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API Fever Spreads through Japan

In their latest March-April issue, Pro AVL Asia published a feature story on Studio Tanta — a new studio located in the Shibuya area of Japan, close to national broadcaster NHK. After a decade of planning and a three year construction process, Tanta's grand opening made quite a splash. What's more, the expansive, state-of-the-art facility houses not one, but two API consoles. A 48-channel Legacy AXS console has been installed into the control room of the third-floor Studio A, while a 32-channel 1608 resides in the control room of Studio B.

"Tokyo's main studios are primarily fitted with Neve or SSL boards, but I was looking for something different to characterize and distinguish Tanta," says Tanta's Managing Director Tomoyuki Fukuda. "I was fortunate to meet many famous engineers in the US who introduced me to API's legendary analog sound, and from there I made contact with the factory near Baltimore. It's encouraging to see artists in the US still preferring the warmth and depth of analog audio."

While several 1608s are installed in Japan, as well as two 64-channel Vision consoles at the neighboring NHK Broadcast, the AXS at Tanta is the first large-format API console to be installed into a commercial Japanese studio.

Hiro Saika, Director of API's Japanese distributor Mixwave, who completed the two console sales is optimistic that Studio Tanta is influencing the Japanese market.

"The next console to be installed is a 64-channel Legacy AXS for Tokyo College of Music," says Saika. "And I think that was helped by Tanta."