WebTVAsia Awards 2015 Monitored by SSL L500
Malaysia – On the 23rd October 2015, Prodigee Media along with WebTVAsia successfully conducted their WebTVAsia Award 2015 event held in Sunway Pyramid Convention Center. This event was organized with the goal of celebrating and to acknowledge top online contents in the online community. The award show received overwhelming support from Asia online content creators such as JinnyboyTV, Wahbanana, Joyce Chu, Namewee and many more. The event was reported by none other than Jin Lim who is recognized as the face of JinnyboyTV along with Hong Kong singer Kandy Wong. With at least 30 award categories the event saw a huge crowd gather even before the award ceremony started. “A” List artists such as LadyBaby from Japan and SNH48 from China, Namewee, Bie the Ska along with other top artists made their appearance in the award show.
As in all largescale events, there’s plenty of audio equipment to be monitored and Solid State Logic had the right console for it. Acoustic & Lighting System (A&L) along with Solid State Logic Asia provided WebTVAsia with the L500 console. The L500 praised by many live and sound engineers, is one of the few consoles which is capable of handling a sum of input and output sources. Equipped with a 19 inch touch screen located in the middle of the console, it ease the engineers in system configuration and visual feedback for each input/output levels. The multi gesture touch screen makes assigning and editing EQ, Dynamics and Effects much easier and sometimes more creative depending on the live engineer. Other than the 19 inch screen, there is also an external monitor and a 7.5 inch high resolution located on the right side of the console that displays the configuration adjustable by 15 rotary controls around it.
During the award show rehearsal, A&L had the opportunity to visit the control room, known as the heart of every event where audio, visual and stage instructions were given. This is where we met Rahmad Ayob, the live engineer for the event for the live Broadcasting segment. Rahmad who is also the President of Music Industry Association of Malaysia (MIM) has been in the music and audio industry for 25 years. Before using the L500, Rahmad has been a vivid SSL user; using the G and the AWS Series for his recording and studio purposes. “I knew about the SSL Live console way back last year in one of SSL product launching. At that time I was only able to view the console via SSL website, I did not have the chance to touch or feel it. Of course, I know that the quality will be good after using the G and AWS series”, commented Rahmad when we asked how long he has been using SSL Live Series. “It was around early this year, when A&L hosted a Solid State Logic product launching event that I finally had the chance to view the product. I remembered that moment till this day” he continued. “I approached A&L Head of Sales to provide me with the L500 in one of the events that I was handling; it was the Johor Bahru Classical Music Festival 2015 in May. To be honest, I wasn’t too sure if I would get the chance. Fortunately, he called and we had a little discussion and before I knew it that was the first time I used the L500. Since then I was addicted to the quality and the flexibility the console can offer” Rahmad mentioned with excitement on his face.
As Rahmad began to operate on the L500 again for the rehearsal, we got a glimpse of him operating the L500 as if they have been together for years. We watched him switch from one preset to another tapping different panels and pads. “What features I like about the L500? First it is definitely the sound it is able to control. The L500 is a digital console yet I am able to feel the analog side of it. The sound is much warmer, I can feel the musical characteristic of it”, Rahmad mentioned as we continued our conversation. “The Mic Preamp, the reverb effects they helped in my workflow. The reverb effects brings the studio effect onto live or broadcast events. Normally the console controls the engineer, but with the L500 I am able to control the console. There was flexibility and freedom to customize the effects that I want for each event or situation. Additionally, the touch panels are user friendly too.” he continued.
Rahmad concluded his description of his experience with SSL by commenting that “In Malaysia, most engineers know about SSL but they have yet to test it out or have not known the full potential SSL has. They need to test it out to feel the difference of SSL. Additionally, they have the perception that SSL is complicated, expensive and hard to control. But I can tell everyone it is not complicated. Like I mentioned before the L500 does not control the engineer but the engineer controls the L500. You can’t go wrong with SSL”
The event was just as spectacular as the L500 with performers such as Namewee and LadyBaby revving up the stage as the moving head lights dazzle the audience. For the full list of winners that night you can check out on WebTVAsia Facebook page.