Chris Young Equips New Hit Alley Studio With SSL XL-Desk

Chris Young sitting in front of his SSL XL-Desk at Hit Alley studio.

After running Hollywood Way Studios in Burbank for several years, Chris Young decided it was time to move back home to New York and build his own studio. With the help of Vintage King, Chris outfitted the new Hit Alley Studios with a Solid State Logic XL-Desk at the helm.

Built from the ground up to cater to Buffalo's burgeoning hip-hop scene, Hit Alley combines classic sound with inspiring vibes. We recently caught up with Chris to learn how the new studio is shaping up, how the XL-Desk has changed his workflow, and some of the records he's working on in his new space.

Tell us a little bit about your studio and the work you do there.

It's not officially open just yet, but it's called Hit Alley and it's in Buffalo, New York very close to the airport. I've been running sessions ever since I got this mixer hooked up.

It's a big old brewery on Longstreet that dates all the way back to the 1800s. The name of the studio comes from this big piece of bowling alley inside. Back in the day, there was an old bowling alley right at the end of the street. There's still a piece of the old bowling alley inside the brewery so I'm using it as studio furniture. The credenza, where the producer's table is, is made out of the repurposed bowling alley, along with other furniture throughout the studio.

I came up with a couple of names and finally landed on this one, which is kind of inspired by this place in LA called the Hit Factory. We've got our own little secluded alley as well, so the name goes well with that. It's about five minutes from the Buffalo Airport.

This studio is predominantly a recording and mixing studio. I have a lot of experience with hip-hop. Buffalo is now on the map for hip-hop. There are a few big artists who came out of Buffalo in the last five years that have really taken the world by storm.

You go to New York City or LA and there are 30 or 40-plus professional studios that all have the standard equipment for producing state-of-the-art music. In Buffalo, there's really only one or two really pro-level studios.

I looked at it like this; 10 years ago, I ran a studio called Hollywood Way out in California on Burbank Boulevard. I got a lot of experience working with mainstream hip-hop artists. I saw the business out there.

When I decided to move back to Buffalo and kind of put the dream aside for a little bit, it kind of followed me here. Before you know it, all the record labels that were out in California were hanging out in Buffalo now. The same guys that I was working with. The same labels and everything. I'm like, "This is the perfect time to open up a studio."

I had a nice mixing console and one day, it went kaput. That's when I decided, "I’m gonna, open up a really nice studio in Buffalo to cater to the industry," because Buffalo is really becoming the new LA, it's becoming the new New York City, as far as the entertainment.

That's the other thing, I wanted to cater not only to the Buffalo hip-hop scene but also to all of the films being made here now. That's why I equipped the studio with the Pro Tools Ultimate. I have it ready for mixing movies and doing broadcasts and all that as well.

The other cool thing about the studio is, not only am I focusing on quality equipment, but we also have a very cool hangout area. We got a really nice pool table right in the middle of the control room. There's all the amenities; we got video games, a foosball table, and dartboards. So it's got a really cool hangout factor as well.

What was it like cutting your teeth in LA?

When I was out in California, I learned from my mentor, who worked with Snoop Dogg, Tupac, Sublime, and Prince. He had platinum records all the way down the hallway. He showed me how to mix records on an SSL console. This was a $100,000 console from the mid-80s, hooked up to a new computer.

Learning from him and really getting my hands on all the equipment taught me a lot. Cause a lot of people, when they're making music, they do it all in the computer. You don't necessarily need a mixing board to put out music anymore. It's all virtually in the computer.

I learned that there's a unique quality and style that comes with mixing on a real analog board. So that's what I did with this studio. I took my time with Vintage King and we really found exactly what I was looking for.

Is that what inspired you to get an SSL XL-Desk for the Hit Alley?

Yeah, I wanted to get something similar to that SSL board from the 80s with those great EQs, but I wanted something brand new. Those old boards used to have a million knobs, which can be really cool, but the computer also has a million knobs.

That's why I got the SSL XL-Desk—it doesn't have all of those extra knobs. It has exactly what I need as far as analog processing. Everything else, like the compressors and all of the other stuff that normally would come on the old board, I use on the computer.

It's a really nice hybrid setup. It doesn't take up as much space as a large format console, which is like 20 feet long. This thing is only four or five feet wide.

I'm 39. I’ve been striving to buy myself one of these mixing boards ever since I first used one back in LA. It took a while to get the money right to open one of these places, but it's certainly going to pay for itself in a couple of years, just because of the quality of the product.

What was it like working with Vintage King Audio Consultant Cole Nystrom during the upgrade and installation process?

Oh, Cole's fantastic. He was very knowledgeable. I'm very happy.I threw some changes at him throughout the process but he was right on top of it and helped me get what I really needed.

There was a point in time when everything was about to ship, but it wasn't quite what I wanted, so we ended up making adjustments. Cole made sure I had exactly what I needed before the order shipped out. He nailed it.

