Flatt first took SSL Live out on McDonald's Christmas Tour last winter. "Spectrum was going to order a pair for Jason Aldean and asked if I wanted to be the first to take one out," he says. "I programmed it in my office and, without a production rehearsal, dove in at the first sound check. Michael's musicians' sounds are really good to start with. They play really well together and it's a straightforward show. If you start with a good sounding product, mic it with quality microphones and run it through a console that has an excellent quality, you're pretty much there. SSL Live brings me to that point and gives me the freedom to just mix and not have to think about a lot of external processes."
The transparency of SSL Live's mix bus, especially since it is a digital console, was one of the first things Flatt noticed. "There are a handful of consoles out there that sound good or really good, but as everybody who mixes knows, as you start to sum all those good sounding parts together, a lot of times you're either working with or around the console to create that final sound, that final mix," he explains.
"On a warm console, you may have to figure out which inputs could lose a little warmth to fit in with everything so that it doesn't get muddy. Live has such a separation that as you add all of the inputs, you don't have this muddle going on, which happens so often on other live consoles. There's definition to everything in the mix."
Flatt credits the fidelity both in the highs and the lows of the console. "There's a nice top-end on it and it's really smooth; there isn't an overabundance of hype on it," he says, adding, "The low-end on the console is nice and round without being overbearing."
(Jim Evans)
