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"Despacito" Engineer Learned the Ropes with API

Even if you haven't heard the hit song "Despacito," you've probably heard of it—it sat atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a record 16 weeks, and its music video remains the most watched on YouTube with a jaw-dropping 4.80 billion views. The song won several Latin Grammy Awards including Song and Record of the Year, and was nominated in these same categories for the North American Grammy Awards.

What you may not know is that the Engineer responsible for this global hit, Luis "Salda" Saldarriaga, got his start on API consoles. Salda studied music production and engineering at Berklee College of Music, which is home to several API Vision and 1608 consoles.

"I got the chance to do some of the first sessions in the new studios Berklee built recently," said Salda in a recent interview with Resolution magazine. "It's probably way better than most people will get when they're working in a professional music production environment! They have a bunch of API Legacy consoles... it's a bit like being in a toy factory for a kid!"