A herd of ox is taking over Oxford and Solid State Logic is playing its part. Thirty life-sized ox and 100 mini-ox sculptures can be found throughout the city and SSL is sponsoring a life-size ox designed by Oxford-based artist Rawz. Part of OxTrail 2024, a fund-raiser for Sobell House Hospice organized in partnership with Wild in Art, the SSL-sponsored ox is the key to one lucky winner spending a day recording and mixing at In-Spire Sounds, a local SSL-equipped recording studio.
Decorating the ox took Rawz nine 10 or 12-hour days spread over more than two weeks at SSL’s headquarters. “It was quite an intense experience,” he recalled. He didn’t see his ox again until the entire herd, which includes over 100 smaller ox sculptures decorated by local schools and community groups, came together at a launch event shortly before they were dispersed onto the streets of the city, where they will remain until August 29.
Rawz is involved with day-to-day operations at In-Spire Sounds, which was established about five years ago to provide affordable professional recording, mixing and mastering services that are supportive of the community and charitable activities. “It's run by one of my best friends, a producer and musician named King Boyden," he said. "I work closely with him and bring some of my experience to the practice.
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“He's the SSL fanboy amongst us,” he continued. “He pretty much had a fully kitted-out SSL studio before the sponsorship happened.” The equipment list for the studio, which is in the historic Oxford neighborhood of Jericho, includes a BiG SiX SuperAnalogue console, an SSL 2+ interface, an outboard G Series Bus Compressor as well as 500 Series LMC+, E Series EQ and Compressor modules, SSL plug-ins, and an SSL CONNEX USB mic.
Rawz has a home studio setup that includes an SSL 2+ audio interface. “It's just a really intuitive, handy piece of kit. It’s one of the key bits of kit in the bag. It's the interface that we use when we do gigs or when we're doing workshops in locations outside the studio. That’s part of my practice; I really like to be influenced by where I'm creating. The SSL 2+ is a handy tool for that, because it's so portable. All you need is SSL 2+, a microphone, and a laptop, and you’ve got everything you need.”
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The eight-week OxTrail 2024 public art project runs until August 29, and is in aid of Sobell House Hospice, which provides palliative and end of life care to Oxfordshire residents, a cause with significance to Rawz because of a family member receiving care. An OxTrail app enables users to log the codes on each ox they discover and unlock rewards and prizes from the sponsors.
At the end of the trail, most of the life-sized sculptures and some of the smaller oxen will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the hospice. “I’m hoping my ox will find a home in SSL’s reception area, where it was created,” Rawz said. “That would be cool.”
