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The new SSL ORIGIN analog console in place at the Los Angeles College of Music.

Los Angeles College Of Music Welcomes Solid State Logic To Campus

ORIGIN analog console is the centerpiece of newly renovated student recording studio that's designed to teach students the fundamentals of audio engineering and production.

The Los Angeles College of Music (LACM) recently renovated the Student Recording Studio at its campus in Pasadena, including the installation of a new 32-channel Solid State Logic ORIGIN analog in-line mixing console in completing the project in time for the Fall 2020 semester.

Once classes resume, the studio will be used by faculty member Andrew “Mudrock” Murdock, known for his work with Godsmack, Avenged Sevenfold and others, to teach students the fundamentals of audio engineering and production.

“At first, I was thinking we should buy something used,” says Murdock, who has been teaching LACM classes since 2011. “But Andre Knecht, Music Producing and Recording Department Head, said ‘Let’s look for something new. Did you know SSL is coming out with a console?’ He showed me the ORIGIN brochure and I said, looks good to me! It looks familiar; it’s got the classic SSL look. I didn’t even get to drive it until it was in my room. As soon as I did, I said, this feels like an SSL. And it sounds great.”

The ORIGIN console — which was acquired from Westlake Pro — provides the necessary features and functionality for teaching mixing console signal flow and routing, says Murdock. “The routing is really ingenious. It’s got 16 buses—which is plenty these days—that feed eight stereo subgroups, which you can treat as mono or stereo. Instead of having a routing switch for each subgroup, there’s a single Route button on each channel. You push the button, the light turns blue, then you push the button next to the subgroup master you want to assign it to. That works super well.”

The in-line desk features three inputs—mic, line and monitor—on each channel, he continues, and offers flexible fader flip switching to assign various functions to the large or small faders, including the channel insert and direct output paths. “You can also control all the cues and all the auxes individually. They’ve really thought about everything,” he says.

Installation and setup of the desk went smoothly, he also reports. “The way that they’ve designed it to interface with a D-sub patchbay is really intuitive. And it comes together really well. I set it up the way they suggested in the manual and as soon as I started playing with it, I said, okay, it’s an SSL!”

The newly renovated Student Recording Studio at LACM is also equipped with a variety of outboard analog processing and effects gear. The control room was already outfitted with a pair of Dynaudio BM15 nearfield monitors and other items, but the school acquired some new pieces during the studio refurbishment. “We already had a pair of Distressors and A-Designs Pacifica mic preamps. We bought some Warm Audio compressors and a Klark Teknik stereo graphic equalizer,” he says. “And I sold the school one of my Lexicon PCM70s, which is an amazing reverb, and a stereo Yamaha delay.”

The main studio at LACM, where Knecht teaches, offers a fully digital signal flow, so an analog room is necessary to help prepare the school’s students for anything they will encounter in their subsequent careers. “I’m not an analog snob. I’m also firmly a Pro Tools guy; I’ve been making records on Pro Tools for 22 years,” says Murdock. “But we need to teach students the analog basics. It’s not like mixers are going away. And learning good signal flow in the analog domain also translates to good habits in-the-box.”

Plus, he says, it’s a joy to watch students getting to work in the analog domain. “In the Engineering for Producers 2 class I teach the students how to engineer and record projects onto 8-track tape on an old Tascam 38. You should see the excitement in their eyes when they mic up a whole drumkit and record it onto one track and it sounds huge.”

While the analog SSL ORIGIN is the centerpiece of the revamped studio, Murdock also teaches elements of digital signal flow. “We have Radial splitters in there, because I have a digital mixer in the tracking room. There are times when we have an ensemble in the tracking room and we need to provide PA support in there, so I’m teaching that kind of signal flow as well. And we’re about to buy a digital snake, because there’s a performance hall in the other building. We’re going to try and send that audio to my room and start recording people’s final recitals.”

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