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December 2013 l 37
livereport
(L-R) Dickie Chappell, Dee Miller and Ben Findlay: they have the touch(screens)
channel, mix bus or VCA to see exactly what it is being sent to or what is being sent to it” – to spill out each VCA when required. “He has a direct copy of Gabriel’s mix but is also able to solo individual channels if required,” notes Kelly. Praising the level of support
delivered by Kelly and SSL colleague Tomos Wise, Chappell says he has been particularly taken by the Query function and the “interactive” nature of EQ adjustment. “The desk has become another musical instrument that I can play in the live situation without thinking how to work [it],” he remarks. “After a few shows it felt fluid and fun.” Over in monitor world, Damon Miller set up his desk as 96 inputs with 36 outputs for the band/crew and shot mixes. In what Kelly describes as a “very logical fader layout”, all mix buses are on the upper fade tile, with vocal channels accessed from the faders directly below the main touchscreen and the remainder of the input channels arranged into banks of different instruments on the lower left fader tile. “Mix Select Mode is enabled and this calls whichever mix is selected to the assignable Quick Controls,” says Kelly. “The instrument and vocal tiles are then operated in flip mode, allowing the aux sends of each channel to be controlled from the faders.”
Afte an intensive rehearsal period in which he created a
More ‘Ground Control’ than FOH during rehearsal
Live. Still, “there’s nothing like taking a console out on a proper tour and seeing what falls off (fortunately nothing!),” says Kelly. “There were no big problems, but with any new desk of this complexity we always expect a few minor issues to be identified as it’s put in front of different engineers and used in different situations. The console software is continually evolving with bug fixes and feature additions, so most of the minor issues we encountered on the tour have already been resolved.” The 2013 tour reached a pinnacle with two shows at London’s O2 Arena that were filmed in the new Ultra-HD format, 4K, by OB specialist CTV. With Back to Front an undoubted huge hit, Gabriel is already preparing for another round of shows in the spring. Meanwhile, Brit Row managing director Bryan Grant confirms that the SSL Live has already become an important part of its touring arsenal. “Although they’ve
come late to the live console market, SSL’s reputation as a leader in the studio console market has meant that engineers are very interested in checking out the console,” says Grant. “From the results that were achieved on the Peter Gabriel tour, I believe that the SSL Live is already a serious competitor in the touring market.”
www.solidstatelogic.com www.britanniarow.com
“The desk has become another musical instrument that I can play in the live situation without thinking about how to work [it]… it’s fluid and fun”
Richard ‘Dickie’ Chappell
different scene for each song of the change-heavy set, Miller was nonetheless comfortable with the desk by the time Gabriel took the stage for the first show of 2013 – at Denmark’s memorably named Jyske Bank Boxen arena on 28 September.
“The SSL console sounds very precise and clean,” he says. With several demo consoles
currently traversing the globe for presentations and trade show appearances, there has been no shortage of opportunities to garner feedback about the SSL
Beginning in monochrome, the gig eventually explodes with colour
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