Bringing the Classic SSL Sound to Immersive Mixing: Richard Whittaker Remixes Legendary Records in Dolby Atmos with SSL U Series

London, U.K., November 18, 2025 — All-round audio specialist Richard Whittaker has mixed or remixed more than 1,000 projects in Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio, from legacy artists including The Who, Thin Lizzy and Robin Trower to contemporary acts such as Gabriels, Foals and Biffy Clyro. Whatever the project, Whittaker, Director of Starboard Music Group, knows that when he sits down at his desk to remix a project, he can nail the mix with his collection of Solid State Logic U Series controllers and SSL 360° software.

“I remix a lot of iconic records,” confirms Whittaker, who was one of the first Dolby Atmos-accredited mixers in the U.K., having already worked for a couple of decades in stereo and surround, and studied Ambisonics and surround mixing at university before that. He has remixed numerous albums for The Who, including Quadrophenia, alongside the band’s chief engineer Bob Pridden, his mentor for the last couple of decades. He has also created Atmos mixes for The Kinks, Traffic, KISS, Greg Lake and others.

Accessing the SSL legacy for Atmos remixing

Whittaker accesses SSL’s official emulations of the 4000 B, E, G, and 9000 Series console channel strips through SSL 360° software, which presents them in a traditional console layout. This allows him to evaluate his processing and mixing decisions holistically — focusing on sound and emotion, rather than waveforms. Before beginning to build an immersive mix, Whittaker often recreates the tonality of the original stereo version. “Eight or nine times out of 10, those mixes were originally done on an SSL 4000E/G or 9000J/K Series console,” he explains. “I can just load SSL’s G Series channel strip and I’m already three-quarters of the way there. Then I go through the recall notes and literally match all the EQs perfectly to what they wrote down. The way the stems translate from the original mix on an SSL console, to me, rebuilding using SSL plug-ins is astounding.”

Starboard Audio’s Whittaker has fully embraced the SSL virtual console ecosystem, equipping his studio with the complete suite of SSL U Series controllers. This powerful setup includes the UC1 plug-in controller and the UF8 8-fader advanced DAW controller, now enhanced by the recent addition of the UF1 DAW control centre. Together, these tools deliver a seamless, tactile mixing experience and unlock the full potential of SSL’s renowned virtual console workflow. “Out of all the other controllers on the market, these are by far the best, in my opinion. The attention to detail, features and the build quality are just far superior to all the other competitors’ products,” he says. “They’re built to last. And the 360° updates are meaningful, with V2.0 recently coming out and adding some significant new features.”

The U Series controllers fit the way that Whittaker, who started in the industry working with analogue consoles, likes to mix. “I do a lot of fader work and automation in my mixes, rather than drawing it in with a mouse, which is tedious. I much prefer to do it by the feel of it,” he says, using the 8-fader UF8 controller. “It's just more natural to do the automation with faders, especially the master fade. So it’s great to now also have the UF1 with the dedicated master fader, so I can do all my bus rides.”

Unparalleled insight with UF1 and Meter Plug-in

Although he only recently acquired the UF1, he says, “I already love it. Having the dedicated transport controls available is really good, and the weighted scrub wheel is fabulous.” The UF1 comes bundled with the SSL Meter plug-in, which is displayed on the controller’s inbuilt 4.3-inch IPS display. “That means you've always got the metering in your eye line. It’s great to have that there with the phase scope. And the hardware VU meter that pairs with the UC1 is just so accurate. You can have a lot of this information on the DAW screen, but it’s a very different experience mixing when its always in front of you, in your eye line, on a dedicated screen, as you're working.”

Whittaker, who also owns an SSL Fusion analogue colouration processor and plans to add THE BUS+ compressor hardware unit to his rack, reports that another highlight of the 360° software is the renowned SSL Bus Compressor 2 plug-in. “For a start, it just works, and pretty much sounds like the actual hardware. A lot of the third-party plug-ins look like the hardware, but nine times out of 10 they don't behave or sound like the hardware. But SSL’s actually does. It's so good.”

Classic feel, modern control

With Whittaker remixing so many catalogue releases — not just in Dolby Atmos but often also in stereo — having physical faders available also suits many of the artists and engineers who visit him at Starboard Audio. “Many of my clients will have used a console, so they don't feel comfortable mixing with a mouse,” he says. “They prefer to have something underneath their fingers. There’s still something intrinsic about having the touch and feel of things. Without these SSL controllers, for what I use them for and what they need them for, I'd be completely screwed.”

Whittaker has established a reputation for his mix-matching, becoming a kind of audio archaeologist, applying the appropriate and authentic processing to the source tracks. “When I mix these records, I do a lot of research into how and where they were mixed, what they were mixed on and what gear they had in the room at the time. If there are recall notes, I go through those as well.” As a result, he says, “I can get a mix pretty much bang-on, to within just tenths of a dB to the original.”

His favourite Dolby Atmos projects to-date include the tenth anniversary remix of the debut album by Kiasmos, which comprises composer and pianist Ólafur Arnalds and electronic musician Janus Rasmussen; Michael Kiwanuka’s 2024 album Small Changes; and 2011’s Fly from Here by Yes, with lead vocals by producer, songwriter and musician Trevor Horn, former owner of Sarm East and Sarm West Studios. “The Yes record was a lot of fun, because that lends itself to being more experimental and more immersive,” says Whittaker. “Those were both done on SSLs at Sarm. I knew which desk it was, and it was all there in front of me, which made my job much easier.”