SSL Channel Strip vs Pro Channel

[Simple Verse]

What is the difference between SSL channel strip and Pro Channel in Cakewalk? Are they doing the same thing or they are different? Like the tube and mixer emulators that reside at the bottom of the Pro Channel chain as default? Are those comparable to what this guy in this video does? So in order to get proper room for each instrument in the mix does the Pro Channel presets do the trick or do I need some other equalizing ticks? I can't keep multiple Pro Channel equalizer windows open at the same time in order to see the balance. Maybe I need the Voxengo SPAN plug in for it? Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[msmcleod]

The SSL channel strip is a faithful emulation of a complete SSL channel strip, which includes an emulation of preamp (with its saturation), the compressor, and the EQ.

The ProChannel EQ will give an SSL E or G style EQ (AFAIK it's not a full emulation, just in the ballpark), and you can use the "S" mode in the console emulator to emulate the preamp saturation.  If you've got the "PC4K S-type Channel Compressor" Pro Channel module, that gives you the SSL channel compressor, and the PC4K Exp/Gate gives you the rest of the SSL channel dynamics processing.

So yes, basically they're doing the same thing.  I wouldn't call the ProChannel a faithful emulation though, but it's definitely in the ball-park. Then again, no real SSL channel strip is the exactly same, even on the same console.

You can see more than one Pro-Channel at once in the console view by expanding it.  Using the mouse wheel when the mouse is over the Pro Channel will scroll the modules:

 

[Byron Dickens]

4 hours ago, Simple Verse said:

I can't keep multiple Pro Channel equalizer windows open at the same time in order to see the balance.

Learn to listen with your ears instead of your eyes.

Skill is what makes mixes sound pro, not gear.

[Simple Verse]

Thanks for the replies. What do you think, is it good idea to use some of those tube and console emulators in every channel or only in some channels like bass and kick drum? Or does it cause some kind of sonic imbalance if they are employed only in couple of channels? And why not to leave them only for the master bus? I'm speaking of sort of EMD style of music. Is it common to use them on such style? 

[Glenn Stanton]

depends on what you are trying to achieve. if the old analog console inaccuracies are adding something to your mix, then the console emulators + bus emulators (PC or Waves NLS for example) can provide those behaviors. i would go so far as to suggest that a lot of the analog-age console folks (now in the box types) actually prefer the clean and non-anomalous behavior of digital with only some addition of analog console components as needed. 🙂 whereas separate proper preamps units etc are generally desirable for headroom and feel.

[John Vere]

My advice is don’t use any plug in you don’t have a clue about how it works or what is for until you understand it. For any of us to explain what is already hugely available using a bit of reading and a bit of watching is asking a lot. 

It can take years to learn how to properly use effects correctly. It is not a good idea to blindly toss them on a track thinking it will magically make it sound better.  
What @Byron Dickens said is good advice. 

Edited July 10, 2023 by JohnnyV

[Byron Dickens]

Here's the deal: if you can't make it sound good without the channel strip plugins, you won't be able to make it sound good with them.

The guy in the video is kinda on the right track but what he's missing is that it isn't the SSL plugin that is making the difference but what it is doing. What is happening is that the presets he is using are coincidentally creating what is called complimentary EQ.

 

[Simple Verse]

11 hours ago, Byron Dickens said:

Here's the deal: if you can't make it sound good without the channel strip plugins, you won't be able to make it sound good with them.

The guy in the video is kinda on the right track but what he's missing is that it isn't the SSL plugin that is making the difference but what it is doing. What is happening is that the presets he is using are coincidentally creating what is called complimentary EQ.

 

Actually that's what I was thinking. That if I could achieve the same result with Cakewalk Pro Channel using kick drum preset for kick drum channel and bass preset for bass line channel in tube/console module and that would "magically" glue them together in some way. Without any additional manual EQ tweaking. But maybe its a matter of trial and error.

[Lord Tim]

Yeah, the real magic in how the SSL stuff works is by what boost and cut does with the EQ, whether it's more gentle or more narrow (so more surgical when being cut and more broad and musical when being boosted, and the combination of that making a great sounding overall EQ curve). Pretty much any EQ can match this stuff without a lot of problem at all, though, but it means just a little bit more manual work setting the Q to match how you're hearing it.  The Pro Channel already has some nice SSL-like curves dialled in, like Mark said, but your ears should guide you for sure.

