"I'm using Focusrite Liquid Channels as my stereo bus mix compression," he says. "Usually you have to decide what unit you like and hope that it will achieve what you need in terms of holding the mix and letting it breathe. This will always compromise certain tracks if you have a band that plays a set of songs varying in style and dynamics. With the Liquids, having most classic compressors built into the unit allowed me to go through different compressors and settings to see what actually worked best. Instead of guessing, you can make a more informed choice.
"It's something that could never have been done before without a complicated and inefficient use of several various classic compressors," he continues. "It also allowed me to store settings in a user bank, which made compression settings for different songs far more accurate as well as in keeping with what the track needed sonically. Having the same buttons and dials to push made also setting compressors and A-B'ing different modeled units very fast and straightforward."
And the sound of the unit was also important to Suneil, a big analogue valve fan: "I like colour and warmth and units that affect sound emotionally and not clinically. I think when people listen to music, clarity and detail are important but this should never compromise what they feel from it. A mix should represent the content of the song and it should move air... Air should always move at a gig otherwise everything would feel flat and uninvolving."
"The Liquid Channels seemed to promise a lot so I thought I should try them out and see how they compare to the real units they were modeling, and I'm happy to say I was very surprised! I'm wish I'd used them sooner. I found that it took so little time to become familiar and comfortable with the unit and they are greatly flexible and not intimidating at all."
(Lee Baldock)
