Who:	Robert L. Smith
What:	Defy Recordings, New York City
API Gear:	512c, 550b, 560, 525, 7800, 8200, Lunchboxes

Briefly: Defy Recordings is home base for engineer/producer Robert L. Smith. 20 years in New York has provided a depth of experience that continues to grow. Sharing that with Rickie Lee Jones, David Bowie, Gwar, and Meatloaf, among others, has provided invaluable insight to projects with Paul Brill, Cynthia Dillenbeck, and a new record with songwriter Stacie Rose. Recording and mixing the scores for films such as "Waitress" (Keri Russell, Adrienne Shelly), "Gray Matters" (Heather Graham, Bridget Moynahan), and a documentary on the genocide in Darfur "The Devil Came On Horseback", round out a unique approach to music production in this DAW age.

From The Street: "API is essential to every recording I make. Artists and musicians will ask me "What are you doing to the sound?" when they hear themselves through headphones. My signal chain of 512c-550b-525 makes any instrument sound already mixed. There is not one sound source that it does not excel on reproducing. I'm not one to rely on EQ, but the 550b and 560 graphic will make a good sound exceptional. And I won't even bother recording electric guitar without a 512c and a Beyer m160! You can't lose starting a project with an API front end, monitored and mixed through the analog summing of the 7800/8200."

"Next on the list is two 7600's and a 2500 compressor."
"Thanks for making me look brilliant!"

More Word From the Street...