Adding in the compressor and the tube or tape sim used sparingly, you can get some VERY hardware like emulation out of the Pro Channel. Slamming your drum bus through the tape sim module sounds awesome, as does heavy guitars!

But Byron is on the money - use your ears. You can throw a test tone over it and use Plugin Doctor to check for phase, harmonic and frequency response and all of that but other than for a scientific curiosity, I'd put money on being able to get a "SSL Sound" just with the Sonitus stuff, let alone the Pro Channel.

[msmcleod]

I can comfortably say that 99% of the time, the ProChannel EQ is my go to EQ for mixing duties.  With 4 different EQ curve styles, if you can't get what you want from that then I strongly suspect that it's not the EQ that is the issue (i.e. it's a recording, arrangement or skills issue), and changing to a different EQ won't help.

That being said, there are times when you need an additional EQ, either because you need EQ both before and after compression, or there is some detailed correction/shaping you want doing first and you want to leave the ProChannel EQ available for later. 

But in these cases a "colour" EQ probably isn't what I'd reach for.

Personally, if I want the sound of a console, I either record through one or stick Kazrog's True Iron on the channel.

[Starship Krupa]

What @Byron Dickens said about learning to trust your ears goes for sure, but at first, we all started with recipes and visual feedback. Especially with compression, our ears need to be trained to hear what's going on. EQ is easier, of course, but there are plenty of subtleties to that as well (I'm still amazed by the effect that changing EQ on one track can have on another track, even though I understand it intellectually).

When new with this stuff, I think it's better to take advantage of the more "precise" tools that are available these days. My personal favorites are CbB's built-in QuadCurve/ProChannel EQ and MeldaProduction's free MCompressor. Both give excellent visual feedback as well as sounding great and being versatile. CbB's Sonitus compressor also has good visual feedback, but I find it a bit more complicated, and the display is kinda small.

Things like the SSL console strip are for later, after you've absorbed what all of these processors do, what effect their settings have, can hear what they're doing without needing as much visual feedback, etc. They emulate the old analog hardware workflow, which can add character to your sounds, but had/has limitations (especially in the area of visual feedback and precision) that we're no longer bound by. Parametric EQ that displays your EQ curves with a spectrum analyzer built in?? Back in the hardware days it would have seemed like a miracle device.

The MeldaProduction Free bundle also comes with MAnalyzer, which I like better than SPAN. It comes with preset curves that allow you to overlay your own mix to compare spectral balance with that of songs from various genres.

[Quick Math]

I can't really say much about the quality differences, but generally speaking, paid plugins sound really good.

Cakewalk by BandLab comes with the PC4K S-type Bus compressor, which is free and should have somewhat of an SSL sound. The PC4K S-type Channel Compressor is a paid plugin. There's also a paid SSL channel strip made by Sonimus, which is not an exact emulation. The compressor on the strip looks more like a bus compressor than a channel compressor, and it doesn't have a gate. So, you could potentially use the free 4k bus compressor in a similar way as you would with the Sonimus SSL channel strip, maybe.

If you are a beginner, I recommend demoing some paid plugins to understand how they sound. By doing that, you may realize how easily you can achieve the sound you are looking for.

 

[Byron Dickens]

6 hours ago, Quick Math said:

If you are a beginner, I recommend demoing some paid plugins to understand how they sound. By doing that, you may realize how easily you can achieve the sound you are looking for.

If you are a beginner I recommend saving your money and working on your skills instead.

[Craig Anderton]

Personal bias alert: I try to use the minimal number of plugins, not because I'm an elitist or think I record such cool tracks I don't need them, but because I find that each plugin obscures the underlying sound to some degree. Sometimes it's an improvement, and sometimes it isn't.

There's a famous story about Sound on Sound doing an installment of their Mix Rescue series, where they go to someone's house and write an article about what they did to improve the mix. In one instance, the owner asked if they wanted tea, and went off into the kitchen. While he was making tea, the SOS folks bypassed all the plugins so they could hear what the raw tracks sounded like. When the owner returned, he was shocked. "Wow! What did you do? It sounds so much better!"

So, I'd recommend starting a mix with no plugins, unless they're essential (e.g., amp sims for an amp sound, or a dotted eighth-note delay on an instrument that forms part of the overall rhythm). Get as good a balance of the instruments as possible. Then, think strategically about which tracks are lacking in one way or another. Start with adding EQ where necessary, and then move on to dynamics. Once those are squared away, you can start thinking about ear candy effects.

