Waves SSL 4000 Collection

Mentioned by sound engineer Trevor Muzzy in this *Sound on Sound* interview about the production of "Starships". > "You can see that the pre-chorus and chorus vocals have a lot of timing and comp edits. They were imported directly from the session I cut the vocals in. I did not merge or consolidate them, they just are the way they are. There's quite a lot going on with the vocals. I tried to create a nice basic vocal sound using the inserts, and once they sat well in the track, most of the sonic variations between the sections came from the sends. There was no tuning on the rapping, but the sung vocals in this track had a fair amount of tuning with the Logic Pitch Corrector plug-in on the inserts. The tuning is part of the sound of the record, with vocals needing to be very, very precise. In some cases, we pitched them up or down for vocal effects. Logic Pitch Corrector is a little harder-sounding than Auto-Tune, but it has its own distinct sound that we liked for the vocals in this track. It really fits the song. > > "The other inserts on most of the vocals were all Waves: the C1 compressor, SSL Channel, Renaissance Channel, De-Esser, Renaissance Compressor, API 2500, and the Logic Channel EQ. The C1 compressor is the first in line on several lead vocals, and it does the same Pensado trick I used on the guitars, which is to compress a specific band — in the case of the verse lead vocal, around 2849Hz — focusing on notes that sounded a little harsh. It smooths this problem out more elegantly than using an EQ. Then the signal goes through the R Channel with some basic EQ, cutting significantly at 281Hz. Again, it was a matter of removing some less pleasant things to let the nice aspects shine. I bypassed the compressor in the R Channel. I needed a bit of de-essing, and the Waves De-Esser is a great all-purpose de-esser, in this case working at 5634Hz with the side-chain set to high-pass. > > "There were two more compressors on her vocal. There was no science behind this, it was just a matter of experimenting to find a unique sound. The first is the Renaissance Compressor, which I love and which is set to a fast attack time and takes off about 6dB, so quite subtle, not too intense. The API 2500 is set pretty aggressively and you can hear it pumping a little bit on the vocal. It was already in the session — it had been used on the demo vocal. I pulled it over to Nicki's channel and liked what it was doing, so I adjusted it to fit her vocal. Finally, the Channel EQ notches quite a lot around 600Hz and a little bit more around 235Hz, just carving out some low-mids to make the vocal sit better in the track. > > "Regarding the sends, there are some really distinct things happening here. The main lead vocal was similar throughout the song, but I tweaked it as it went along. The pre-chorus and chorus vocals all have Bus 1, which went to the same Altiverb effect that I had on the drums, to add some ambience to the vocal. The rap verses are much drier. Bus 35 is the Waves Doubler, which gives a bit of spread to the lead vocal — I used this on the rap as well as on the sung vocals. Bus 4 is the Waves CLA with a drastic telephone effect. That was another effect that was there from the demo version and added a cool quality. Bus 50 is the [Sound Toys] Echo Boy, which is the main plug-in I use for delay throws, whenever I want to repeat a word. In this case it's on a quarter-note Echoplex setting. It's a single, mono echo that I panned a little bit to the side. Bus 7 has the Waves VX1 Maserati Vocal Enhancer, and that was, again, a plug-in I inherited. It is set to a very compressed, bright vocal sound that I brought in and out to add some sparkle to the sound when necessary. > > "Bus 6 has the main reverb in the track, which you are hearing in the pre-chorus and chorus, and which is a Lexicon Plate plug-in on the 'VocalPlate2' preset. It's a really bright, over-the-top plate sound that is not trying to blend in but that's actually brightening the vocal up a lot. It's loud and wet. Busses 16 and 29 are different stereo delays: the Waves SuperTap was already in the session and I kept it, and the other is a standard Logic stereo delay that I use all the time on vocals. Bus 3 is the Logic Bitcrusher, which gives the vocals a grainy sound. The vocals already had an aggressive sonic quality to them because of the 251-TG2-1176 chain, and the Bitcrusher enhanced that. It's nasty, there's nothing nice about a bit-crusher, and it adds a bit of attitude. I used it on some of the background vocals as well, like in the second verse, where you have the pitch effects. You can hear it in the very processed harmony vocals that come in. That was something we added when we were doing the final vocal comp and arrangement. It gave that second verse some more life and helped the track build. The background vocals are a very big part of the hook vocal sound as well, and, for example, track 140 has many effects on it. That actually contains the vocals of the demo singers. Nicki's lead and background vocals are dominant, but in the chorus the background vocals from Mohombi and Wayne Hector added to the crowd feeling. The chorus vocals are really big in this track, and they were part of that.”

