SSL upgrades the Simple Minds sound
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Even though Simple Minds is touring a new album, it would never neglect the classic songs, and this has probably been one of the biggest challenges for Gerard, Gibbard, and their gear. "I have to cope with music from the late 70s, through the 80s and the 90s rock and roll stadium thing, and on to now," says Gerard. "I try to recreate the true sounds of those moments because everyone knows those songs in certain colours."
Gerard has been working with the band for over 10 years, so he has built an extensive range of bespoke effects - particularly reverbs - into a standard rack of outboard to sit alongside his SSL L200. On the other hand, Gibbard who started with the band this year, has recreated most of what he needs inside his SSL L500 console, using up to 11 reverbs at any one time to bring the multi-layered Simple Minds sound to IEMs and wedges.
For both, the sound of SSL Live was the deciding factor. Gerrard: "I have used pretty much all of the digital consoles with Simple Minds. When I had the first demo of the SSL I thought it looked complicated, but I got the opportunity to cover for a friend who was using an L200 with another band. I joined him for a gig to check out how he was mixing the show, and it sounded so good that I decided to give it a go.
"When I started with my own multitracks, the first thing I noticed was that I had the analogue feel back again - the elasticity. In the analogue era you could do your first three songs in sound check and when your balance was there, you can do the whole gig. That has never been possible with digital consoles until this one."
(Jim Evans)
