revival 4000 Right here: https://sweetwater.sjv.io/5kjxBD
