SSL SiX Desktop Mixing Console Helps DSD Audio Pioneer Gus Skinas Achieve Ultra-High-End Audio Processing with a Minimal Footprint

The SSL SiX SuperAnalogue delivers high-performance mic preamps, intelligent routing and astonishing sound quality. Jazz master and Grammy winner Dave Grusin used this piece of hardware at Octave Records studio.

Several years ago, when high-fidelity audio company PS Audio moved to new premises, CEO Paul McGowan set aside some space at the new address for a recording and mastering facility, managed by digital audio pioneer Gus Skinas. Their partner Octave Records has now formally launched a record label of the same name, and that label is working on pure DSD projects built on an all-analog signal chain, including the SSL SiX SuperAnalogue desktop mixing console.

 

Skinas, a Sony veteran, says he has always worked with DSD. He later brought the manufacturer's Sonoma DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording technology into the professional audio industry through the Boulder-based Super Audio Center. He says Octave Records is now dedicated to recording, mastering and remastering.

"We always choose the best analog gear carefully, because a pure DSD system is mainly handled in the analog domain, and the mixing is analog circuitry too."

Skinas's Octave Records studio originally used a vintage Studer console.

"But I replaced the front end with the SSL SiX, because it sounds better than the Studer. The SSL SiX can output groups and buses, and I can use it for talkback and so on. It is ideal for high-end DSD recording."

 

The first release from the Octave Records label is a solo piano project written by Grammy-winning jazz keyboardist Don Grusin, titled "Out of Thin Air", issued as a streaming version and a hybrid SACD version. The project was recorded at Grusin's new studio, Moose Sound, the studio's first recording. Recording engineer and producer Robert Friedrich tracked it live in two tracks. "It sounds really good, just perfect!" Skinas says.

 

Friedrich and Skinas set up Grusin's drum room (Studio B) as the control room. There, Friedrich monitored with a pair of Hafler nearfield speakers and an Audio-Technica headphone. He tracked the entire signal path with the Playback Designs Pinot ADC, from the EMM Labs ADC8 Mk IV converter to the Sonoma recorder and finally to Playback Designs' Sonoma Recorder software, at a sampling rate of 2.8224MHz (64 times the CD audio sampling rate, 1/4 of DSD). The signal was split in two and fed down two different paths, one for recording and one for DSD monitoring.

"The console's frequency bandwidth is very wide. I hooked up these high-bandwidth microphones and preamps, then used them as monitors through DSD. What I like about it is that when I switch between the SSL SiX console and the DSD, the two sound very close, closer than PCM. You can capture the whole signal completely, without losing detail to bandwidth limits."

 

Friedrich says the SiX may be the smallest standalone mixer SSL has ever built, but its performance, price and features make it a great fit for software recording.

"That little mixer sounds really good, I was stunned by the sound. Its signal path is very short, so the sound is neutral with no coloration. And its routing is very flexible, you can route signals however you like."

 

Friedrich also says that recording two live signal sets was a little challenging. Compared with the usual approach of recording into one recorder and mixing later, it takes more gear.

"Actually I think recording this way brings us closer to the real performance." Compared with his vintage Studer console, the SSL SiX offers a more practical solution, and its hardware design is more compact. Friedrich was very worried about the Studer getting bumped or knocked when it was moved out, since it is big and heavy.

From Friedrich's account, we learn that the main piano microphones for the Out of Thin Air recording were a pair of Sanken CO-100K condenser microphones, with a frequency response of 20Hz to 100kHz, connected by short cables to a Forssell Technologies SMP-2 preamp. The room microphones were a pair of AEA R88 stereo ribbon microphones, connected to an Integer Audio RMP2 preamp. This microphone setup also works for surround mixing.

 

Friedrich says: "Because I did not want to run through the system again, I did the mastering along the way while I was mixing."

His studio is equipped with a TC Electronic System 6000 reverb and a Millennia NSEQ-2 equalizer.

"The Maselec MPL-2 peak limiter is there as insurance against overload, but I feel I barely used it, because what came out of the recording did not need it. Solo piano can be a bit tricky, but if I have done this much mixing and still cannot handle it, then I am probably way out of my depth."

He says with a laugh: "I am really looking forward to doing more recording work with the SSL SiX."

Skinas bought the SSL SiX on Friedrich's word without even looking at it. Skinas says: "He told me to try it, so I bought one and tried it."

He has stayed in touch with SSL since the company was founded, and had no worries at all about this blind purchase.

Skinas adds: "Back in the 1970s I saw an SSL console once, and at that time our country did not have a single one. So I knew this console had to be something good!"

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About DMT
Transum Technology Limited (DMT) was founded in Hong Kong in 1990. It is a high-tech company specializing in system integration, technical consulting, product development and professional product sales in the audio and video field. After more than 20 years of development, Transum Technology is today highly influential in the industry. The company brings together the world's finest professional audio and video products, and with top-tier professional products and strong technical strength it has set many industry firsts.
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