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The Serious Play recording sessions were the first large-scale multi-track project that I had undertaken since I bought my digital multitrack hardware. Mike and I used the entire house that we were renting to provide acoustical separation. The end result of the process was a six-track digital recording. A pair of AKG C1000S mics were used in X-Y configuration for stereo drum overheads. A Sennheiser MD-504 was used for the guitar amp, which was isolated in the laundry room. A Sennheiser MD-421 was used on the bass amp, which was isolated in the den. Two RCA Type 77-DX ribbon microphones were used for the saxophones, each of which were located in separate bedrooms. The guitarist and bassist were in the living room with the drummer for eye-to-eye contact.

The tracks were recorded through a Mackie 32 channel 8-bus console to an Echo Layla installed in a 200MHz Pentium Pro PC. Five discrete headphone mixes were created for the recording process. After recording, careful mixing and creative use of an Ensoniq DP-4 effects unit allowed us to re-constructed a realistic sonic space from the discretely recorded tracks. The mixes were monitored on Event 20/20 monitors, a pair of RG Labs 2-way monitors, and Gredo and AKG headphones.

Recording space layout, as drawn by Mike.

In addition to recording this album for AE, I also ended up doing most of the artwork for the packaging. The centerpiece was really the fantastic picture of Seann on the back cover, taken by Kim. Kim also took most of the other indoor pictures. I took the group shot used for the front cover and the picture of Will drinking in the tall grass on the inside cover.