As percussionist in Chile’s thriving music scene, Raúl Aliaga Lewis worked on sessions spanning classical to popular and was a full-time member of two of the country’s most iconic groups of the late ’80s. In 1994 he built his own studio, TOC Música, beginning his relationship with Solid State Logic. Recently he installed a 32-channel Origin analogue mixing console.
It was almost inevitable that Aliaga would eventually install a large-format SSL console: ‘It was part of a scalable, organic process with the support of Croma Ltda, SSL’s distribution partner in Chile, which gave me access to a development that began with the X Desk, then the XL Desk and finally, when it arrived in Chile, Origin.’
During this period, he had added other SSL equipment to the studio’s inventory, including 500 Series EQ and Comp modules, a BiG SiX SuperAnalogue desktop console and interface, a UF8 DAW controller and a UC1 plug-in controller. Taking advantage of Origin ‘modular’ centre section, the 500 Series modules are now installed above Origin’s master tile.
TOC Música operates both as a private studio, supporting Aliaga’s own projects as a producer, composer and instrumentalist, in addition to a commercial facility offering recording and mixing services to national and international artists. ‘As a creative musician, technological quality has been essential to consolidate my professional career, always striving to develop excellence in each of my personal projects and deliver the highest quality services to our clients,’ he says. Francisco Herrera was the facility’s acoustic designer, with technical design provided by Jorge Esteban and Aliaga.
‘The Origin’s headroom is impressive, the mic preamps are versatile thanks to the Drive mode, and the EQs are wonderful,’ he reports. ‘The Bus Compressor is the crown jewel of this Drive. It’s a versatile and essential tool for mixing at TOC Música. Rafael Chaparro, our house engineer and studio manager, has worked with the SSL 9000K in the past and has noted the Origin’s improved workflow, ease of routing and user friendliness.’
Typically, Aliaga and Chaparro use the mic preamps with the PureDrive switch disengaged (‘but we’ve used it for more creative experiments and to get more THD when recording’) The console’s E Series 242 ‘black knob’ EQ, meanwile, is ‘a versatile, musical EQ that can both enhance the musical content or precisely target unwanted sounds – it’s the cherry on top of the icing on the SSL cake’.
Origin’s intelligent bus routing system has also proved useful on TOC Música’s projects: ‘It expands the possibilities for making creative decisions when mixing, such as with parallel saturation or compression,’ Aliaga says. ‘It also makes it easier to make subgroups of the things we use when monitoring, allowing for a faster workflow.’
In the time since the Origin was installed, the studio has hosted Grupo Congreso, one of Chile’s longest running and best-known fusion bands, which Aliaga joined in 1992, as well as Los Tres, Pettinellis, María y Los Templos, Camilo Aliaga and Cachay. Those sessions were variously engineered by Jorge Abarca, Gerónimo Labrada, Jorge Esteban, Diego Bustamante and Pablo González, as well as Chaparro.
Over the years, musicians such as Dennis Chambers, the Soweto Gospel Choir of South Africa, and Claudia Acuña have also recorded at TOC Música, as well as Chilean bands and soloists such as Fulano, the other important Chilean fusion group of which Aliaga was a member. Chamber music projects have included the Coda Wind Quintet and Austral String Quartet, piano duets and solo piano with Roberto Bravo, as well as soundtracks for TV and movies.
When he started out, Aliaga recalls, tape recording offered limited options for editing compared to today’s DAWs, demanding a high level of professionalism and musicianship. He was quick to embrace emerging technologies as a session musician, such as Midi sequencers, synths and programmable drums, which allowed him to stay at the forefront of the business, both in the studio and onstage. ‘The continuation of studio work gave me an ever-increasing understanding of sound quality and allowed me to perceive the professionalism of sound engineers,’ he says.
Now, as a studio owner, Aliaga continues to embrace the latest technology. ‘I plan to acquire some external processors like SSL Fusion, some more SSL 500 Series compressors and mastering equipment,’ he says. ‘We also plan to acoustically remodel our control room.’