Shawn Everett recently took time out of his busy schedule to talk to us about his studio's new 1608. While the studio is relatively new —and remains unnamed—that hasn't stopped him from putting down deep roots in L.A. and developing more each year. Everett knows who to rely on for the best gear, as he bought his console from Vintage King Los Angeles; and VK is one of the largest dealers of API gear in the United States.

Everett has been familiar with the API brand "probably since I was about 16—when I was first starting to record." Ever since then he has been fixated on having an API console of his own. The 16 channel 1608 has been on his wish list for a while, but he hopes it's just the beginning of his console collection from us. "I wanted an API forever. Now I have a space that's quite large, and I'm slowly growing through it—I thought in the future I might add to the 1608; or," added Everett somewhat mysteriously, "I've always wanted a white API." The studio has also recorded some big names as they've expanded. "Mostly we record under the umbrella of rock, like indie rock, especially. We've had Weezer, Julian Casablanca from the Strokes, Alabama Shakes; those are just three." The most recent project Everett talked about was a live DVD recorded in the studio with guitarist Blake Milles and singer/songwriter Fiona Apple.

The studio has an exciting road ahead, as well, although Everett was decidedly tight-lipped on the details of that road. "There's like fifteen things going on in there at the same time—but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to talk about it!" He is more than happy, however, to talk about how the 1608 is getting used and will continue to change the way they work without compromising their sound. "I was dragging around a lot of mic pres and lunchboxes everywhere, and now it feels more like I have a real studio. I can pull up any session on the console, turn off the computer, and just use the tape deck. Generally I'll track and mix through it, sometimes I'll use it as a hybrid where I'll have stems going through it, sometimes I'll be working on the big machine and using pro-tools at the same time...it's pretty multi-faceted."

Although it was Everett's first API console, it was not his first piece of our gear. "I've got a bunch of API 500 Series stuff, two other pres, and a bunch of equalizers." Having grown up using API consoles and gear his whole career, Everett has a pretty good basis for comparison between our other units and his new 1608. "It feels like I'm working on the same thing, it always feels very fluid to me, it's like my old home. It sounds awesome and feels robust and sounds extremely amazing. It's a rad console, basically."