From Planning to Recording a Live Session (and Why You Need a Plan B)

Published: Fri, 11/06/15

I've got two videos today about a live recording session we did last weekend.

The first one goes into the planning phase of prepping the session and thinking things through before the session even starts, something I very much like doing.

How to Plan a Live Recording Session

If you like the thought process behind planning sessions I give away another session I did in Mexico last year where I prepared a live recording session of an 8 piece funk fusion band as a part of Recording Strategies.

Preparing the session is incredibly important so that you've at least given everything some thought. But, sometimes the session doesn't go exactly as you had planned, which is why you also plan for contingencies.
I know that Plan B isn't the preferable option, but as you'll see in the next video it can still give you better results.

Insights Into a Live Recording Session

Use your microphone as your EQ

As you saw in the last video, we moved the mics around until the overall sound sounded good.

We didn't just resort to strict guidelines but we experimented until things started sounding interesting.

We definitely ended up with some weird mic placements but we actually liked the overall sound. In that way we used our microphones as an EQ. By moving the mic around we changed the frequency response of the instruments until it sounded good to us.

That's the power of mic placement, something I talk in-depth about in my Recording Strategies package.

But if you're stuck with pre-recorded sounds and you need to EQ them after the fact, my EQ Strategies guide will show you the way.