In this video, FOH audio engineer Chris Rabold talks to SSL about his experiences using the SSL L500 live production console at FOH for Kenny Chesney.
Chris Rabold: FOH for Kenny Chesney
Video Text:
I’m Chris Rabold and the front house
engineer for Kenny Chesney
this gig was coming up and had
I’m going into it so I was really
thinking about what I wanted to do and I
did it a lot of research hands-on sort
of what-ifs with this thing to make sure
it was the right one so this is the
first time I’ve ever used it really
really really really really glad that I
did
I’ve said this before somehow and I get
it I think it’s the way in the world
we’ve really gotten caught up not just
an audio but in all aspects of whatever
it is we’re looking at as a product
where we look at like feature sets first
and then we come to the real deal bottom
line last and what I mean is what I want
is something that sounds good
first and foremost bottom line that’s it
when I saw that SSL had a desk I was
really surprised
in fact that when I heard about it at
first I thought it was a fabrication I
didn’t think it was real that they would
do something like that you know so and
then when I found out they did I was
like wow and and I’ve referenced it
several times at different people I
don’t know how you couldn’t at least be
curious if SSL’s putting out a desk how
does it what’s that all about you know
even if you don’t think it’s for you how
could you not wonder I mean that name is
synonymous with you know Audio royalty
excellence we’ve all listened to
bazillion and one albums that have some
sort of SSO influence on it now we get
to the features it does have to work in
a way that’s going to move with me and
in the speed and the last thing I want
to do is to be thinking too much you
know we do we all do better when we’re
reacting so I wanted a desk that would
hopefully allow me to just you know do
it and go bottom line I wanted something
that sounded like amazing especially
with digital desk now we’ve all we’ve
either accepted the way they sound or
we’ve gone okay I know this one sounds
this way and I’m gonna have to do all
these things above and beyond to try to
get it back to that just a sound you
know a sound that I like and I wanted
something that I really didn’t have to
do anything to it was already there
everything I do above and beyond it’s
just embellishment
the main thing with me when I move over
is is metering and gain structure and
what is the console want to do that sort
of thing and this one matched up to the
one I was on before to where all of my
kind of I know where I liked with peak
metering I know where I like percussive
elements to hit and I like we know where
I like more sustained instruments to hit
figuring that out was the thing that
there was no figuring it out it was
seamless
so the Trent but the transition in
general at first it took me awhile I’ve
seen some guys when I went to the first
demo of it in Vegas I went with the
monitor engineer friend of mine when
runner Alice and he sat down and he had
this thing figured out in two minutes
this is the only desk on a sonic level
that I’m not really going at it’s super
hard on the EQ whereas a lot of times
you know on digital desk you’re like
plus eight before you really hear it or
you’re you’re really getting into it
you’re like man this is not right I’m
used to cracking an analog pot just
barely to get it there and this does
that this will give you that
responsiveness of tiny little bits so
it’s like it’s less work in general
doing it you know so transition took a
little while but that’s just me I’m that
way on all consoles it seems like I’m
just not too Swift this guy in the world
when it comes to picking up a new thing
but this makes it so much easier because
you just don’t need to do that much
assuming the source is what it should be
you know so and we spent a lot of time
on this tour this time around I didn’t
just jump into it like I did before we
spend a lot of time making sure the
source is what it should be so we’re not
trying to fake it through this
or four ways to do everything what’s
gonna become my workflow so at first I’m
looking for immediate response and then
I’m going oh no I that which way do I go
you know and I’ve created this sort of
hybrid workflow where I use several of
the different ways to do it and what’s
good is I’ve gotten to the point now to
where I was I told you sometimes I do
this one to that and I think it
sometimes I just do it and that’s what I
want and it just depends on where I am
on the desk and they both get you there
it really hits a lot of marks on a
generational level the the touchscreen
is one that I think is going to be
immediately appealing to a lot of people
particularly younger engineers who are
just so used to everything being that
anyway whereas someone else might be
more want more of a tactile traditional
type workflow or just you know I want
knobs you know
so everything that can be done here on
this section can be done here on this
section however I could come over here
and do it while this is let’s stay this
they’ll say this stays on a compressor
function over here it’s on EQ and if you
can see that even if you can’t trust me
the EQ is moving there
I can do it there however I can also do
it here see it here or I can come and I
can do it from here or I can do it from
here or I can do it over here
different set of ways to get there but
so I literally just gave you four
examples to do it
this time we had all
and lead in time with rehearsals so we
spent some time on the front end it’s
really like truly pre-production you
know just like a day with drums a day of
this yeah totally unheard of that’s so
shocked I actually got the opportunity
to do it and it we just went through mic
position Mike what you know mic
placement mic choices all that kind of
stuff but it was fully vetted you know
because you have your go-to especially
you know in the live world a lot of
times there’s no it’s you just you know
what you do and you go and so this was
really cool because I knew what I
thought I wanted to do but this way we
were able to go hey this is what I
always do but let’s see what happens
when we try this this and on almost
every situation we came right back to
where I thought we would be but it was
cool because it got the musicians on
board and their Tech’s on board with
this is why we’re doing it this way that
being said a lot of the inputs are such
that they shouldn’t need a lot of EQ or
they shouldn’t need a lot of this and
that you know they’re it’s we spend a
lot of time getting them right and then
then and so then in turn everything you
do here should just be icing on the cake
or just overall you know management of
the sources
all around things just need less I keep
going back to that you know they just I
feel inclined to want to add something
in places or and don’t I usually make a
cut here it’s just so much more of an
open sound that something I’ve set a lot
to a lot of people is the preamps in
particular it’s a very clean sounding
product but it’s clean with a sound you
know because there’s one of my other
favorite consoles to use out there it’s
