The owner of Studio One Flight Up in Sydney is a self-proclaimed ‘analogue-minded person’.

Working with independent singers, songwriters and musicians, Nick Irving’s studio is home to a wealth of vintage analogie outboard gear and – most recently – a 32-channel API 1608 analogue mixing console, fitted with 24 API 550A and eight 560 EQ modules.

It was Deb Sloss of Studio Connections Australia who directed him towards the desk console: ‘It’s a dream console, really,’ Irving says. ‘Computers make great multitrack recorders but for the actual work of recording and mixing sessions, I need to be hands-on.’

The moveable size of the 1608 played a role in Irving’s decision, allowing the studio to eventually grow into a new building. It also comes in 16-channel sections, allowing the actual console to expand, or be retrofitted. ‘It’s chock full of API’s sensational EQs and mic preamps, silky-smooth faders, nice, bright, clear LED lights in all the buttons, and full metering with the brightly-lit vu meters,’ he says.

Studio One Flight Up uses the 1608 for both recording and mixing needs.

‘My sounds just get better and better now that I have an API console,’ Irving reports. ‘Switching the metering between input and direct out is fantastic and very useful. Having buttons to engage the insert points is also a great and useful feature.’

With the 1608, Irving and his crew do not need extra DI boxes, as each channel of the console has an instrument input. ‘It’s also great that the power supplies are quiet enough that they don’t have to be housed in a separate machine room…’

With the studio renovations complete, Irving is recording and collaborating on an album with Grammy award-winner Myles Heskett (ex-Wolfmother). ‘It is proving to be lots of fun. We’re really enjoying working on the API console. Everything I’ve done on it sounds fantastic – solid, crisp, clear,’ he says. ‘I’ll never need another console in my lifetime.’

More: www.apiaudio.com