The flagship recording arts programme run by Full Sail University dates back to the school’s founding more than 30 years ago – and is supported by a massive studio complex. Today, the programme is accompanied by audio, film, design, show production, game development, computer animation and entertainment business education for its 17,000 students and over 44,000 alumni.

To maintian its technical standards, Full Sail is soon to replace the existing console in Studio B at its Florida campus with a 64-channel API Vision analogue surround sound console. ‘It was important that we provide our students the invaluable experience of working with high-end analogue audio,’ says Dana Roun, Director of Audio Arts at Full. ‘Today, most of our incoming students have been working with digital audio their entire lives, and yet the sound that defines our industry, the sound of the classic albums, the benchmark in professional audio, is the sound of finely crafted analogue equipment. API embodies that real analogue sound.’

Before settling on the API, staff and technicians conspired to whittle down a long list of possible replacements: ‘We considered everything,’ Roun says. ‘But we were aiming for that boutique, sought-after, no-questions-asked, flat-out great analogue sound.’

Once a short-list was compiled, Roun and a small party of faculty travelled to Nashville, where they could test-drive each console in close proximity. ‘We left Nashville sure in our decision that API had the sound we were after,’ he says. ‘When we heard it, it felt unmistakably right.’

‘This special desk is scheduled for commissioning at Full Sail in January 2013, and was unveiled at the AES Convention in San Francisco,’ says Gordon Smart, API MD. ‘It’s exciting to welcome one of the most prestigious secondary schools on the planet into the API family.’

Because the API Vision can mix in stereo and surround sound simultaneously, Full Sail will be able to merge it with audio-for-video courses and projects.

More: www.apiaudio.com
More: www.fullsail.edu