SSL 5000M (1984–)

A broadcast console that got drafted into film work - and ended up at Skywalker Ranch.

Overview

The SL 5000 M Series started as Solid State Logic's answer to stereo television. Broadcast audio requirements were getting more complex, and clients who already trusted SSL's large-format desks wanted the same quality in a format built for on-air reliability and ease of operation. The M Series was designed to be totally modular, built for stereo broadcast, and data-compatible with the rest of the SSL range. It shipped with electronic switching and Instant Reset, and could be ordered with Total Recall. The console had its world premiere at IBC 84. DB-Magazine (October 1984, p.38) reported on the new Audio Production System and noted that hybrid chips using new thin and thick film technology had cut the size, weight, and complexity of the modules by a factor of about ten.

SSL probably didn't see the film angle coming. In late 1985 and early 1986, the staff at Lucasfilm's Sprocket Systems division went shopping for a film-dubbing desk. Custom consoles were prohibitively expensive, and several manufacturers didn't want to modify their existing boards. So the Sprocket Systems team asked SSL about adapting the modular SL 5000 M broadcast console for film re-recording. SSL didn't normally take on custom work, but it saw that what Lucasfilm needed was exactly what SSL needed to build for itself. The result was the SL 5000 M Series Film Post-Production System. Lucasfilm ordered five consoles: two large ones in final mix rooms, a smaller one (36 inputs) in the west premix room, and an SL 5000 foley console. The fifth console went to the San Rafael facility.

The architecture is where the M Series earns its keep. The configuration can be swapped around. This is the kind of flexibility that made the desk attractive to facilities that each wanted something slightly different.

The monitoring section is where the film console differs most from its siblings, the SL 4000 and SL 6000 recording and post-production consoles. The large mix consoles have 64 mono faders plus six 4-track returns. These bring 4-channel effects devices or premixes into the board without using up prime fader space. Each dub room also has 24 "mix-in-context" inputs. They normally route premixes straight into the monitor chain so further premixing can be done against them, hence "in context." The main difference between the Lucasfilm SSL film consoles and the "stock" 5000 film board is the monitor section. The Sprocket Systems boards were delivered without monitoring facilities. Instead, the Lucasfilm staff designed a custom monitoring system and dubbed it the "CP-250," in deference to the amount of Dolby Laboratories recording and monitoring equipment normally housed in a dubbing stage in a hot-rodded CP-200 theater processor. Gary Kephart was the project engineer of the "CP-250." It is basically a rack-mounted PC that sends commands to two sets of 64×8 Integrated Media Systems crosspoint switchers. That allows instant resetting of the many recording and monitoring modes film sound post-production demands. The CP-250 also allows every conceivable form of "real-world" noise, distortion, and equalization simulation, including the optical track simulator designed by Terry Beard of Los Angeles.

All six of the initial SL-5000M Series consoles had SSL's Instant Reset Computer, which switches instantly between any of 48 "stores," each of which records the status of all switches throughout the system. The console could be integrated with the SSL G series studio computer and total recall computer. The SL 5000 M series stereo broadcast console came in a variety of mainframe sizes from 8-72 inputs, and was designed for all broadcast applications from live radio, continuity, outside broadcasts to film and post. The SL 5000 M series film console uses the same system architecture as the broadcast console. It has flexible film panning and monitoring cassettes, which handle all film post-production tasks from simple mono to the most complicated surround-sound formats. According to DB-Magazine (September 1987, p.69), the SL 5000 M series was available in mainframe sizes from 8-72 inputs, with pricing available upon request.

The console found its way into broadcast facilities around the world. The British Broadcasting Corporation awarded a contract for four SSL SL 5000M Series consoles to equip two of BBC Television's post-production suites. Sypher Suites 3 and 4, in the BBC Television Centre, London, would each get two 5000 consoles: a main console with 36 channels and eight VCA Control Groups, and a "Gram Ops" desk with 10 stereo channels for premixing stereo sources from disks, tapes and CDs. The first U.S. delivery of the new 5000 series went to NBC Radio News, which received a 40-channel version with a mixture of mono and stereo facilities plus eight Independent Main Outputs (IMOs). The console went into a new studio in Burbank, CA. The studio gathered feeds from many different sources, processed them for live distribution, and then re-transmitted them via satellite to the NBC Radio News Network master control room in New York. Another SL-5000M Series was ordered by Tokyo Genzosho, the film and video production facility of the Eastman Kodak Far East Company in Tokyo, Japan. It was fitted with 16 mono channels and eight stereo subgroups, and was intended for video pre-production for VCR and LaserDisc mastering.

The M Series also turned up in high-profile film facilities. Disney/MGM Studios in Lake Buena Vista, FL, installed an SSL SL 5000M film production system with 96 inputs, as pictured in Mix-Magazine (August 1989, p.51).

Brian Kelly worked with SSL on the design of the Lucasfilm consoles. The decision to use standard analog technology for the Skywalker Ranch facility came "so late that it was impossible to modify the floor plan," according to Holman. At that point, Phase 3 had been drawn up, although not finished. As noted before, reverting to analog mostly resulted in design overkill. The only area where conventional analog systems taxed the design was console heat dissipation. It had been assumed that the heat from the SoundDroid digital consoles would come from the power supplies in the local machine room, but the large SSL consoles dissipate most of their heat in the studio. Once it was decided to put the whole mechanical system (computer equipment, machine rooms and air handling) centrally in the building, Schwind says that four schemes for vibration isolation were evaluated for results and cost-effectiveness.