The setting:  Scalar Fields was recorded at Studio Traumwald in northern Massachusetts. All the recording sessions took place late at night; usually beginning around 10:00 PM and running into the early morning hours.  The live room at Studio Traumwald consists of an 11-foot peaked ceiling, stone and barnwood asymmetrical walls, and thick carpeting.  It makes for a beautiful sounding acoustical space.  The element of the late-night black-velvet silence and stillness of the New England countryside makes for a wonderful and inspirational recording environment.

The technical:  The recording process was very direct; both figuratively and literally. Each of us was close-mic'ed using a stereo pair of microphones. The primary mic is most of what is heard in the final mix; the secondary mic is panned to the opposite stereo channel, and brought up in the mix very subtly.  This provides for a fuller and wider stereo image, but without losing the individual placement (left vs. right channels) of each instrument.  The microphones which were used are as follows.

Microtech Gefell M-930 (my primary mic)
Microtech Gefell M-300 (Siegfried's primary mic)
Neumann KM-184 (my secondary)
Neumann TLM-103 (Siegfried's secondary)
AKG 414-XLII (sometimes replacing the KM-184 or the TLM-103 as a secondary)
 

Here is a studio log sheet from the recording session of April 22, 2005.

A purist approach was utilized at every step of the recording process.  The microphones were routed through two microphone preamps: a Millennia HV-3C (for my stereo pair), and a Sytek MPX-4Aii (for Siegfried's stereo pair).  Both preamps were selected for their pristine, pure and uncolored amplification; especially the Millennia.  All studio cabling is Mogami Neglex.  From the two mic preamps, the lines ran into a 24-bit 16-track digital recorder.  No EQ, compression or limiting was used; either in the live recordings or during mixdown.  Not using compression or limiting means that the overall volume level of the final CD will be somewhat lower than most other CDs.  However, the beauty of no compression is that the full and natural dynamic range is captured.  No equalization used; either during the live recording or during the mix or mastering.  No studio tricks; no overdubs.  What the listener hears on the CD is exactly how the compositions were performed in the recording studio.  The only effect which was used was the addition of Kurzweil digital reverb during the final mix. 

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