West London’s KORE Studios recently installed an API 1608 , with studio owner George Apsion considering the console a natural choice in retaining his facility’s international reputation for high-quality recordings.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, KORE typically records rock and indie bands in a 2,000 square-foot space, which includes a live recording capability with two ISO booths, as well as a Studio B and lounge on the second floor. Artists on the KORE resume include Florence and the Machine, Joss Stone, and Amy Winehouse.
In 2010, KORE was awarded “Best UK Studio” by the Music Producers Guild, with Apsion noting that the 1608 is the right direction to continue enhancing that prestigious history.
“We are known as a great tracking space and we wanted a console that would reflect and enhance that,” he states. In seeking to upgrade to the 1608, Apsion worked with Funky Junk, a leading expert in analog mixing consoles in Europe.
Mark Thompson, founder and owner of Funky Junk, explains that the process from sale to installation went beautifully.
“KORE required a few custom modifications and we suggested others to enable the power supplies to be sited in a remote machine room,” Thompson says. “API liaised with us regarding these mods and together with Source, their UK distributor, we all worked to deliver the console bang 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.”
Since then, the 1608 has a workout. Apsion says it’s made 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, he notes, is the ability to record entire sessions on API mic amps and nothing else, which he considers “a dream come true.” The console is truly becoming a centerpiece at KORE and is featured on all of the studio’s social media profiles.
The new 1608 is getting put to the test on multiple projects: “We’ve used it as a split console, with the expander section acting as sends to tape, using the 312 mic amps +550b EQs,” he says. “We then use the first sixteen 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, KORE will continue work on ” a top secret album project for an international artist.” While the artist’s identity may be a secret, Apsion’s feelings on the console are not. “It seems to bring out the best in the other gear we connect to it, as the headroom is so impressive. The 1608 is a beautifully engineered, reliable and astonishing piece of equipment.”
