It's important to bear in mind that there is no 'typical' session. Whatever the music, whatever the line-up - every session is different is some way, which is what makes it so interesting.

The main reason I have split the process into 2 'genres' is Drumkit Sounds. It is a generalisation to do so (especially because of the crossover and fusion styles of jazz rock, folk rock, jazz folk, folky jazz, etc. blah) but is only meant to be a guide to people who have no experience of recording or have only experienced situations with little space and flexability. Courtyard has lots of space and this makes the recording process very flexable.

WHY DOES IT CENTRE ON THE DRUMKIT?

Because it's usually loud and has a wide range of frequencies.

Example 1: 7-piece 'Modern Jazz' line-up. 3 saxes, trumpet, acoustic piano, upright bass, drums • All the musicians in the main live room • Brass players in a line and each close mic'd - very little spillage between them because of the high level of the instruments and the directional microphones • Bass next to the drumkit - inevitably, because the drummer is playing dynamically, when it's loud there is lots of drumkit on the bass mic but the close proximity prevents the spillage from sounding distant which could take away some of the prescence of the kit in the mix. There are lots of other techniques but the main point is that in this case the musicians are arranged in the room in such a way that they perform at their best and the sound of the band in the room is captured - the whole ensemble, as opposed to the individuals. This particular recording went straight to 2-track digital and although there were several takes of some pieces there were no edits - they just picked the favourite performance. This is exactly how a choir or string section would usually be recorded - as an ensemble which balances itself.

Example 2 : 3-piece 'Improvised Jazz' line-up. Violin, double bass, drums. This time the drumkit went in the big isolation booth (also known as the Lounge Bar- Booth). Drummer still had complete eye-contact with the other two. The reason for this arrangement was because of it being such an open sound; isolating the kit made it possible to really make the most of the sound of the strings in the room and use some tasteful 'churchy' reverb on the fiddle without it restricting the possibilities for the kit sound. The project was to record and mix a completely improvised album in a day so it was important for the musicians to get playing reasonably swiftly. If we'd spent half a day setting up and then come back the next day for them to create it we could have positioned the kit in the main room in such a way that the spillage was controlled and the trio balanced themselves. This wouldn't have been better, it would just have been different. The important thing about 'recording tools' (whether it's a room, a compressor or a digital guitar processor) is that it can be used fo the benefit of the end result. For the benefit of the performance. The music. It's not there to be an advertisement for itself. There can be many different ways of getting to an equally suitable / acceptable / enjoyable end result.

Example 3 : The Albion Band. Acoustic piano, acousitic guitar + 2 vocals. This particular song was just male and female vocals over the piano and guitar. The song hadn't been performed live and wasn't what could be called over-rehearsed. At this time Simon Nicol was a quarter of the band and with his commitments with Fairport Convention and the other three quarters of the band's commitments (Ashley Hutchings, Chris While & Julie Matthews) the time available for the Albions was very limited (in fact a lot was done the week between Christmas and New Year). Simon & Julie played the backing together, the piano in the live room, the guitar in the large booth. There was interaction between the instruments and needed to be recorded simultaneously but by isolating the guitar Simon had the bonus of being able to fix any slight finger slips without us having to put spillage (however minimal or sonically pleasing it might be) into the equation. Often, it's nice for musicians to be in the same room from a purely psycholigical angle, it's ok isolating the sound but not necessarily the musician. The spillage between the piano & guitar would have been neglible if they had been in the same room (pianissimo & fingerpicking) but capturing the performance swiftly, with the right atmosphere took precedence over the potential warmth and richness of an expensive guitar played by expensive fingers into expensive microphones in an expensive room. It was the same guitar, fingers and mics so it still sounded fantastic.

Example 4 : The Albion Band again. 3 acoustic guitars, acoustic bass, 4 vocals. All in the live room, seated in a circle. This relied heavily on close eye contact and probably sensing each others breaths between vocal lines. Dynamic mics were used on the vocals (rather than large diaphragm condensors) because it was certainly supposed to have the feel of a 'live stage performance' but also, it did improve the acceptability of fixing any less than perfect vocals because there was very little spillage on the vocals. As it happened.....they didn't have to fix anything.

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courtyard recording studios • gorsey mount street • waterloo road • stockport • cheshire • SK1 3BU

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