good because it is the ultimate blank
slate it sounds like nothing you know
which is cool but what that also means
is it’s kind of boring and you need to
jazz it up a little you know where is
this one I still choose to do some
embellishment because I enjoy doing that
but um it’s on its own it sounds
polished but a lot of times polished is
synonymous with bright or height but
it’s just polished sort of that
next-level
produced almost sound it just sounds
like wow you know so yeah a lot of the
same mics that I use all the time I’m
still getting the same response out of
them that I want however I’m finding out
just how much extra work I was doing on
a lot of other consoles
might be 80 or 90 or something like that
but dieting no that doesn’t include
talkback there’s there’s the usual extra
stuff you know that’s not an audio input
that the crowd is hearing you know
whether it’s talkbacks or something like
that
and a lot of desk allows you to place
any channel anywhere or any channel type
so input-output you know bus that but
this is really cool because it’s so
simple it’s just a it’s just a
drag-and-drop type process so have it I
have an empty spot there and I can just
slide this down there and then it’s
populated with that input there so in
just as easy as I put it in there you
know I can get rid of it too so a lot of
consoles offer the ability to move stuff
wherever you want it this is just a
simple I mean you can sit there so it’s
when I started out all the all of these
tiles as they call them can be whatever
you want and when it started out I had
them all mirroring one another because I
wasn’t sure how I was gonna do it how I
was gonna move it’s not like traditional
where your outputs are here and only
your VCS are here and these are input I
mean it is whatever you want it’s a
blank slate so now as time is morphed me
into a more familiar or I have morphed
into it becoming more familiar with the
desk tom has allowed that I have I’ll
typically to do like drums and outputs
up here all instruments and vocals here
VCA is here and so now they’re all a
little different you know but um yeah
you can its ultimate is infinitely I
should say flexible on what you can do
we had an A and a B rig the last time I
did it and the B reg I didn’t use any
automation and it’s cool because this is
AB and AB and AB and like I said there’s
not a there’s like a little bit of
playback tracks and that’s using this
stuff you really got to watch you know
but this is absolutely if somehow I if
one night I just didn’t want to do
automation it would be no problem you
know it’s these are just dudes playing
and one lady but yes I do and I’ll use
it to a different degree depending on
the genre here it’s typically for mutes
and unmutes
some eat very few but some EQ is
automated keys are automated like my
guitars I kind of let them do their
thing the bass doesn’t sing the drums do
their things but not I definitely use it
without question I mean it’s a huge huge
plus in this automation that it’s really
laid out well it’s very it’s it’s as
comprehensive as any other system that
I’ve ever used personally
some of it is actually doing absolutely
nothing because I have found this was
sort of nice even though I did all my
homework that I could on the desk it’s
still a new thing to me and I still want
to have stuff that I’m familiar with you
know however that being said there’s
some stuff in here that is not doing
anything but and absolutely in fact when
I had the desk at my house for a little
while I was sitting there at home and I
cooked up a mix I had some tracks to
play back and I was like man this is
really good and I’m getting ready to go
get my normal buttload of stuff I don’t
think I need it
you know so I could do this show and
feel 100% confident without any of that
I just didn’t you weigh it and I know
the way it sounds a lot of it’s for tone
to have some tubes about to explode you
know kind of doing this thing but this
desk I’ll tell you what and I was just
thinking earlier today about how I do
something different next time and I was
thinking I definitely don’t need any
outboard for it this is the first
digital desk I’ve ever used it you can
really go past that if you need to
hopefully you don’t but if you need to
go past that 3db mark of gain reduction
it really does it without the input
becoming smaller you know like it really
allows and the they could sell this
whatever algorithm they’re using for
this I’m is really good and they could
sell this they could just make the
dynamic section of this a product on its
own and I think people would really be
blown away by
make it sound this wide wide wide
he just goes it’s funny there’s there’s
certain there’s some digital desk out
there that I think the greatest thing
they do is they don’t have any depth to
them therefore they do that very modern
two-dimensional kind of thing and it
works in their favor because that’s what
concert goers are kind of used to now
there’s others that have give us depth
and this just gives us just change Bank
sir
this gives depth width height you know
all and you have whatever you want to
name or however you want to phrase it it
really does that so the thing for me
with this desk
it just sounds more sudden think I said
earlier polished and produced it just
sounds cleaner or clearer bigger wider
all of that sort of stuff so you know I
should also say you know there’s the
stems functions there’s tons of amazing
features on here stems are really cool
they call stems it’s just like an ox or
a group or a bus or this or that all
combined into one but it’s really
functional something that’s really cool
on this desk again the answer to your
question is I can make it sound exactly
like I want it but if you want to get
into some of the kind of neat or nerdy
your stuff you’re gonna go there you can
see we’re through here I can change the
order of any of the processing filter EQ
gate comp both inserts delay or the all
pass function which is super neat thing
on here too but I can reorder any of
those so it’s not a matter of what input
is this kg – you have to mute it to do
it which makes sense you have to stop
from passing audio but I can say I want
the gate after the column but I don’t
want the gate before the comp or I want
the filter at the very end so you know a
lot of consoles analog and digital it
most will give you the ability to put
the gate before the comp or this or that
or the EQ before one or the other or
maybe do some where the EQ accesses the
sidechain of the compressor this does
that to the nth degree you can you can
really do you can do whatever you want
here so that’s the kind of thing the
desk allows me to do but at the end of
the day I just just hope it just sound
like I want it to you know big and
powerful
I do I really do I mean I really truly
do I’ve had some shows on it that or
I’ll listen back to something I’ll just
eat just like God man that is just you
know shitty part of that is it’s very
revealing so when I suck it’s very
apparent you know but yeah
yeah really do I hope to use it again
and again definitely on this store and
on other tours as well
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