Based in the Los Angeles area and working in both music and audio postproduction, Michael Badal has set up a personal studio using SSL’s UF8, UF1, and UC1 hardware controllers, 360° software, and SSL outboard processing and summing hardware

‘I was always fascinated by recorded music, and photos of those gorgeous SL 4000 consoles,’ he recalls. ‘I was trying to make my music sound like the records that I grew up on but I wasn’t getting the sound that I wanted. After lots of listening and experimenting, I realised it’s the SSL sound I wanted – it’s always been the SSL sound.’

The first SSL piece he bought was a 500 Series G-Comp module. ‘The next thing was the Fusion, and I started adding that SSL Vintage Drive saturation to my mixes,’ he says. ‘I made the jump and started building my mixes from SSL plug-ins, using either the 9000 series-based Channel Strip 2 or the 4K B – those are my go-to plug-ins because they have such a contrast sonically – then bringing in analogue processing on inserts.’

While still in his teens, Badal’s dance tracks caught the ear of DJ Tiësto, and in next to no time Badal was releasing EDM tracks under his own name while also mixing and remixing tracks by the likes of deadmau5, Kaskade and Timbaland. After graduating from film school at Cal State Northridge, he fell into the world of audio postproduction, working on projects with major brands at 740 Sound Design. He went on to co-found Digital Love, a music, sonic branding and audio post company, where he works as a composer, sound designer and scoring mixer for film, television and commercials.

Badal’s studio set-up is currently baased on the UF8 eight-fader DAW controller, UC1 plug-in controller and UF1 DAW control centre.

Now in his mid-30s, Badal is old school when it comes to mixing. ‘I am a Millennial, but I grew up on faders and knobs when analogue was still the thing.’ With the UF8, he says. ‘It’s more about how it sounds. It’s the same with panning, using the encoders at the top of the UF8.

‘My mixes have gotten better because of SSL 360°. I don’t have any other software open. I don’t have my plug-ins open. I listen to the mix, looking at the SSL 360, UC1 and EQing as I go, just using my ears. It also makes it faster, just dialling the channel knobs and going from one channel to the next, doing everything with my hands, as opposed to with a trackball or a mouse.’

He takes advantage of the 360° Link facility to map third-party plug-ins to his SSL control platform, while the UF1 DAW control centre helps streamline and speed up theworkflow. ‘What has been really helpful with the UF1 is the jog wheel, which I use for scrubbing or finding the point just before a transient where I need to cut, as opposed to zooming in and out with a trackball.’

Badal has collaborated on various independent short film projects as a composer, but currently his focus is on working with Emmy-nominated scoring composer Robert Duncan, whose credits include TV series Castle and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ‘We just finished season four of The Equalizer and now we’re knee-deep in The Night Agent,’ Badal says.

Duncan has developed a workflow that significantly streamlines their collaboration and is built on SSL plug-ins: ‘He has Dropbox syncing but working straight out of his Logic template, as opposed to bouncing out stems, bringing it into Pro Tools, doing the mix then sending it back to him,’ Badal explains. ‘I must give him credit, it’s been fantastic.

‘He’ll print his composer stems within his Logic session and by then Dropbox has already synced it to me. I open the Logic session and, since we made an approved plug-in list with each other, we can open each other’s sessions, with SSL Channel Strip 2 on all the channels. We’re not using any outboard gear on this project because of that, so we opted for the Fusion series and Bus Compressor 2 plug-in on the master.’

And the in-the-box remote workflow is working well: ‘It’s fantastic, because now I can go on the road and work. I bought a second UC1, so I don’t have to deal with trackpad mixing. That goes in my backpack with a portable interface. I take my Focal speakers and a portable screen, and I can literally mix from anywhere.’

Currently, working with Duncan occupies about half his time. The other half is dedicated to LA-based dance music artist Miramar.

‘We collaborate on all of his output, so I’m helping with the writing process, producing, mixing and mastering,’ he says. ‘I’ve been very blessed with the opportunities that have come over the last couple of decades. I still have that dream to get a 48-channel Duality someday.’

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