Top-Tier Producer Rob Cavallo Captures the 'Big Studio Sound' in Private Studio with Solid State Logic BiG SiX

Scaling down in size

These days, Cavallo acknowledges that many tasks can be tackled in private studios — while maintaining very high quality. Over the last couple of years, he's been refining his own studio, trying a mix of different preamplifiers, converters and various other hardware to get his home studio exactly where he wants it. Chris Lord-Alge, close friend and mix engineer partner on several Green Day albums, told him that he should try the new SSL BiG SiX desktop mixing console.

At first glance, Cavallo thought it was impressive: "I thought, 'Wow, look at this - you get a mini 9K board with amazing mic pres, in-line compression, E series EQ and the famous bus compressor." He was drawn to the impressive value BiG SiX offered and wanted to give it a try. "I mean, that is the essence of your studio right there: mic pre, channel strip, compression, EQ, stereo bus compression and converters. I already know and love the sound of SSL, and the fact that it was modeled after the 9K EQs was exactly where I wanted to be.  My only question was how good the mic pres and converters are."

Ready to play with the big boys

Once he set up BiG SiX in a small room in his home. recorded some tracks and ran a mix through it, the answer to his question was abundantly clear: "Sonically, it just blew away anything we were doing. Our jaws hit the floor, and it was unbelievable how much better it was." In particular, he says that the preamplifiers punched far above their weight class. "Those mic pres are shocking," he says. "In my job, we are very spoiled. We get to compare these mic pres to the very best versions of 1073s, 312s, and so many others — that is our playground. So recording on BiG SiX, I don’t feel like I am missing anything — I feel like I am plugging into the best stuff in the world."

Cavallo says he has been recording guitars and vocals through a variety of microphones including SM 57s, C37As, 251s and many others. "Those mic pres are as good as any mic pres I’ve ever heard before. I feel like I am at a big fancy studio using the best preamps and mics in the world, but I am really in my Harry Potter closet underneath the stairs, and it sounds magnificent."

He recently purchased a second BiG SiX for his son, and they use it for tracking, mixing and mastering. "Because it is easier to access small spaces to put these in, I can make demos and record bands wherever I want," he says. "So I have one at my house, one at my son’s house and I can even see buying more. I literally cannot find another product that gives you that level of mic pre, EQ, monitor control, routing and conversion — you get a ton of value in a really small package."