Automated Processes Inc. reports that West London’s KORE Studios installed an API 1608 console this summer. The facility opened in 2003. Artists who have visited KORE include Florence and the Machine, Joss Stone, and Amy Winehouse. In 2010, the Music Producers Guild acknowledged KORE as Best UK Studio.
Engineers typically records rock and indie bands in a 2,000-square-foot studio, which includes a live recording space with two isolation booths, as well as a Studio B and lounge on the second floor.
While looking to upgrade the studio’s console, studio owner George Apsion (pictured) turned to Funky Junk, a European company that provides expertise in analog mixing consoles.
“KORE required a few custom modifications and we suggested others to enable the power supplies to be sited in a remote machine room,” says Mark Thompson, the founder and owner of Funky Junk. “API liaised with us regarding these mods and together with Source, their UK distributor, we all worked to deliver the console on time, ready for the first session a few weeks after order. Commissioning on-site went smoothly, and the desk was installed and ready to start churning out the hits within two days of arrival.”
The studio posted videos and photos of the console almost as soon as installation was complete, and studio owner George Apsion took time to talk with API about the studio’s new addition.
“We are known as a great tracking space and we wanted a console that would reflect and enhance that,” Apsion says, adding that the 1608 makes everything they work on “feel like a record, straight away. The features are so well thought out—the sound is deep, wide, and glues everything together. The sound is the same as other API gear we’ve used; there is just more of it.”
The biggest change Apsion notes is the ability to record entire sessions on API mic amps and nothing else, which he considers “a dream come true!”
Apsion uses the 1608 on multiple projects: “We have used it as a split console, with the expander section acting as sends to tape, using the 312 mic amps +550b EQs. We then use the first 16 faders as tape monitors, with aux sends feeding a cue-8 mixer system in our live room. We use the aux return inputs in the center section for summing outboard mic amp signals together. The 1608 desk mic amps are always used for drums.”
All that work is paying off in an album already recorded for the Australian rock band Short Stack, as well as an indie EP for the British group House of Lions. Once these projects are complete, Apsion says, KORE will continue work on a “top secret album project for an international artist.
“It seems to bring out the best in the other gear we connect to it, as the headroom is so impressive,” Apsion concludes. “The 1608 is a beautifully engineered, reliable and astonishing piece of equipment.”
For more information, visit www.apiaudio.com, kore-studios.com and www.proaudioeurope.com.
