# Recording Live At AIR Studios!!!



## Daniel James (Jul 16, 2017)

Hey All,

I recently got the insane opportunity to record a project at AIR Studios in London with the LMO.

Having up to this point only used samples with the dream of one day getting to record live you can imagine the nerdgasm I had when I found out my first time would be 4 sessions at AIR Studios! ...I mean fuck come on its the Inception room xD

Over the 2 days I learned so much about how I write and where I can improve on certain parts of my craft! I made small mistakes here and there but luckily I was surrounded by the best professionals in all the music fields and they will be mistakes I never make again. Not only did I get to record it feels like I came out with 4 years of higher musical and production education.

I thought it might be fun to share the experience with you guys and hope it drives you to have the opportunity yourselves one day!! Working hard and dreaming harder seems to do the trick 

Session Vlog + Fly on the wall experience.



So lets start with some photos

Live Room (before set up)






The adjustable roof (increases or decreases reverb time)





Jake Jackson our engineer at the desk. (This guy is amazing!!)





View from the balcony.





All the mics up in place.





THE Piano:





Our view.





View from the desk.





The Band.





I live streamed the whole recording it its now up on Youtube if you want to get an idea of how the sessions usually go (the poor audio is on purpose)









I recorded plenty of footage also which I will be turning into a bigger vlog about the journey from preparing to record, to mixing the results. Keep your eyes peeled!

Overall the experience is something that will live with me forever and I thank all of those who helped make it happen. I love you guys 

-DJ

ps one last pensive looking one for prosperity


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## HiEnergy (Jul 16, 2017)

I've watched part of the live stream on twitch. Apart from the unbearable audio quality it was great to watch.
Is there a certain reason for the audio being THAT degraded?


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## and- (Jul 16, 2017)

Thank you so much for sharing this and congratulations. A well deserved opportunity IMO. I love your music and I'm happy that you share so much very useful information.


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## rottoy (Jul 16, 2017)

HiEnergy said:


> I've watched part of the live stream on twitch. Apart from the unbearable audio quality it was great to watch.
> Is there a certain reason for the audio being THAT degraded?


I would assume to keep the music from being pirated or something to that effect.
Or just rights issues.


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## murderbagmitch (Jul 16, 2017)

Cheekily watched the stream live whilst at work :D was amazing to watch unedited footage of a live orchestral recording session, felt like a lurker in the corner XD cheers for sharing Dan, look forward to the vlog!


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## Daniel James (Jul 16, 2017)

rottoy said:


> I would assume to keep the music from being pirated or something to that effect.
> Or just rights issues.



A little of column A, A little of column B 

-DJ


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## NoamL (Jul 16, 2017)

Did you orchestrate DJ? I only heard a bit of the stream but it sounded wonderful!


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## Daniel James (Jul 16, 2017)

NoamL said:


> Did you orchestrate DJ? I only heard a bit of the stream but it sounded wonderful!



Nope let me double check I can talk about the team first then I will fill you in. He was awesome btw! making what I write make sense in a live environment 

-DJ


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## desert (Jul 16, 2017)

Good to see you have grown so much. Congrats on the accomplishment, hope there's many more to come!


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## J-M (Jul 16, 2017)

Congrats, Daniel!


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## gtrwll (Jul 16, 2017)

Congrats, that must have been one hell of an experience!


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## AdamKmusic (Jul 16, 2017)

Very inspirational Daniel, been watching your videos for the past 4/5 years and to see how far you've come only drives me to try and acxhieve the same!


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## bryla (Jul 16, 2017)

Congratulations, Daniel! Hope you enjoyed it! It sure is a great place and great experience.


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## ryanstrong (Jul 16, 2017)

Congrats Daniel, what an amazing opportunity and experience!

Would love a follow up video on what you learned specifically and what mistakes you did that you wouldn't do again!


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## Jetzer (Jul 16, 2017)

Congrats man, so good!


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## Anders Bru (Jul 16, 2017)

Was really cool watching the stream  Looking forward to the vlog!


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## jonathanparham (Jul 16, 2017)

Really enjoyed the live stream and slowly put it together from FB that Andrew was with you


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## artmuz (Jul 16, 2017)

Glad for U Daniel!

Many Neumann and some Gefell in use here. How many tracks will U get?


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## Daniel James (Jul 16, 2017)

artmuz said:


> Glad for U Daniel!
> 
> Many Neumann and some Gefell in use here. How many tracks will U get?


28


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## Daniel James (Jul 16, 2017)

jonathanparham said:


> Really enjoyed the live stream and slowly put it together from FB that Andrew was with you


Yup Andrew is the best


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## Daniel James (Jul 16, 2017)

AdamKmusic said:


> Very inspirational Daniel, been watching your videos for the past 4/5 years and to see how far you've come only drives me to try and acxhieve the same!



I went back and watched my first vlog the other day. The cringe was real xD

-DJ


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## dannymc (Jul 17, 2017)

Daniel James said:


> I went back and watched my first vlog the other day. The cringe was real xD
> 
> -DJ



Congrats on this Dan. did you re-locate back to the UK or are you still LA based? 

Danny


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## jononotbono (Jul 17, 2017)

Really incredible achievement man. Congratulations.


