Griff Hits the Corporate Event Circuit with Solid State Logic Live L650 Mixing Console, In Cooperation with Arizona's FOH Productions

Movin' on up to an L650

“Pharma and Tech are the big players in the corporate world,” says Griff, who is based in South Florida. “But I also do a lot of car shows, which are a little more exciting to me, I love cars! The events are five-to-seven-day one-offs, just a quick in and out.”

Griff had been using Live L500 and L550 consoles for the past eight years but has been an SSL fan since the E Series days back at Unique Recording assisting for top engineers like Chris Lord-Alge and his brother Tom among many others. He jumped at the chance when FOH offered to acquire an L650 for his work at the start of 2023. “We all know about the legendary sound — that’s a given. What I love about this desk is the processing power, the automation, and the ease of making changes on the fly. In the corporate world, that’s what it’s all about. That’s why it’s my console of choice,” he says.

For Griff, the layout of the L650 with its triple-wide fader banks, works best for his mixing style. That configuration is slightly different to the L500 and L550 models that he has been using, which place two 12-fader panels under his hands with the third panel in the angled upper section. “I’m old school. I like to be able to touch everything,” he says. “The L650 is a little more powerful and the layout is better. The muscle memory is a little different, but it has the same features, just in different places. As far as the sound — there’s nothing close. So, for me, the L650 is ideal.”

Unparalleled flexibility and ergonomics

The flexibility and ergonomics of the SSL Live series have long been the main attraction for Griff. “What I like about the Live is the ease of use. At corporate events we’ve got entertainment, talking heads, videos etc. and the producers often make changes on the fly. So just the way you can move faders around — I can have a stem or aux next to a VCA next to an input channel and can change it instantly — that just makes everything easier.”

The extra DSP of the L650, the most powerful desk in SSL’s Live console range, means that Griff can keep things compact at his front-of-house position with little need to surround himself with outboard effects and processing racks taking up valuable real estate. He does carry an outboard effects server, he says, “But I can get by without it. Anything onboard the L650 is more than powerful enough.”