The Phoenyx Big Band is a local group comprised of 11 horn players, accompanied by a vocalist and a rhythm section of drums, bass, keyboards and guitar. They will be recording an EP, which will include some new compositions by band leader Burt Gutierrez, and wanted to track the album live, with the whole band ‘in the room.” The band chose The Sound Palace’s Studio “B” for the project because of its large tracking room.
The band was in studio for a warmup rehearsal on January 15, 2022. An excerpt of the rehearsal showing the setup on the tracking room floor can be seen in this short video.
Recording engineers Pat Murphy and Bill Davis will be working the recording session together which will involve deploying over 20 microphones. With so many instruments playing at once, dynamic (rather than ribbon or condenser) microphones will be used. Their directional characteristics should provide some measure of sonic isolation.