SSL Live consoles support Peter Gabriel tour
- Details
Peter Gabriel, an artist and studio owner, has a longstanding association with SSL. Within his personal production spaces, and at Real World Studios in Bath, he has installed several of the company's large-format studio consoles. Since their introduction, Gabriel has exclusively relied on SSL Live consoles throughout his tours.
“Interestingly, I was the first person to use the SSL Live desk on his tour,” reports veteran monitor engineer Dee Miller, who has been working with Gabriel since the end of the Growing Up Tour in 2003. “I've been using the SSL Live desk since its inception. I'm extremely comfortable with it and I find it very easy to navigate.
“It absolutely sounds stunning. As far as I'm concerned, it’s the best sounding desk in the world. It's the only desk I use now.” Miller, set to mark 40 years on the road in 2024, has spent the last two decades collaborating with Robert Plant. Additionally, he had a long history with Jeff Beck and has worked with renowned artists such as The Who and Diana Ross. On i/o – The Tour he typically created 14 stereo in-ear mixes for the nine musicians and crew plus one for any potential musical guests.
Richard Sharratt, who has been Gabriel’s front-of-house engineer since 2010’s New Blood Tour, used a variety of consoles before SSL Live was introduced, including with other artists and clients for whom he has worked. “You're conscious of the differences when you use a different desk and you come back to SSL,” he comments. “The SSL Live has just got that lovely warmth, that analogue thing. It sounds open and clear and just generally better, and we have more room for everything in the mix.”
The tour’s production setup included 128 of MADI recording, Sharratt reports: “Peter insists on recording soundcheck at shows whenever he’s on stage.” Those recordings are a core part of Gabriel’s long-time creative workflow, both on the road and in the studio, where he records every musical idea, however fleeting, for potential future compositions, sometimes pulling them from the archives many years later. For his FOH mixing purposes, Sharratt adds, “The band inputs are within the first 96.”
This latest tour was somewhat bittersweet for Miller after four decades on the road, half of them travelling the world with Peter Gabriel. “I’m back with Robert Plant for a couple of weeks in the U.K., doing very small shows, then I'm going to do some stuff locally in London, but I've run my course,” he reveals. “This was my last big tour - and a lovely way to go out.” The SSL Live console used on i/o – The Tour were supplied by Britannia Row Productions.
