Los Angeles-based producer Rafa Sardina, who’s won 18 Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards in working with top artists such as Stevie Wonder, Lady Gaga, Luis Miguel, Alejandro Sanz, D’Angelo and many others, consistently adapts his tool set to align with how he works in a process that’s seen the recent addition of Solid State Logic UF8 and UC1 controllers.
“I’m a big SSL fan and have been for ages,” he says, sitting beside his Duality console that’s the cornerstone of his AfterHours Studios. “I have been working on SSLs since the very beginning, and along the way I became aware of the need for a controller — you really need an additional layer to control your workstation and workflow the box.
“The reality is that I travel a lot, and even when I am not traveling, I use a lot of satellite rooms,” he continues. “Even in here at AfterHours, I am using the UF8 and UC1 controllers to work on arrangements, rough mixes and post-production. I love that SSL really put the work and love in these machines. The faders feel great, the automation feels great. You can have the fader banks cycle together or have them cycle individually — that’s the way we have it configured at my artist’s studio in Bogota for a project I’m working on right now. While we were working together in Bogota, UF8 really saved my life.”
He adds finds the UF8 particularly useful when he is controlling both a knob and a fader, much like he would on a Duality or other SSL large format console: “When you are changing several parameters, listening to how they interplay is very important. For instance, when you change a compressor setting, you are also immediately changing the output gain,” he observes. “Having this kind of tactile control over these settings on the UC1 really helps.”