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## John Busby (Jul 17, 2017)

Dreams of composing for Metal Gear Solid = done
Dreams of composing and recording live sesssions at AIR = done
....
what's next bro!?? so proud to be a fan watching all of this


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## Daniel James (Jul 17, 2017)

dannymc said:


> Congrats on this Dan. did you re-locate back to the UK or are you still LA based?
> 
> Danny



I live in LA now. I actually flew back the day after the last session. My body still doesnt know what timezone we live in xD

-DJ


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## Daniel James (Jul 17, 2017)

johnbusbymusic said:


> Dreams of composing for Metal Gear Solid = done
> Dreams of composing and recording live sesssions at AIR = done
> ....
> what's next bro!?? so proud to be a fan watching all of this



I know right! stunning few years, all thanks to the support of you lot though  

The plan is to keep this train running, having the time of my life!!

-DJ


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## emid (Jul 18, 2017)

Watched these videos live. Incredible experience.
And yeah incredible journey as well.
Congrats mate!


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## Daniel James (Sep 24, 2017)

Hey all,

Finally got permission to post the vlog from the session. Hope you all enjoy the fly on the wall experience!



-DJ


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## bryla (Sep 24, 2017)

Daniel James said:


> Hey all,
> 
> Finally got permission to post the vlog from the session. Hope you all enjoy the fly on the wall experience!
> 
> ...



Once again, congratulations! Hope you enjoyed the experience!


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## Daniel James (Sep 24, 2017)

bryla said:


> Once again, congratulations! Hope you enjoyed the experience!



Haha you can see in my shit eating grin every time you see me in the vid that I am having the time of my life XD

-DJ


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## Saxer (Sep 25, 2017)

Love is in the AIR... great stuff


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## bryla (Sep 25, 2017)

Daniel James said:


> Haha you can see in my shit eating grin every time you see me in the vid that I am having the time of my life XD
> 
> -DJ


That first time is especially thrilling!


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## enyawg (Sep 25, 2017)

Fuckin' awesome Daniel & congrats. Re: the Air Studio mics, just incredible... I had a 1956 Neumann M49b(red dot) which I loved dearly.


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## oliverd (Sep 25, 2017)

Amazing well done Daniel! I've been following you on youtube for years and its incredible to see how you've progressed throughout your career. Well done


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## Daniel James (Sep 25, 2017)

enyawg said:


> Fuckin' awesome Daniel & congrats. Re: the Air Studio mics, just incredible... I had a 1956 Neumann M49b(red dot) which I loved dearly.


They have quite the collection I must say haha!

-DJ


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## oliverd (Sep 26, 2017)

Daniel James said:


> They have quite the collection I must say haha!
> 
> -DJ



I can imagine!


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## Daniel James (Sep 26, 2017)

oliverd said:


> I can imagine!


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## URL (Sep 26, 2017)

Like Mic


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## Daniel James (Sep 26, 2017)

URL said:


> Like Mic


lol didnt expect the pics to be so big, sorry about that XD

-DJ


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## Epicurse (Sep 26, 2017)

Like many of us, just wanted to tell you thank you for sharing your achievement with us. We know it takes extra work to get it all setup for us. You are an inspiration to us all. Wish you and your lady great success.

I am where your were 10 years ago, starting and love to know that one day I will be saying: Thanks to Daniel James who inspire me to have a dream and devote my life to music.

Epicurse


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## Daniel James (Sep 26, 2017)

Epicurse said:


> Like many of us, just wanted to tell you thank you for sharing your achievement with us. We know it takes extra work to get it all setup for us. You are an inspiration to us all. Wish you and your lady great success.
> 
> I am where your were 10 years ago, starting and love to know that one day I will be saying: Thanks to Daniel James who inspire me to have a dream and devote my life to music.
> 
> Epicurse



Thats what its all about mate. Just know what you want and stick to it! Glad I can be of some use to you 

-DJ


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## oliverd (Oct 4, 2017)

Daniel James said:


>


Woah they are some vintage ass mics!


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## JaikumarS (Apr 11, 2018)

Daniel James said:


> Hey all,
> 
> Finally got permission to post the vlog from the session. Hope you all enjoy the fly on the wall experience!
> 
> ...




Thank you, Daniel, for sharing the video and congratulations!!!

I have a few questions, 

1. Recording Orchestra - (can the film reels be taken to the recording studio)
2. Orchestrator and Score Mixing Engineer - if they are at a remote place (does he/she had to sign a contract, etc)?
3. Production Fees - Does the film production house pay the Recording studio, Orchestra, live musicians / Engineers after the recording or the composer, when do they get paid?

it would be very helpful if you could share your knowledge on how its currently being done at AIR (in general, not related to any specific project).

Thank you…


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## Daniel James (Apr 12, 2018)

JaikumarS said:


> Thank you, Daniel, for sharing the video and congratulations!!!
> 
> I have a few questions,
> 
> ...



1. Yup video playback is a thing, we didn't have them in my session but it can be done.

2. The orchestrator for this was always listening in over skype, usually yes you would have everyone you work with have some form of contract just explaining who owns what rights to what etc. Pretty standard for most.

3. Totally depends. Sometimes you will get a package deal from a studio which is like a bulk set of money, usually that includes the money for a recording session. A lot of what the scope of the project will be is had in an initial conversation. Like if they give you $1000 for the score and want a full orchestra at AIR they are going to be shit out of luck.

Its a really fun experience to record live! If you ever get the oppertunity, take it! 

-DJ


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## JaikumarS (Apr 14, 2018)

Daniel James said:


> 1. Yup video playback is a thing, we didn't have them in my session but it can be done.
> 
> 2. The orchestrator for this was always listening in over skype, usually yes you would have everyone you work with have some form of contract just explaining who owns what rights to what etc. Pretty standard for most.
> 
> ...



Thanks, Daniel for writing back...

-JS


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