 

[Quick Math]

10 hours ago, Byron Dickens said:

If you are a beginner I recommend saving your money and working on your skills instead.

Understanding how a good plugin sounds can actually help you improve your skills. Some people claim that gear doesn't matter and that you should focus solely on skill development. While I respect such opinions, I believe having a different perspective is also important, so I can share my thoughts. Based on my experience and the reality I've observed, it's evident that producers and engineers often invest significant amounts of money in expensive mixing consoles and hardware compressors to achieve the ultimate sound they desire. The cost of such equipment can be equivalent to buying a car. Personally, I have been able to enhance my skills by learning about the quality of great sound and the tools that aim to achieve specific goals. Plugins, unlike hardware, are generally affordable and there are plenty of good free options available as well. I recommend trying out some paid plugin analog emulations like SSL and API. By demoing them, you won't incur any financial loss.

A lot of EDM producers use SSL Bus comps, such as Glue, and API 2500. On the other hand, deadmau5 would say SSL on EDM makes no sense lol.

(Edit: A little bit context here, he said it doesn't make sense to use SSL bus comp to trigger side chain, not that he is anti analog emulations nor anything. )

Edited July 15, 2023 by Quick Math

[Byron Dickens]

The stuff that comes with Cakewalk is more than adequate to get a good sound and to learn with.

1 hour ago, Quick Math said:

Based on my experience and the reality I've observed, it's evident that producers and engineers often invest significant amounts of money in expensive mixing consoles and hardware compressors to achieve the ultimate sound they desire. The cost of such equipment can be equivalent to buying a car.

And a high end luxury car at that. But they don't do so without knowing what to do with them.

It IS NOT NECESSARY to spend money on more plugins to get good sounding mixes.

These same producers and engineers could make great sounding mixes on a cassette portastudio

[John T]

6 hours ago, Byron Dickens said:

If you are a beginner I recommend saving your money and working on your skills instead.

AMEN

[Craig Anderton]

2 hours ago, Byron Dickens said:

But they don't do so without knowing what to do with them.

Indeed, and part of that is knowing them well enough to match them with the kind of music you record. I've done a lot of classical music sessions, and you can hear the difference between something like a high-priced, linear-phase EQ and a generic minimal phase EQ. But for rock/country/EDM, a less expensive generic plugin may give the sound you want. For example, the phase shifts in minimal-phase EQs add character that a linear-phase EQ cannot. Some of the high-priced plugsins that do vintage emulations justify the price by saying that they're able to reproduce hardware's imperfections perfectly   

True story: Waves was emulating IIRC a channel strip, and it all measured out to be a perfect emulation. But their testers said something didn't sound quite right. The designers were sure they had nailed the emulation, the testers were sure they had not. Long story short - Waves emulated the noise and hum iherent in the hardware, and the people doing the blind testing then thought the plugin sounded right. Thankfully Waves is one of the companies that adds switches for that kind of thing, so you don't have to add that "character" if you don't want it.

 

[DeeringAmps]

3 hours ago, Byron Dickens said:

These same producers and engineers could make great sounding mixes on a cassette portastudio

Amen brother!

[Quick Math]

On 7/15/2023 at 5:08 AM, Byron Dickens said:

The stuff that comes with Cakewalk is more than adequate to get a good sound and to learn with.

And a high end luxury car at that. But they don't do so without knowing what to do with them.

It IS NOT NECESSARY to spend money on more plugins to get good sounding mixes.

These same producers and engineers could make great sounding mixes on a cassette portastudio

I apologize if my previous comment came across as recommending the purchase of plugins. That was not my intention. I strongly believe that it's possible to create exceptional EDM tracks without spending additional money on plugins, as there are numerous high-quality free options available.

 

Regarding the evolution of modern EDM, it does rely on utilizing advanced tools and techniques that contribute to improved sound quality. However, it's important to note that using specific plugins, such as SSL, is not a requirement for producing EDM. By exploring demo versions of paid plugins, one can gain valuable insights into their sound characteristics. Understanding different sound possibilities is crucial for enhancing sound design, which is at the core of the EDM genre.

 

Edited July 17, 2023 by Quick Math