pan60
01-24-2009, 07:58 PM
V14 - 4-Band VPR 500 Format Equalizer REVIEW
An Interview With Larry Droppa of Arsenal Audio by API and API
pan60: Give us some insight into yourself, Larry. Tell us as a little bit about yourself.
Larry: There is an early Police song called ?Born in the 50?s? ? that?s me. I had an interest in electronics and things mechanical from an early age when I would disassemble just about anything I could ? radios, record players and the like. I went to college and studied electronics, worked for a communications company, and later an audio service shop, all while hanging around various bands and sound companies. Eventually, I got to work for a sound company, then went on the road, moved up in the business and toured extensively for the next 18 years, 12 of which were spent as the in-ear monitor engineer for Stevie Wonder.
pan60: Sounds like a very fun, as well as a fulfilling career. Any hobbies, or is it all work?
Larry: ALL WORK ? no. I enjoy building R/C cars for fun and have even ventured into R/C helicopters a little. I shoot way too much home video (ask my kids), and like to do the occasional edit job for a home movie.
pan60: I have been wanting to get into the R/C cars, but there just isn't time. Maybe, some day in the future. R/C anything has always fascinated me.
As I understand, you have a history in the audio world aside from API? Are you a musician, or just an audio engineer?
Larry: Most of my audio experience has been in live sound, as I have mixed both FOH and monitors over the years. The time with Stevie Wonder was mixing stereo to in-ears, which is like a mixing house for a very small audience! The best part was that any acoustic feedback on stage was never my fault! (We carried an FOH engineer, a wedge monitor engineer and me.) I have always approached the sound business from the engineering side. I am not a musician, but seem to be able to bring out what musicians and the audience like to hear.
I helped start ATI (Audio Toys, Inc.), in 1988 to manufacture live sound gear, became sole owner in 1993, and have enjoyed the success and popularity of the Paragon consoles and associated ATI rack gear for live sound to this day.
I believe I was fortunate to be able to acquire API in 1999 and continue the fabulous heritage of discrete analog audio products that API is known for. We have worked very hard to re-energize the brand, improve quality control and reliability, and make sure that manufacturing is able to keep all our products in stock, while at the same time, re-engineering some discontinued products and designing some new ones.
pan60: Well, it would seem your hard work is paying off. I think API is more popular than ever!
So tell me, ARSENAL AUDIO by API, what made you want to start another company?
Larry: API just wasn?t offering enough stress.
pan60: LOL
API not offer enough stress? : )~ Too funny.
Larry: Oops ? guess I should have read ahead! Seriously, we decide on a product or a design by committee. We have meetings to discuss what we should engineer and how it should be built. Over the years, there have been a number of ideas floated about in our engineering 'think sessions' that, while good ideas - don?t lend themselves to the API design parameters. API products, by definition, must have an all discrete signal path, must have transformers and the 2520 op amp (almost always), must have the signature knobs, and must maintain that ?API sound?. We decided that there were enough other ideas and designs that could be turned into products that we were able to justify making those products under a brand name that had no design limits.
On a couple of occasions so far, we have been accused of bringing out a lower priced version of API, which is decidedly not the design criteria. It just so happens that the products we currently have for Arsenal Audio by API are less expensive than the regular line of API products. This is due largely to the design and specific parts, not that we have ?cheapened? the circuit or audio quality.
pan60: As everyone knows, or will know, I have the V14 EQs and I, in no way, feel there is any cheapened quality!
How did the name ARSENAL AUDIO by API come to be?
Larry: We don?t pretend to suppose that one product or one kind of product is the only choice that artists and engineers need to have in the studio these days. We recognize that to maximize your creative options, you need to have a number of choices in your ?arsenal?. The product name just went from there.
An Interview With Larry Droppa of Arsenal Audio by API and API
pan60: Give us some insight into yourself, Larry. Tell us as a little bit about yourself.
Larry: There is an early Police song called ?Born in the 50?s? ? that?s me. I had an interest in electronics and things mechanical from an early age when I would disassemble just about anything I could ? radios, record players and the like. I went to college and studied electronics, worked for a communications company, and later an audio service shop, all while hanging around various bands and sound companies. Eventually, I got to work for a sound company, then went on the road, moved up in the business and toured extensively for the next 18 years, 12 of which were spent as the in-ear monitor engineer for Stevie Wonder.
pan60: Sounds like a very fun, as well as a fulfilling career. Any hobbies, or is it all work?
Larry: ALL WORK ? no. I enjoy building R/C cars for fun and have even ventured into R/C helicopters a little. I shoot way too much home video (ask my kids), and like to do the occasional edit job for a home movie.
pan60: I have been wanting to get into the R/C cars, but there just isn't time. Maybe, some day in the future. R/C anything has always fascinated me.
As I understand, you have a history in the audio world aside from API? Are you a musician, or just an audio engineer?
Larry: Most of my audio experience has been in live sound, as I have mixed both FOH and monitors over the years. The time with Stevie Wonder was mixing stereo to in-ears, which is like a mixing house for a very small audience! The best part was that any acoustic feedback on stage was never my fault! (We carried an FOH engineer, a wedge monitor engineer and me.) I have always approached the sound business from the engineering side. I am not a musician, but seem to be able to bring out what musicians and the audience like to hear.
I helped start ATI (Audio Toys, Inc.), in 1988 to manufacture live sound gear, became sole owner in 1993, and have enjoyed the success and popularity of the Paragon consoles and associated ATI rack gear for live sound to this day.
I believe I was fortunate to be able to acquire API in 1999 and continue the fabulous heritage of discrete analog audio products that API is known for. We have worked very hard to re-energize the brand, improve quality control and reliability, and make sure that manufacturing is able to keep all our products in stock, while at the same time, re-engineering some discontinued products and designing some new ones.
pan60: Well, it would seem your hard work is paying off. I think API is more popular than ever!
So tell me, ARSENAL AUDIO by API, what made you want to start another company?
Larry: API just wasn?t offering enough stress.
pan60: LOL
API not offer enough stress? : )~ Too funny.
Larry: Oops ? guess I should have read ahead! Seriously, we decide on a product or a design by committee. We have meetings to discuss what we should engineer and how it should be built. Over the years, there have been a number of ideas floated about in our engineering 'think sessions' that, while good ideas - don?t lend themselves to the API design parameters. API products, by definition, must have an all discrete signal path, must have transformers and the 2520 op amp (almost always), must have the signature knobs, and must maintain that ?API sound?. We decided that there were enough other ideas and designs that could be turned into products that we were able to justify making those products under a brand name that had no design limits.
On a couple of occasions so far, we have been accused of bringing out a lower priced version of API, which is decidedly not the design criteria. It just so happens that the products we currently have for Arsenal Audio by API are less expensive than the regular line of API products. This is due largely to the design and specific parts, not that we have ?cheapened? the circuit or audio quality.
pan60: As everyone knows, or will know, I have the V14 EQs and I, in no way, feel there is any cheapened quality!
How did the name ARSENAL AUDIO by API come to be?
Larry: We don?t pretend to suppose that one product or one kind of product is the only choice that artists and engineers need to have in the studio these days. We recognize that to maximize your creative options, you need to have a number of choices in your ?arsenal?. The product name just went from there.