MEXICO CITY – Mexican pop icon Juan Gabriel is touring the U.S. with an SSL Live, the first-ever dedicated live sound console from Solid State Logic. 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 30 million albums and performed throughout the world. When his 2014 “Volver” tour prepared for its U.S. leg, front of house engineer Rodrigo Lopez was excited to mix on SSL’s latest innovation.
“As soon as it was available, I wanted to use it,” Lopez says of Live. “An engineer friend of mine who used Live for another U.S. 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.”
Live features SSL’s renowned SuperAnalogue preamps and Lopez says the benefits were instantly audible. “It just sounds perfect,” he says of mixing with Live. “It’s really clear and sounded exactly how the band was playing.”
SSL Live’s sonic quality was particularly noticeable on violins, Lopez 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 really small wireless mic capsules. 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 Angeles Azules and was previously with Marco Antonio Solís, Lopez 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.
Lopez added that musicians recognize SSL from thousands of recording studios around the world, and Gabriel’s band members were particularly amazed to see one on tour with them. “An SSL at front of house is really impressive,” he says. “Everyone wants to take a look at it.”
For more info about SSL, go to solidstatelogic.com.
