All hail the G Series Bus Compressor
As with many artists around the world, Devine recognizes the sonic quality of the SSL G Series Bus Compressor, which has graced the center section of so many classic SSL consoles over the years. Now available in a recently updated 500 series rack format, users can now apply the special 'glue' of the G Series Compressor in almost any signal chain. "That compressor is my favorite stereo bus compressor of all time — it is just a sound I am so familiar with," Devine says. "So many of my favorite records were mixed on SSL consoles with that compressor and it has such a distinctive sonic signature to it."
"I love the ability with the high pass switch too — it doesn’t affect your low end if you don’t want it to," he continues. "I like to slam it pretty hard and keep my attack around 30 ms, and my release time as short as possible - maybe .2 or .2 seconds. I will keep my ratio around 3 or 4 and my threshold right around 0 or 1, with makeup gain at about 11 o'clock. It just gives me a super fat, juicy sound from my drums — an instant, high quality drum sound, right out of the box with very minimal effort."
Each of the SSL 500 series units — the UVEQ, 611EQ, VHD+ and the G Series Bus Compressor — all play an integral role in Devine's facility and workflow: "These are all pieces of equipment that I use every day for tracking, mastering, recording and mixing," he concludes. "The results are immediate. When you are working with clients, you need to attain high quality results quickly — and SSL helps you get a polished result faster."