Manufacturer News
It's API All The Way For Joe Chiccarelli
By Staff
Oct 7, 2007, 01:35

Joe Chiccarelli

After a couple of decades working in a multitude of studios with a wide cross-section of artists as an engineer, producer and mixer, Joe Chiccarelli has had the opportunity to try many different types and brands of recording equipment. But one brand became a constant early on in his career, and has become integral to Chiccarelli's typical signal path--API (Booth 248).

"API always is my guitar sound," reveals Chiccarelli. "There's a certain mid-range presence and aggression that the API preamps and EQs have that nothing else has. I like how forceful it is and how it projects through the mix."

One notable recent example is Icky Thump, the new full-length release from the White Stripes, he says. "All the guitars are through API 550As. I don't think there's anything else on them but 550As. The preamps varied, but the EQs were always API. That's the sound of Jack White's guitar on all of the new record."

On a typical project, he explains, "I tend to use API 560 EQs on kick drums. I almost always use 550A EQs on electric guitars and 550Bs on acoustic guitars. I love the clarity of the upper end harmonics for stringed instruments. No matter what preamps are used, API is always part of the equation. On a recent project for BMG artists Judd & Maggie I've been using the API 2500 compressor as a drum submix compressor and a piano compressor. I've even used it on the stereo buss. It's a fantastic box."

API also helped defined the sound of the critically acclaimed new album from The Shins, Wincing the Night Away, not to mention attain the band's first certified Gold album.

Chiccarelli fell in love with the API sound early in his career. "I've been around API consoles since the early '80s, working at the Record Plant in L.A. with Frank Zappa. And I still use this gear every single day."

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