As the world’s leading manufacturer of analog and digital audio consoles, Solid State Logic has been a provider of creative tools for film, audio, video, and broadcast professionals for four decades. SSL President Phil Wagner recently visited the Full Sail University campus to share his 25-plus years experience in the studio and pro audio industries.

“Full Sail is actually one of our best customers,” Wagner told the classroom full of students who attended the lecture. “This is something that I don’t do every day, but I do like to make visits from time to time. I really appreciate that you invited me to come down.”

SSL consoles are a fixture in most major recording studios across the world, and Wagner’s role as the company’s president has taken him everywhere from London to Maui, inside the production facilities of every North American television network, and in every Hollywood film studio's sound department.

Wagner began his career in sound during his teenage years by working in live production at a resort hotel in the Catskills. Although his career path after college found him working as a recording engineer/producer for artists such as Joe Cocker and Chaka Khan, his focus soon shifted towards another facet of the industry.

“I worked in studios for two years, and came to a fork in the road. I realized that even if you got to a certain point of success in your career as an engineer/producer, it wasn’t regular,” Wagner told students. “I really wanted something where the hours were more regular so I could have more control over my life.”

A visit to the National Association of Music Merchants trade show led Wager to a job with audio company Soundworks, where in 1983 he helped install one of the first SSL consoles in the United States. Eventually joining SSL in the early 90s, his experience working with sound and sales allowed him to work his way up the company to his current title.

After running through the history of the company and taking a look at the different consoles that SSL has made throughout the years, Wagner fielded questions from students regarding the company’s philosophy and the state of the recording industry.

“What I really love about our business is being able to work with so many different kinds of people. And I get to go around to a lot of different places and hear what some people are saying – ‘studios are over, the record business is over.’ That’s just not true,” he said. “There are more opportunities out there today. Technology has opened a lot of doors in this industry, and because you guys are all young, you’re able to take advantage of those opportunities.”