Who:Pete Grossmann & Andy Nelson

What:Grossmann: Owner, Engineer, Producer; Nelson: Engineer, Producer

Where:Chicago, IL

API Gear:550As, 560

Nelson: "I really enjoy API's simplicity. I don't need a million and one knobs and switches and modes; API gives me only the most important parameters so I can work quickly and efficiently. When I turn a knob, I want something to happen, and I want it to sound good. With API gear, I can keep boosting the EQ, cranking the gain, lowering the threshold, and it all still sounds good."

Grossmann: "I've known the API name ever since becoming involved with recording, paging through magazines like Tape Op. The A room at Columbia College Chicago was equipped with an API Legacy console and is where I really got to experience API gear first hand. Every studio I freelanced at before opening Bricktop had at least one 3124+ which I would delegate to drums and other high priority sources."

"I would tell someone thinking of purchasing an API console to stop thinking and take the plunge. Having API gear in your studio shows you care about your client's sound and it will probably sway them in your favor against a studio without API."

"The sound is what I like best about API. The 550A EQs are my go-to for almost everything. The EQ points are perfectly selected and the unit imparts the iconic 'in your face' API sound we all know. API, to my ears, always just sounds right. The EQ and mic pres sound wonderfully detailed and open when not pushed, but more often than not I like to drive these units into saturation for an even more exaggerated, aggressive sound. The best part of tracking through API gear though, in my opinion, is how several instances of it sit in a mix. The mixes I've worked on tracked mostly through API pres and EQs seem to fall together with the right amount of separation, punch and glue."

Bricktop was founded in 2006 when owner Peter Grossmann graduated from Columbia College Chicago for Audio. Then it was just a warehouse with Grossmann, Nelson, and their band. Now Bricktop is a commercial studio with a control room, a live room with 20' ceilings and a dead room. The newest additions to the studio are a second control room and isolation room, which just began booking last fall. The studio has worked with artists such as Harm's Way, Weekend Nachos, Foundation, Dead in the Dirt, and Veil of Maya.

More: Website; Instagram, Facebook
Contact: bricktoprecording@gmail.com; Twitter