Chris Lord-Alge
Waves Ltd. partnered with Grammy Award–winning mixer Chris Lord-Alge (pictured) in developing signature presets for the Waves SSL 4000 Collection, a bundle of plug-ins that precisely re-create the sonic characteristics of the legendary Solid State Logic 4000 Series recording console.
The bundle features presets that Lord-Alge has used on multi-Platinum hits for artists such as Green Day, Sheryl Crow, Hoobastank, Tim McGraw, Audioslave, Brian Setzer, Eric Clapton and dozens of others. These include the exact same settings—for vocals, guitar, bass, drums, strings and brass—that Lord-Alge has used on hit after hit, providing Waves users with an unprecedented degree of insight into how this renowned mixer approaches equalization and dynamics.
“I literally copied my settings off the desk for the Waves bundle, and when it came back it was incredible how exactly it matched what I do,” explains Lord-Alge. “Mike Fradis, Waves’ plug-in guru, came here to my studio in Los Angeles. He is very intuitive and he had already nailed the SSL 4000 sonics precisely. That’s what they added my presets to, and since I love the way the Waves’ stuff sounds, I find that I can use my own plug-in presets as starting points on mixes.
“When I mix I come out of Pro Tools and transfer to a Sony 3348 digital tape deck, because I think that sounds best,” he continues. “The number of tracks is limited to 48, but I might have 200 tracks from Pro Tools, so I create premixes. In mixing, it’s not about the size of the console, but rather it’s about the prep work. And the Waves SSL 4000 Collection lets me have my own settings for various tracks ready to go at the touch of a button. It’s almost like having another 48 channels of SSL linked to the mix. Waves did such a great job on this.”
Developed under license from Solid State Logic, the Waves SSL 4000 Collection includes three meticulously modeled plug-ins based on the legendary SSL 4000 Series: the SSL E-Channel, SSL G-Master Buss Compressor and SSL G-Equalizer. Waves engineers spent more than a year analyzing and modeling the distinctive sonic characteristics of SSL 4000 factory reference consoles and components provided by Solid State Logic.
The Chris Lord-Alge preset plug-in update requires a previous installation of the Waves SSL 4000 Collection Version 1.1. Lord-Alge adds, “I’m proud to share my secret presets with SSL 4000 users. Waves SSL models are the best I’ve ever heard.”
For more information, visit www.waves.com.
