Jeff Juliano (pictured) of Easton, Md., has accumulated Platinum mixing credits for John Mayer, the Dave Matthews Band, Lifehouse, O.A.R. and more. Juliano considers his API 8200 8-channel summing mixers and API 7600 input module channel strips to be critical elements for all of his mixing dates.
“I have this theory that nothing sounds good until you put it through at least five pounds of metal,” says Juliano. “I’ve been mixing in the box for some time now, and I thought my mixes were in a good place, but when I started putting them through API summing mixers, the results floored me. The API 8200s have given me a console sound in just two rackspaces.
“The API units opened up the imaging tremendously and added depth and punch,” Juliano continues. “The result of the summing is as if you set your speakers 10 feet farther apart. If you take the mixes you make in the box and pump [them] through 16—or even eight—channels of the API 8200s, you’re going to sound 70-percent better, right off the bat. It’s undeniable.”
After selecting the appropriate outputs in Pro Tools, Juliano sends signal out through his Apogee D/A converters straight to the dual API 8200s. With all of his buses split out evenly over the 16 channels of API summing, Juliano perfects his mixes, then sends the stereo outputs of his 8200s back through a stereo bus compressor before printing back into Pro Tools.
“By spreading the tracks of your session out over the API 8200 summing mixer,” says Juliano, “you’re taking a lot of the summing workload off of the computer, really widening the audio funnel, and taking away a lot of the math that’s been killing the sound of records the last few years. The API 8200 gives you hardware inserts, so you can easily insert your favorite compressor on any channel.”
For more information, visit www.apiaudio.com and www.jeffjuliano.com.
