Fall Out Boy’s Joe Trohman turns to API

Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman has installed an API 1608 console in his new home studio, The Rat Cave, in Los Angeles.

Much of the band’s latest album American Beauty/American Psycho was cut on the console, purchased last year through salesman Jeff Leibovich at API dealer Vintage King. Trohman says he first became familiar with the API brand when the first Fall Out Boy album was released in 2003.

“I remember when I was 17 or 18, working on the first proper Fall Out Boy record, using the API 550b,” he recalled. “Great for shaping guitar and bass.” Familiarity with the API sound later led him to consider the 1608 after deciding to create a studio in his L.A. home.

“Originally, I wanted to have a few EQ’s, limiters/compressors, and maybe eight mic pres. However, I felt I was only going halfway and that I could get a little more out of a console. Every time I looked at consoles, it kept coming back to the 1608.”

In the end, Trohman loaded his 1608 with twelve 550As and four 560s. “Having those at my disposal in line with 16 killer mic pres is a dream come true,” he stated. “The 500 processors and mic pres are amazing. Everything sounds incredible tracked through the console, and the EQs take everything to the next level. No matter how incredible plugins sound, great analog gear still sounds the most three-dimensional to me.”

“I love the aesthetic, as most of us do. My work flow has sped up. Everything happens faster and it’s way easier for me to dial what I want when I’m actually turning knobs, versus running it in the box entirely,” he remarked. Trohman also noted that he’s “pleased with how easy it is to integrate my DAW with the 1608. I like having a hybrid of in and out of the box going on, so it’s nice that it was very easy to achieve that.”

When asked what he’s been working on with his console, he says 90% of studio time still goes towards Fall Out Boy, but alongside work with his heavy-metal project The Damned Things and the Danish band New Politics, Trohman also does some work for television spots.

“I’m very happy that I own this console. It has completely changed my workflow and the quality of what I make,” he concluded. 

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