Branson, MO (July 24, 2026)—Mix engineer Josh West is combining his love of van life and the great outdoors with his passion for music mixing and mentorship, providing remote mixing services to clients worldwide between rock climbing and hikes with his partner and their dogs.
About a year into the global Covid-19 pandemic, West moved into his van, parking it outside Mansion Studios in Missouri’s Ozark Mountains while he helped build out the new facility’s SSL Duality Fuse and System T rooms. Five years on, an average working day for West involves setting up his laptop, monitor speakers and SSL UF8 DAW controller and UC1 hardware plug-in controller on a folding table at an inspiring outdoor location.
West’s mix setup is powered from a heavy-duty 600Ah lithium battery in the van. “I just run an extension cord from the van out to wherever I’m working,” he explains. “I don’t like to mix more than three or four hours in a day, and I’ll usually split my time between producing YouTube content and mixing for clients.”
West initially missed having the Duality’s 96 faders in front of him. But the transition was made easier by the UF8’s functionality. “I have a bunch of quick keys at the top of the UF8 that show/hide markers for drums, bass, guitars, keys, vocals, background vocals and effects,” he says, enabling him to quickly bring a specific group of sources in front of him and under fader control.
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Typically, he sets up his best static fader mix before instantiating any plug-ins. “If I’m doing a normal EQ, I use SSL’s Channel Strip 2. That’s always set up and ready to go with the UC1. I’ll use SSL’s 4K G or 4K B plug-in if I need drive or grit.” He also replicates his master bus processing from Mansion’s Duality with plug-ins.
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Once he has a solid mix, West taps a quick key to bring eight VCA groups to the UF8’s faders. “I do the automation of the whole track just with those. That’s 90% of the automation that I do. I’m not really touching anything else, just feeling those group faders and trying to make the song come a little bit more alive.”