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Chris Hewitt mixes FOH for Dhani Harrison using Solid State Logic L550 Plus

Chris Hewitt has frequently found himself behind various Solid State Logic (SSL) studio consoles during his career as a mixer, engineer and musician. He chose to use an SSL L550 Plus console when mixing front-of-house for Dhani Harrison’s 2025 tour, which included a performance at Glastonbury Festival, and arena support dates with Jeff Lynne’s ELO.

“I found that translating the richness of Dhani’s music to the live stage was easier on this console than on anything I’ve tried before”, says Hewitt who has been working for Harrison for about two and a half years as production manager, FOH engineer, and studio mixer. “Some digital consoles get a bit cloudy sounding with busy mixes, and that’s not something that you can fix with processing. With the L550 Plus it feels like there’s more space to put things in, so all the elements in the mix can breathe a bit more. I put a lot of that down to SSL’s 64-bit architecture and mixbus.”

”The L550 Plus delivered a sound and workflow that felt less like a tool and more like a musical instrument”, he furthers. “I’ve lived and breathed SSL consoles in the studio for years, so it is always wonderful to be able to take one on the road.” Hewitt employed some relatively complex automation on the L550 Plus console for Harrison’s recent shows including multiple scene changes to open and close gates or change the threshold and release times, for example. “Then there were some scenes that opened and closed complete duplicated channels with mutes for different vocal effects or very different EQs”, he adds.

Hewitt notes that he finds the Live console’s Stems feature particularly useful, as it allows him to bring his recording studio workflow seamlessly into the live environment. “In Pro Tools, for example, a bus can be whatever you want, and that’s how my brain works”, he details. “I don’t enjoy fixed architecture digital consoles. I want to be able to throw anything anywhere, anytime, and stems allow me to do that. Having an open architecture means I can be doing a bit of snare drum processing on the channels, then a snare bus, a drum stem, a parallel drum stem, and then a music bus, for example. It all goes through a similar kind of routing to how I would organize a studio mix session. I like using little bits of processing along the way instead having to lean too heavily on one processor, and that’s how I get the transparency and weight of a busy mix under control.”

Hewitt’s workflow in a live setting is similar to the workflow he employs in the studio. “I approach live sound the same as I do when mixing a record, in that I do loads of technical prep first”, he says. “When I’m able to get the technical stuff out of the way then I can use my creative brain and be in kind of a flow state.” In theatres and on tour, he says, “I typically take a holistic approach to everything audio and oversee the whole department. I work directly with the needs of the artist and the music, from system and audio package design spreadsheets to the most minute details. I think mixing music is all about thousands of micro decisions and, for me, it usually starts with design and planning so that the creative side can be unobstructed and I can focus on doing what I do - being a mixer.”

Hewitt divides his time between working as a record producer and mix engineer at his private studio and as an FOH engineer and production manager when touring. “I’ve had a very varied career so far, which I love!”, he states. “I think the variety keeps me sharp. I’ve been a system engineer for the likes of Slash and Tom Jones, I mix lots of orchestras and shows like the Hollywood Proms. I currently do front-of-house for Passenger, Fat Boy Slim, Paraorchestra, Jess Glynne and Clean Bandit. I’ve mixed monitors for the likes of Rufus Wainwright, Rita Ora and Jeff Wayne’s ‘War of the Worlds’, and I’ve got a long history of working in musical theatre. In the studio, I’ve engineered on a few number one albums and also get to have huge variety there.”

(Photos: Solid State Logic)

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