Citron is listed as one of four users in this article from the official Waves website. He offers his recommended settings. > 5. Overheads > > “On overheads, depending on the sound of the cymbals that were used, I cut anywhere from 3.5K to 6.5K for edge or bite, which sometimes takes up to 6 dB of cut. This softens the crashes and allows the overall kit to open up. Then I look at 110 Hz and below to find the least amount of cut in order to clear the rumble. I compress after I get the sound I’m looking for – this way I don’t have to compress so much that the sound becomes dull. SSL does this really well and without changing the energy.” > > 6. Stereo Guitars > > “For stereo guitars, I love 1K on one side and 2.5K on the other. I bump 300 Hz on one and 400 Hz on the other. This works well for adding body and warmth to most guitars.” > > 7. Vocal Double > > “On a vocal double I like to compress hard with 1K plus 3 to 5 dB and cut some bottom to support the main vocal. Compression instead of distortion is my preference, but both work well in this situation.” > > 8. Buss Compression > > “Buss compression is always 1.5 to 1, with open threshold and release times to add some breathing to the beat. This also adds dimension to your mix.”

"I am a fan of saturation. The Waves SSL 4000–series stuff, I like the EQ on that, you can get distortion out of it that sounds like saturation. We have to use that subtly, but it works well on Guy [Garvey], not necessarily for air but for brightness." — Craig Potter, bandmate and producer of *The Seldom Seen Kid*

"I am a fan of saturation. The Waves SSL 4000–series stuff, I like the EQ on that, you can get distortion out of it that sounds like saturation. We have to use that subtly, but it works well on Guy [Garvey], not necessarily for air but for brightness. I like the McDSP AC1 and AC2 plug–ins and the DUY Tape's good, but they're all very subtle things, it depends where you put them in the chain. If you put them first, you can bring stuff out with EQ. I'm not scared of heavily compressing stuff, I do it quite a lot, but settings–wise, it's different all the time."

Source ..Twitter post

Used on the vocals for "When the Curtain Falls", as stated by mix engineer Al Sutton in this January 2019 *Sound on Sound* interview. > "The main lead vocal, track 48, has the Opticom for some compression, and I'll always have a parallel lead vocal channel next to it, called 'smash', again for parallel compression, and it'll have tons of plug-ins and I'll just crush it to pieces, almost to the point of distortion, and tuck that underneath the main vocal. The plug-ins on the 'smash' channel include the Waves SSL Channel, Waves CLA-76, Waves DeEsser, Waves H-Delay, and the Soundtoys PhaseMistress. The latter is to get the choruses to sound wider, and the track has some automated delays. For vocal reverb I use the Echoplate 2 [plate reverb] with a Delta Labs Effectron II for pre-delay, and depending on the song either a Lexicon Primetime II or Fulltone Echoplex for slap-back delay. > "Finally there are the backing vocals, on which I had again the Waves SSL-Channel, CLA-76 and DeEsser, and then the Waves SuperTap delay, for stereo delays in the choruses, also to get them to sound wider. I do the vocal blend in Pro Tools and, depending on the parts, will send the blends out on one of the two stereo outs. In this case I had two sets of stereo outs to the API and I compressed each pair lightly with the Inward Connections TSL3 and TSL1." > To glue everything together, Al Sutton once again employs parallel compression. "The API Legacy has an A bus and a B bus, and I'll put a Shadow Hills compressor on the B bus. I'll blend that back in with the A bus, and I'll print that back on as a stereo track in the session. I'll print a brickwalled track as well so we can hear the mix really loud, and get some idea of where we'll end up. But I'll send my mix uncompressed to mastering, which for this album was done by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound. I leave loudness up to the mastering engineer, because I don't want to play that game any more. It just ruins your mixes. If you can get at a competitive volume without having all the dynamics smacked out of your mixes, I think it will resonate more with people."

On this i use the SSL 4000 Collection for the mix and mastering process.