The API Legacy Plus in Cello’s Western Studio 3
Cello Studios in Hollywood recently outfitted its Western Studio 3 (where Brian Wilson’s Pet Sounds and many Beach Boys recordings were produced) with an 80-channel API Legacy Plus with moving fader automation.
“It’s a wonderful desk, with 32 of their API 212 mic preamps, 12 compressors and six gates,” chief engineer Gary Myerberg says. “And we’re adding another API 500 rack of compressors and EQs.” Six DIs and six filters are also being added to the console’s center section.
Installed by Myerberg, Dave Hecht and the studio’s engineering staff, the new Legacy Plus fits perfectly into the tiki-themed room, decorated in honor of Wilson. Myerberg, who has built studios for Bruce Springsteen and Bob Clearmountain and played a technical role at A&M Studios for nearly 15 years, favors a minimal signal path. “The mic lines and the patchbay wiring are very, very short. The 2-track run is six feet and the multitrack runs are even shorter. It’s a very tight-sounding room, very punchy.”
“America’s Abbey Road,” as Myerberg refers to Cello, expects to be announcing a new owner at the beginning of 2005 and will be changing its name to Western Recorders. The facility, once a part of the United Western Recorders complex, was established by Bill Putnam at the beginning of the 1960s and was once called home by session drummer Hal Blaine and the Wrecking Crew. The studio’s roster includes staff engineers Chuck Britz, Bones Howe, Wally Heider and Lee Hirschberg.
For more information, visit www.cellostudios.com. For more information on the board, visit www.apiaudio.com.
