Just Blaze Upgrades Studio With New API 1608 Console

Just Blaze, the legendary hip-hop producer behind hits for Jay-Z, Eminem, Kanye West, and countless others, recently upgraded his studio with an API 1608-II Special Edition console. With eight GRAMMY nominations and over two decades of experience crafting groundbreaking beats, Just Blaze turned to Vintage King Audio Consultant David Chessey to help integrate the new console into his studio. We caught up with Just Blaze to discuss how things are going with his new API desk, his approach to combining digital and analog workflows, and how working with Vintage King helped him find the perfect console to match his creative vision. Can you tell us a bit about what inspired you to upgrade to the all-white API 1608-II Special Edition console? To be honest, it was initially purely aesthetic. I love the look of it.  I've always used API gear. Going back to our Baseline Studios days, which was my former studio in the 90s and 2000s, we always had a ton of API gear. I was looking for some new inspiration, to be honest. One of the things that I always tell people is that sometimes a change of environment is all you need to change your inspiration, change the direction, and change how you approach things.

When I saw the color scheme, I was sold. I mean, the 1608s have been around for a very long time at this point. So for me, it was initially the color scheme. Then after I really started to think about it, it was actually just a conversation between me, David, and Ryan McGuire.

We were just talking about API's anniversary EQ—that's where the conversation started. YI was just talking about it. I though, "I'll take that, it might be helpful for the project that I'm working on right now." We started with the EQ and ended up landing on the console unintentionally. It started out aesthetically, but at the end of the day;  I realized that it was one of the missing pieces of my puzzle. What was it like working with David and the Vintage King team during the upgrade process? Super easy. David was great. Ryan of course, was great. Cedric Yee, who's one of the techs at Vintage King was great. It wasn't always simple, but we made it work. I'm an old man. I’m set in my ways, and they found a way to make the console fit into my workflow.  What are some of your favorite features of the new 1608 console? My favorite points of the console are really just the ease of use. The 1608 has been great in terms of sending files and stems to and from my I/O. If nothing else, that's really been the best part of the experience.  Doing my mix in the box, sending it back through the console, and being able to get that extra bit of EQ, that extra bit of level control and whatnot, that’s really been the best part for me. Has it changed your workflow in any way?  It's changed my workflow a thousand percent. It's evolved over time. When I first got the console, it was just like, “Oh, we'll use this as the ultimate summing box on steroids,” and then it was, “Oh, we'll actually use this as a mixer.” Then Ryan is in my ear, like, “Well, wait a minute, if you're doing that, then why wouldn't you use it as an actual console” And I come from consoles. I own an SSL G+ and I own an AWS, which I got from Vintage King actually. Ryan was like, “Why would you use it that way?” I'm like, “Oh, no, I'm trying to still stay in the box.” He was like, “But if you don't stay in the box, you can do X, Y, and Z.”  So that led to me pulling out a bunch of my outboard gear out of storage, and in turn ordering a bunch more outboard gear from Vintage King, which I wasn't planning on doing.  So it's completely changed the way that I approach mixing records, but it's actually been going back to the way that I used to mix records. One thing that I will say is, I keep a folder of unused music, and some of that music is stuff that's bounced straight out of the DAW. Some of the music is stuff that has come straight out of the console, from years before. You can always tell the difference. You can always hear the difference. That's what led me to go back to having the console in the room. I would listen to a two-track and I'm like, “Yeah, that definitely came straight out of Logic and straight out of Pro Tools.” If you hear certain other two tracks, and you're like, "Yeah, that came out of the SSL." For years I was just like, "Oh yeah, that doesn't really matter." Then, ultimately it didn't matter. But I wanted to try something different because I still have the AWS and the G+ consoles. I wanted to try something different and that's why it all worked out.  Great! Which audio interface or converters are you using?  I'm currently using a combination. I have two different rooms. One room is the main room, the mix room; what we have in there is the Antelope Audio Galaxy 32s. The other, my second room, which is the more fun room, so to speak, is where all the synthesizers are. Oh, and there we have three Neve OPXs with the Dante interface. What we're going to do within the next couple of weeks is combine the two rooms and get them all chained up because the Neve OPX has Dante capabilities and my Antelope Galaxy’s already had them built in. So we're just going to combine the two of them so that I can have two rooms chained together with I/O capabilities between each recording system. So that way, if somebody wants to use a synthesizer that I have in my rec room, they can record it in the studio and vice versa. That’s really cool! What monitors are you using these days?  