“We’ve just finished our first run of shows with SSL Live and I can’t say enough about the console and how incredibly excited I am with how we have integrated Waves plugins into the system.Reuben Ong, Head of Audio at Star Performing Arts Centre in Singapore, chooses products from Waves Audio, including Waves SoundGrid Servers, MultiRack and the SD7 Pro Show bundle. My MGO box lives in the console case, while my switch and servers are in my processing rack, so the entire system connects with just one Cat 6 cable.” The routing options in SSL Live are the most extensive of any console I have ever seen. Those plugins run on redundant Waves SoundGrid Extreme servers. This configuration gives me 64 insert points at 96kHz between the SSL Live and Waves MultiRack SoundGrid. Summing up his experience using Waves on the Aldean tour, Stephens adds, “I use a DiGiGrid MGO to go in and out of two MADI optical I/O ports on the SSL Live surface. In a live setting where despite our efforts we will never be able to get the mics in the exact same place every day, this is a must-have tool for any source with multiple mics.” Being able to quickly take a measurement and align those mics is absolutely key. This creates a phase difference, which I am able to correct with InPhase. We are using two mics on the guitar cabinets, a dynamic and a ribbon, and those mics sound best at different distances from the cabinet. I started using InPhase last year and it has completely changed the guitar sounds I am able to get.
I don’t use it every day, but I will use it to clean up the low-mids in a very boomy arena or to soften the highs on a not-so-great festival PA system. In addition I use the C6 on my L-R matrix out to the PA. I am also using C6 on the bass with a dynamic EQ band, side-chained off the kick at 55Hz to clear room out of the bass for the transient of the kick drum to poke through.
For Jason’s vocal, I use the low band to compress 250Hz and below when he is at the bottom of his register or talking between songs, and the high-mid band to take a little harshness off of the really high notes. It is the most versatile of the Waves products I use. He continues, “C6 Multiband Compressor has become indispensable in my mix. Bass Rider is the perfect tool for achieving a consistent bottom end, which is the foundation of the mix.” Maintaining the relationship between the bass and kick is vital with so little instrumentation. Waves’ Bass Rider helps me to level out the articulation of some of the more intricate bass parts while keeping the low notes locked in with the kick. Since switching from the integrated plugin system of Avid VENUE to the standalone system of MultiRack SoundGrid, I have been very impressed with how robust MultiRack SoundGrid is and how easy it is to use.”Ībout specific Waves problem-solvers, Stephens says, “Jason Aldean’s setup is basically a five-piece rock band – no tracks, just two guitars, steel, bass and drums – so all of those pieces have to fit together perfectly. Over time, I had changed almost everything in my rack to Waves products. My transition into using Waves was slow, picking a plugin here or there to solve a specific problem. I started with a couple of plugins on my old VENUE Profile and have slowly expanded over the past four years. Stephens notes, “I had been using Waves on and off in the studio since V6, but in the live setting I’ve been working with Waves since 2010. Lately, Stephens has been using his Waves plugins and M® with SSL Live L500 on Jason Aldean’s Burn It Down Tour.
Live FOH engineer Chris Stephens (Jason Aldean, Wynonna, Michael McDonald) is part of a growing trend of live audio professionals turning to tools from Waves Audio when working with some of the biggest names in music.