Front-of-house engineer Rodrigo López was excited to mix on SSL's latest innovation
USA - Mexico's pop icon Juan Gabriel is touring the US with an SSL Live, console. One of Mexico's most successful vocalists, Gabriel is a Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame inductee and six-time Grammy nominee who has sold over 30m albums and performed throughout the world. When his Volver 2014 tour prepared for its US leg, front-of-house engineer Rodrigo López was excited to mix on SSL's latest innovation.

"As soon as it was available, I wanted to use it," López says of Live. "Just by reading 'SSL,' you know it's a quality console. An engineer friend of mine who used Live for another US tour provided the only training I needed. It's very user-friendly. Sound check was my rehearsal with the console. It just sounded correct, it was really great. Everything was there, the way I wanted it to be."

SSL Live's sonic quality was particularly noticeable on violins, López says. "We have seven violins for the mariachi. Sometimes it's hard to hear because it's loud on the stage. The first time I truly heard violins sound in the place I wanted them was when I mixed with SSL Live. What's more, we're running the mariachi musicians through a really small wireless microphone. It's hard to have power on those instruments, but that just came naturally with the SSL."

A 25-year veteran in the industry who also mixes FOH for Los Ángeles Azules and was previously with Marco Antonio Solís, López appreciates Live's versatility, which allows engineers to work exactly the way they want. "The console accommodates to the way you're mixing," he says, "not the other way around."

(Jim Evans)


Latest Issue. . .

Save
Cookies user preferences
We use cookies to ensure you to get the best experience on our website. If you decline the use of cookies, this website may not function as expected.
Accept all
Decline all
Analytics
Tools used to analyze the data to measure the effectiveness of a website and to understand how it works.
Google Analytics
Accept
Decline
Advertisement
If you accept, the ads on the page will be adapted to your preferences.
Google Ad
Accept
Decline