Oh, man - I'm a monitor geek. I grew up with Augspurgers, but since I built a room in my own place, I've gone through everything. I've gone through Focals. I've gone through Barefoot. And where I landed, and where I think I'm going to be staying, is the Ex Machina in both rooms. Dan Physics, who is part of the Ex Machina team – I’ve known Dan for years since we were both kids. About a year or two ago, I called him about doing a trade. We worked that out and then while we're on the phone, he's like, "Hey, I want to talk to you about the speakers we make." And I'm like, "What speakers do you make? What are you talking about?" He's like, "I work with this company, Ex Machina. I've been there since the beginning."  And I'm like, "Oh, I've heard about those because a few friends of mine had been demoing the Ex Machina Quasars. I didn't know you made those! Let’s talk about it." He's like, "I'm putting my speakers in your studio." And they have not left since!  I have Quasars in the main room and Pulsars in my secondary room, and they've been amazing. I also have the Titan surround sound system for our Atmos work. I fully believe in what they're doing. I have not been invested this much in the speaker brand since I was a kid. Back then, I didn't know any better. All I knew were NS10s and Augspurgers. It's been amazing. What mics do you find yourself using most of the time, these days?  I am not that much of a mic nerd, I've realized. Aside from the API, I have 18 channels of stuff. I still have a ton of SSL stuff. And all my friends see that, they're like, "Oh, you must have the most amazing mics." And I'm like, "Yeah, I really don’t." I do have a Sony C800G, a Neumann U87, and that's it. I don't have a huge mic collection, but for what I do in terms of Hip Hop, we just really need to capture the vocals and we can figure it out from there.  So I don't have a huge mic locker. I’m lying. I do have more mics than that, but those are the two mics that we always use.    What are a few of your favorite pieces of outboard gear?  I’ve been a Neve guy for a very long time, so I still run vocals through my trustee Neve. I get asked about this all the time;  The traditional Baseline Studios vocal chain, like the Jay-Z vocal chain, has always been: a U87 into a CL 1B and a 1073. That's all we've always used. Every once in a while, we'll use C800G, still going through the Tube Tech and the 1073. That's the only variation we've ever had. As we've gotten older, we've experimented with different chains and just having fun with it. We've always kept it simple and kept the same for the last 20 years. The only thing that we have changed is the mic every once in a while. It seems like you’ve picked up quite a few vintage pieces from Vintage King over the years. What is it about Vintage King that you prefer?  I don't remember the year, but I was working on an Eminem album, I think it was 2009 or 2010, and one of the Strange Brothers, I don't know if it was Mike or Joe Strange, was like, "Have you been to Vintage King? They're right up the street."  At the time, the showroom was up the street from Em's studio. They're like, "You gotta go over there!" So I go, and I absolutely fall in love, right? There's stuff that I've bought from there that – to this day – you can't find anywhere! I ended up befriending Ryan. Fast forward 10 years later, I still call him like, "Hey, I'm trying to do X, Y, and Z… I’m trying to figure out how to get this to sound like this, blah, blah, blah." I had no clue that he runs the entire company at this point, right? When I found out, I felt like such a dick because I’m hitting him up on some regular, just like, "Hey, I need a compressor. What should I get?", not knowing that he's the CEO — but he still took days upon end to just chat with me about regular, everyday gear. I would not have expected him to do that. The fact that from the CEO down, everybody just still cares about gear. That's the most important part. He spoke to me like he was an everyday gear sales representative. How do you feel about plug-ins?  I mean, listen, we all got to do what we got to do, right?  There are times when the plug-ins are the best thing to use at that moment. There are times when we can't afford the real deal. There are times when certain companies get the real deal very close to a plug-in. I'm not mad at plug-ins at all. If I can give a shout-out to UAD – I've been a proponent and collaborator of theirs since they started making plug-ins. Here's the thing – none of the boxes or plug-ins dictate how good of a song we're writing. Ultimately, is your song good? That's what matters. Can you tell us a little bit about what your typical day in the studio is like?  I think my typical day is not unlike many others in my position; we're all just trying to figure it out, you know? We come downstairs and turn the music on and we say, "Where is our gear bringing us today?" Are you working on any exciting projects right now that you are able to talk about?  I'm working on something very exciting that I cannot talk about, but what I will say, it's one of the most exciting things I've ever been a part of. I wish I could talk about it, but I won't be able to for probably two years or so. But I can't wait to talk about it because Vintage King has been a huge part of it.