Oakland, CA (November 14, 2011)—Producer and engineer Dave Lichtenstein has opened 25th Street Recording in Oakland with an API Vision analog console.
“It was at AES in San Francisco that I first saw the API Vision,” said Lichtenstein. There, he learned about the Vision’s all-discrete analog circuitry, a characteristic that greatly appealed to him.
“I evaluated a lot of consoles in my search for my studio’s centerpiece,” said Lichtenstein. “I love the sound of vintage analog consoles and was considering going that route, but I was wary of the inevitable maintenance and downtime that would be involved. The fact that the Vision is entirely discrete and has great modern features, such as extensive surround capabilities, along with powerful automation and recall, made choosing the console an easy call.”
Lichtenstein, former frontman for the early ’80s band Cowboy Mouth and drummer for musician John Cale, decided to create the studio after writing and recording some tracks of his own at Fantasy Studios in 2000. When the time came for mixing, Fantasy had closed for restructuring, which left him with few options.
“I could only find one comparable facility in the area, which confirmed the fact that the Bay Area could use another top-notch studio,” he said.
After searching for more than a year, Lichtenstein found a 4,500 square-foot, 80-year-old brick building with a high ceiling. He turned to old friend and studio designer Francis Manzella and building contractor Dennis Stearns (who worked on Skywalker Sound’s recording space) to turn the former foreign car repair shop into a full-fledged recording studio.
Construction on 25th Street Recording began in 2009 and will finish by its official opening this fall. The facility is already functional; Lichtenstein has already recorded the band Let Fall the Sparrow in the studio’s 1,400 square-foot tracking room using the API Vision.
According to Lichtenstein, “If you truly want analog, there’s really no other choice.”
API
www.apiaudio.com
