Just to put a disclaimer. During the live recordings i could not attend to any of them, but i wrote this production log based on the pictures i got access to.
Layout / Plan:
This sheet basically explains everything for the live recording, this is a layout for the live recording set up where instruments are being placed into one room such as drums, guitars, and bass are all in the same room as well as room microphones capturing the ambience.
The left side of the layout represents the drum kit, the large circles is the kick and the floor tom, smaller circles are the rack toms, and the thin circles are the cymbals / hi hats. They are being placed on the left of the wall because of the reflection being controlled, keeping the drums from bleeding too hard on the guitar amps, and letting the room mics capturing a decent balanced stereo image.
The top wall is the bass & lead guitar the bass guitar amp that it’s being for used is the bass guitar ashdown amplifier, it’s typically miked close to the amp, and the bass is being kept away from the corners to avoid the low end buildup / rumbling. The lead guitar is being placed on the top right which is being connected to the fender hot rod amp to give that bright, punchy feeling on the amp. The placement being near the wall helps because it contains the volume, and also aiming the speaker away from the drums (which is quite often close miked).
The bottom center side of the layout is the Roland Jazz Chorus amplifier which it’s being connected to the rhythm guitar, the reason for the use of this amplifier for the rythm guitar is because jazz chorus sounds clean, wide in stereo, and capable in the stereo field in which the chorus effect implies separation from the lead guitar.
The center side of the layout which it’s sort of in the middle of everything are the room mics for the use of stereo pairing. The purpose of the stereo mics are to basically capture that natural reverb sound, gluing the band together when recording, and finally add depth and some realism into the mix.
This overall works because of the separation (drums / amps being spread out), stereo image (lead and rythm guitar being on opposite sides), controlled bleed (enough to spill out that live feel), and finally room character (which it captures the energy of everyone playing together because of the central room mics). And finally for the room mics they have used the102 Neumann TLM 102 Microphone, and the Sontronics STC –10 to add some more colour to the live recording. The pictures of the set up is attached bellow:
Drums:
Room Microphones:
Amps:
The Rest (guitars):
Method 1: Live Band / Ensemble
Pre-Production:
For this live recording they have found a 4 piece jazz band that that consist of drums, bass, lead guitar, and rhythm guitar (which are the instruments from the layout), before they started the band recording they all sat together and listened to the song before they would get to the full recording process. theyhave also taken notes of the preferences the musicians wanted to prefer, and made a basic layout plan for the room (which both plans are attached above)
I think the most essential part of this process was having to choose the right microphones for this particular session. On the overheads they basically used an x and y pair, they are being angled toward each other so they can form a stereo configuration. For the snare drum they used a SM57 microphone which is being stand mounted above the snare angled forward. For the mic which is inside the kick drum they used a Audix d6 microphone which is in and out, the mic is being placed inside which is close to the beater, and there’s another microphone that’s just being placed outside the resonant section. For the toms they used the AKG C414 microphone in which each tom has a condenser mic being positioned to the head. The bass recording setup has a audix D6 microphone being set up and capturing the low end from the bass amp, and it’s also being connected to a LH500 amp as a replacement with the gold mike to have that clean, reliable bass type of signal going straight to the desk. The rhythm guitar has an SM57 mic (which it’s quite common for that punchy mid focused / close miking guitar amps, and a RE20 dynamic mic to make the low end fuller, and having the top end smoother (which it’s often blended with the SM57 to add body to it). For the lead guitar they used an SM57 as a close up mig (again), and for the dynamic mic they used a Heil mic (in which these are popular on guitar amps for clarity, and slightly different in character compared to the SM57).
Project Management:
The project management for this looks quite straight forward, this was recorded on the 4th of December 2025, the room was on 113, from 10am to 4pm. I would assume they used the first few hour and a half to set up the microphones, and getting the instruments ready for session, the mixes were completed in which they were on the 4th of December 2025, and 6th of January 2026 (according to the pictures), they recorded instruments like the guitar manually, and used the time to comp everything together that’s been recorded onto the pro tools file.
Method 2: Overdubbing Production:
For the jazz session they have used the Yamaha acoustic drum kit, and the kit is being placed on a rug which is standard for practice. The kit has the kick drum being prevented from sliding, reduces the floor reflections (in other words the long tail after a hit), and it overall helps the low end being a little tightened.
The microphone set up is quite simple, it mostly includes close overheads for the mic setup, the kick drum has a mic being set up inside which it’s just at the port of the kick drum, the snare and toms have close microphones being positioned near those particular drum kits. The mics are being angles like this because they wanted to get a clean hit out of it that sounds satisfactory, and sort of minimalize the bleed from the cymbals.
For the overheads they positioned two microphones that are mounted high above the drum kit left and right, they are positioned like this because they wanted to capture the full stereo image in order to make the drums sound real and wide in the stereo field, and powerful enough to sound clear, make the cymbals sound bright in the stereo, and have the overall drum kit balance sound clean.
For the acoustic treatment (that’s being on both sides of the drum kit) they basically added isolation panels to reduce reflections on the drum kit, have the room controlled in sound, have the cymbals prevented from splashing out too hard into the room. The reason they added these isolation panels is because they basically help in making the drum sound tighter and more controlled which it’s quite useful in modern productions.
For the cables and stands they’re basically being placed like this all over the floor around the drum kit so it can go through the patch bay in the control room. they wanted to have the microphone stands positioned a little carefully so they avoid being hit while the drums are playing and maintaining a consistent microphone replacement.
Synth:
For the jazz session they have used the Nord Electro keyboard (which it’s popular stage keyboard for instruments like piano, and organ), the synth is placed on a keyboard stand with some cables already being connected underneath the synth in which it also helps with handling noise, and accidental bumps while also allowing natural interaction with other musicians during live recording.
The microphone placements on this one is quite basic, it’s being placed close and angled towards the keyboard and the player which it’s super helpful with signal clarity (closer distance means stronger signal, less preamp needed to gain, and less noise), and the angling avoids harsh plosives / unwanted mechanical sounds.
For the acoustic panel placement behind this instrument, they basically placed the instrument in front of the acoustic panels so they can absorb the early reflections to reduce the clarity and detail, preventing the sound bouncing into the mic, and having kept the recording dry to have that reduced / minimal sound for the synth.
Project management:
The project management for this also looks quite straight forward, this one was seemingly recorded on the 6th of January 2026 (according to the pictures), and i would assume they spent quite some time on setting up the microphones / instruments and used the time to comp everything together that’s been recorded onto the pro tools file.