Has the console changed your workflow at all?

No, not really. I got the console because it works well with my current workflow. I had a 32-channel Midas hybrid analog console hooked up to my computer, which worked basically the same way. My approach to mixing is exactly the same, but I have so many more options now with the patchbay and XL-Desk. It’s small, but you can do so much with it.

The Midas console was great, but there were a lot of little things that I wished I could do with it that just weren't possible. But with the XL-Desk, anything I can think of, I can do. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. The workflow is exactly how I wanted it to be.

What's really nice about the new setup is that it's a little different. With the older SSL consoles, when you would run your signal from tape or from your computer, it wouldn't go through the actual preamp. What's cool about the XL-Desk, is that you can run the signal back through the preamps on the mixer.

The amount of power that this mixer has is unbelievable. That's definitely changed some stuff up a little bit, but ultimately, it's exactly what I wanted.

What monitors are you using there?

My near-fields are the classic NS-10Ms. I was able to get a pair of those in my years.

Then I have a nice pair of RTA Polk Studio monitors from the eighties that I use for mains. They're a three-way speaker concept, really nice.

I'm also rocking a set of Voice Of Theater speakers by Altec Lansing, which are huge

What microphones do you find yourself using most of the time?

I'm a big Neumann fan. I got a U 87 and a TLM 102. Next, I'm looking to buy a Sony C-8000.

I'm going to have to save up for about a year or two because the mic's up in the $20,000 range.

All these guys I work with at Def Jam, Warner Brothers, and Interscope always want to use that mic.

Do you have any favorite pieces of outboard gear there?

I love my LA-2A. Then I also really love the SSL master bus compressor, the G-Comp, which is amazing.

I also have this cool Soviet master bus compressor from the Soviet Union. I actually have to use a step-down power transformer to power it. It's really cool.

I don't have too much outboard gear. The SSL has 16 channels of EQ, which is all I need right now.

Do you have any specific signal chain that you like to use for recording, or do you use something different every time?

Yeah, for recording, I typically just a U 87 right into the preamp of the SSL using the EQ and the Super Analog Variable Harmonic Drive mic pres—they're unbelievable.

The singer can overload and scream, and it just sounds amazing. As far as clipping and overload it's meant to put it into the red. On a lot of mixers in the past, you go into the red and it sounds really bad. But with the XL-Desk, it sounds really, really good.

So lately, I've just been going U 87 straight into straight into the SSL, and the thing sounds amazing. As far as I got a couple outboard compressors that I may or may not use with the vocal. It all kind of depends.

If they’re really crazy and screaming and stuff, I'll use a compressor. I'm really a big fan of using the Avalon as a mic pre, too.

How do you feel about plug-ins? Do you have any favorite ones that you’re using?

I don't use a lot of plug-ins. I was taught not to use a lot of plug-ins. When I'm mixing a hybrid setup, especially with an SSL, I don't really need a lot of plug-ins because I'm mixing out of the box and using the actual channel strip on the console.

Typically, if I was gonna have a chain on a vocal bus, it would be an LA-2A to an SSL channel strip that has a compressor, EQ gate, and all the dynamics on it. From there, I may or may not use a de-esser if it needs it.

Ultimately, right after that, I would put a Vocal Rider, and that would pretty much be it. Sometimes, I'll throw a C4 multiband compressor right before the vocal rider. That's pretty much my go-to.

What’s a typical day in the studio like for you?

Typically, I get up in the morning, but I don't get here too early. Usually, I get here around ten or eleven o'clock unless we got an early session booked. I got a cute dog, so I bring the dog and we clean up and power up everything.

We're just getting started, so I have a manager that works with me. His name is Rick and we go through what sessions we got for the day. If they need music, a lot of times, that's what I'll end up doing, is making music for that session. I got a session coming up tonight and, this whole week we've been cooking up music for this session specifically because they requested music.

I tend to work late—we're here at least two o'clock in the morning.

Are you working on any exciting projects right now, that you’re able to talk about?

Right now, I’m currently working with an artist named ElCamino, who's signed to the Black Soprano family, which is signed with Def Jam Records.

Other than that, I just got a job doing a score for a new film that's coming out, so I should be getting started on that in the next in the next week or so, once they get me some material to work with.

I also work with a lot of local guys, but what's cool is that a lot of these local guys, they're major record label artists, which is neat to be in my hometown. I don't have to be out in LA to do it big. I can stay here with the fam, and now the business is here.A lot of these local guys that are knocking on my door got nice little record deals behind them, so it’s working out.

Hit Alley studio in Buffalo, New York. There's a pool table in the foreground and a desk of studio gear in the background including an SSL XL-Desk, multiple sets of studio monitors, outboard gear, instruments, and cables.

If you’re interested in purchasing the XL-Desk or have any questions about other SSL products, contact a Vintage King Audio Consultant via email or by phone at 866.644.0160.

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