Automated Processes, Inc.

[1] Staffed by engineers and musicians with a vision to create high quality professional audio gear, throughout the seventies API mixing consoles and processors achieved considerable popularity in recording studios, including Decca,[2] The Hit Factory, Sunset Sound, Updown Studios, RAK Studios;[3] major broadcast facilities, including ABC, NBC, CBS, BBC; and others, including Eastman School of Music, the White House, Washington National Cathedral, the United States Marine Band.

Notable users included Les Paul, Jimmy Page, Leon Russell, The Doobie Brothers, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder.

[4][5] During this golden era for recording, API achieved a number of firsts, including conductive plastic faders; a computer-programmable console with automation of EQ, sends, pans and faders which eventually became Total Recall; the first Voltage Controlled Amplifier (VCA) designed by Walker; an early tape synchronizer system; and micro-processor based crosspoint intercoms for broadcast and production, which become the basis for the discrete series bus assignment system.

Founder Saul Walker and most of the original engineers, including Sid Zimet, Michael Tapes, and Paul Galburt, who had designed the API 554 sweep and the 954 automated equalizers, went to work for Sound Workshop.

API's modular design allows individual signal processor modules to be added to a recording system as budget allows.