Acclaimed Producer Luke Smith Installs Matrix in London Studio

“Matrix bridges the gap between my DAWs and analogue equipment perfectly. And time-wise I think it’s shaved 20\% off every day.”

Solid State Logic, the world’s leading manufacturer of analogue and digital audio consoles, is pleased to announce that Luke Smith, critically acclaimed producer and engineer, has installed a Solid State Logic Matrix console at the heart of his north London Studio.

Smith’s first success came via chaotic popsters Clor, but he’s since gone on to work with Depeche Mode, Slow Club, and perhaps most notably Foals. His production skills have also been called upon to remix the likes of La Roux, Frans Ferdinand and The Prodigy, amongst others. Suggesting that his “low prices and good looks” keep the production diary full only tells half of the story. Smith has traditionally produced in-the-box, but putting Matrix at the heart of his studio has already raised the bar.

“Before installing Matrix I worked largely in the box, and while that was fine I found some aspects cumbersome and time consuming. Now tracking is a breeze, cue mixes set with no fuss and latency is irrelevant.”

“I use lots of different DAWs and can flip between them – instantly switching between Pro Tools™, Ableton™ and Logic™ – or I can turn all the faders and pots into MIDI controllers. It’s also possible to run additional DAWs concurrently on different machines and control them all from Matrix, which is pretty awesome.”

“I have a lot of outboard that I use for tracking, but it wasn’t fully utilised in mixing because you’d have to print everything back in to check phase alignment and so on. Of course with Matrix you can have your outboard inline and automate both pre (DAW) and post (Matrix). This is extremely useful with input-dependent compressors, for example, and really brings mixes to life. Add to that the flexible, digitally controlled patchbay, which makes setting up and using effects extremely efficient… now I can audition different chains of outboard with two clicks, which is great.”

“As far as the sound quality goes, I’m absolutely stoked – depth and clarity are restored with basic summing and there’s no palpable noise floor. You can drive the output transformer as well, which kind of ‘sticks’ everything together, then use the high quality onboard converters to print. The result? Matrix makes my recordings sound just right… which I like a lot. Also having reliable direct outs on every channel makes printing stems and similar tasks a breeze. I’ve used some boards where the direct outs simply don’t sound as good as the master outs, so it’s reassuring to know the integrity of Matrix is immaculate and what I hear is what I get.”

“Matrix bridges the gap between my DAWs and analogue equipment perfectly, has improved my workflow dramatically and allows me to work quickly and efficiently. I think it’s shaved 20\% off every day due to its considered design – all actions are reliable and instant, which is hugely gratifying. Now the process is almost transparent. I enjoy an inspiring workflow and achieve better sounding results with minimal fuss."