Las Vegas, NV (February 28, 2024)—Producers the Avila Brothers, Lil Jon and Kronic pre-produced recordings for the record-breaking Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show by Usher, using SSL consoles and interfaces at studios in Los Angeles, Nashville and Las Vegas.
“One hundred percent of all of our pre-production recording was done at Hideout Studios, the Avila Brothers and Mike Smith’s SoundVille studio in Nashville and Larrabee Studios in Los Angeles with Manny Marroquin working on the 96-channel Duality, and also using the SSL 12 interfaces,” says Bobby Ross Avila, one half of the Avila Brothers team, along with brother IZ. The audio team also included Bruce Bang, Nick Anderson, Kyle Hamilton, Jeremy Peters and Adrian “AP” Porter.
“A lot of what IZ was doing on his DJ controller he ran through the SSL 12,” continues Avila, who also used the interfaces to introduce his synths and vocoder into the mix. “The production team depended on the SSL products to deliver the highest quality audio that such a high-profile event like the Super Bowl demands,” he says. “The one thing that SSL is synonymous with is that punch, so we’re making sure that everything translates.”
“SSL has been in the room with us from start to finish. That’s our standard,” IZ Avila confirms. “We had to figure what it’s going to sound like in the stadium to make sure the detail of the live instrumentation doesn’t get washed out and lost, and then be cautious of how it all translates over broadcast, because those are two very different processes and require different approaches as it relates to the mix.”
Post Malone and Alicia Keys Deliver at Super Bowl LVIII
Over the past 25 years, the Grammy-winning Avila Brothers have long worked behind the scenes with Usher, Mary J. Blige, Chaka Kahn, Janet Jackson, Gwen Stefani, Missy Elliot, Mariah Carey, Patti Labelle, Earth Wind & Fire and many others.
On Super Bowl Day, Usher took to the field with guests Alicia Keys, Jermaine Dupri, H.E.R., will.i.am, Lil Jon and Ludacris, and a spectacular production, drawing on his repertoire from three decades to deliver 14 songs in almost 13 minutes, from set opener “Caught Up” to the grand finale “Yeah!” The Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on February 11, 2024, was the most-watched ever, according to analytics firm Nielsen, with an average 129.3 million viewers tuning in across all platforms.
“We spent roughly a month putting a skeleton setlist together,” IZ Avila reveals. Show pacing and sequencing was everything: “One of the things that has played a role in the rhythm and flow of the show is saying, ‘If we listen to this and we feel like we might go get a snack, then we’ve missed the point.’ So, how do we keep people glued to the show and glued to the TV during these 12 minutes and 30 seconds? That was the goal.”
