A Tale of Two SSLs – The SiX Compact Desktop Mixer

In case you haven’t heard, Solid State Logic (SSL) just came out with a mixer that will fit under your arm. Not figuratively, but literally. People actually stopped me in the hall as I toted around this new SSL mixer in one hand.

Since the first SSL consoles were built in England in the ’70s, their reputation has grown and their sonics have been embraced by the biggest and best engineers in the industry, such as Bob Clearmountain, Chris Lord-Alge, Tom Lord-Alge, and Andy Wallace. Not only were the consoles renowned for their sound and Total Recall automation, through the ’80s and ’90s, SSLs were also recognized because they were large and they were expensive.

So when SSL shocked us all by coming out with the SSL SiX Professional Desktop Mixer (miniature console), the obvious first question that every engineer (including me) pondered was: “But does it sound like an SSL?” I’ve worked on dozens of SSLs since back in the ’80s (4000E, 4000G, 9000J among them), and I know that sound. This small-format mixer really made me wonder whether it’s possible to take two channel strips and the master section out of a console that can be 15 feet long and shrink it to less than 11″ wide by 12″ deep and not make some compromises. And how big are the sonic compromises? I had to find out.

I grabbed a SiX and set it up in Sweetwater’s Studio B right next to the resident SSL AWS 948 and put it side by side with an SSL G Comp Stereo Bus Compressor and SSL Alpha VHD preamp.

I started with three premixed tracks that could benefit from compression. I ran each into both compressors with the same settings and listened to the results. I printed them so you could hear what I heard. For each clip below, there are two samples: one that was compressed with the G Comp Bus Compressor and one that was compressed with the bus compressor on the SiX. I matched the settings on the G Comp with the settings that were chosen for the SiX:

• Attack: 30ms
• Release: 0.1s
• Ratio: 4:1
• Highpass: 60

Then I matched the Threshold (allowing for the ballistics of the physical meter on the G Comp versus the LED meter on the SiX) and Makeup gain so that the peak output levels were within 0.1dB. Take a listen and see if you can tell which one is which. I’m not going to identify them before you listen so you can audition them blindly, not knowing which one is which. Here they are as 320K MP3s. After you’ve listened, I’ll reveal the identities below. If you’d prefer to hear the original 24/96 files, including the uncompressed original mixes, you can download them here.

Solo Drums, featuring Nick D’Virgilio

A – Solo Drums

B – Solo Drums

Nick’s Song by Nick D’Virgilio

A – Nick’s Song

B – Nick’s Song

Elise by Damon Mitchell

A – Elise

B – Elise

So which one do you think is the $2,600 G Comp: A or B?

Well the B tracks are the G Comp and A tracks are the SiX Desktop Mixer. In my opinion, if you are an engineer who needs to adjust the Attack and Release times, or the Ratio and Highpass frequency, then the G Comp is the stereo bus compressor for you. But if you’re happy with the sound of the SiX compressor with its fixed preset, then the SiX is a great, very affordable alternative.

Did I mention that the SiX has three mic preamps built in? I know what you’re thinking. “Yeah, right, but they can’t sound as good as the preamps on a $100,000 console.” Well, you listen and tell me.

Below are two sound clips of award-winning Western Swing artist Carolyn Martin, who happened to be here at Sweetwater doing vocals. I asked her to sing two passes with a 1931 Historic Martin D28 guitar. Dave Martin, one of our staff engineers/producers and Carolyn’s husband, had a Neumann U 87 set up for vocal and a Shure KSM44A set up in figure 8 for guitar. He recorded one pass through the preamps in the SiX and another pass through the Alpha VHD standalone preamps. Take a listen and see if you hear any difference, realizing that it’s two separate performances.

Wayfaring Stranger sung by Carolyn Martin

A – Wayfaring Stranger

B – Wayfaring Stranger

Track A was recorded through the preamps in the SiX, and Track B was recorded through the Alpha VHD preamps. Do they sound different to you?

My conclusion after listening? If you want your audio to sound like it was recorded through a $100,000 console with a high-quality front end featuring a 1-knob compressor and 2-band EQ, times TWO, and need bus compression on the stereo master, but still want a mixer that will fit on your desktop, then the SSL SiX is the console for you.

NOTE: Thanks to Dave Martin and Nicholas Morrow for their help in creating these samples.