In recording and mixing, your first intuitive choice is often not so bad after all. In fact, it is frequently the most honest one.

At Sound Liaison, we experience this again and again. Recording and mixing remain deeply creative processes that unfold in the moment.
Of course, you can play it safe. You can repeat the same microphone placement every session. Use the same signal chain.
Apply the same balance. There is comfort in predictability.

But comfort rarely leads to growth. The real challenge, and the true inspiration of this craft, lies in continuous development. In questioning yourself.
In asking: Is this really the best spot for the microphone? Or can it be different?

The Search for the Right Position

Before the first note is played, the creative process has already begun. Microphone choice and placement are never routine decisions.
They shape everything that follows.
Sometimes the answer requires thinking outside the box. Sometimes an idea appears that, after decades of recording, has never crossed your mind before. At other times, the solution lies directly in front of you while you are searching far too hard for something complex.

That tension, between experience and curiosity, keeps the work alive. During recording sessions, I constantly adjust and refine. Not obsessively, but attentively. Listening to how the room responds. How the musicians interact with the space. Whether the sound breathes naturally or feels constrained.
Recording is not technical execution. It is listening in real time and daring to respond.

The First Balance: Creating Confidence

While recording, I always create an initial balance. Not as a final mix, but as a working perspective.
Together with producer Peter Bjørnild, this balance allows us to judge whether a take is usable. Just as importantly, it shapes the experience for the musicians. When they enter the control room to listen back, the sound they hear must feel encouraging. It should reflect the potential of their performance. This psychological dimension is crucial. Musicians need to return to the recording floor inspired and confident. Doubt can easily take over in the studio. A small insecurity about timing or tone can overshadow an otherwise beautiful performance.


Jeroen van Vliet and Mete Erker during a recording session for Sound Liaison. (photo by Kaspar Jansen)

At the end of a recording day, we create a listening copy for the musicians and producer. But we do not send it immediately. We wait at least a week.
Why? Because distance dissolves doubt. Time separates memory from emotion. It allows everyone to listen again with openness and without the intensity of the moment influencing judgment. Often, performances that felt uncertain during the session reveal unexpected depth when revisited calmly.

Editing: Choosing the Essence

After reflection comes editing. This is the process of selecting the strongest takes. Frequently, these are complete performances. Sometimes, however, we combine the theme from one take with the solo from another. Editing requires precision and clarity. It is about content. About musical integrity. It is analytical, deliberate work. And that is exactly why we never mix on the same day as editing.

Mixing: A Different Discipline

Mixing is a completely different discipline. Once editing is complete, nobody needs to worry about the notes anymore. The focus shifts entirely to sound. And sound is something almost intangible. It is the beauty and the mystery of mixing.
I often say: if I were to mix the same recording three days in a row, I would end up with three different mixes. Why? Because no two days are the same. Your perception changes. Your emotional state shifts. Even your physical energy influences decisions. Balance feels different. Reverb choices evolve.
EQ decisions take another direction.

And here lies the great danger. The search for the “best” sound can easily become a trap. Endless refinement can lead to overproduction. You polish and adjust, and before you know it, the soul has quietly disappeared. It sometimes happens that, at the end of a long mixing day, we compare the final mix with the original premix created during recording — and the premix sounds better.

Why? Because it was made in the moment. On intuition, with heart.
When making those first intuitive balance decisions, we are also very aware of ear fatigue. We take frequent short breaks, often leaving the room entirely. Stepping outside resets your hearing and clears your perception. Returning with fresh ears allows you to reconnect with your intuition instead of sliding into over-analysis. Those small pauses are essential. They protect the purity of the first impression and help maintain perspective throughout the mixing process.

The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

When you start “seriously” mixing, the mind tends to take control. Analysis replaces instinct. Precision replaces feeling. The mind is valuable. It solves problems. It corrects imbalances. It identifies technical flaws. But it can also become a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It appears helpful while slowly draining the emotional core from the music.
So what to do? When I mix, I consciously search for simplicity. I begin with a beautiful balance, quickly, intuitively. Then I shift perspective. I stop listening as an engineer and start listening as a listener. What does the music need? Not what could be improved endlessly, but what truly needs attention.
Most adjustments happen fast, based on first instinct. Trusting intuition may not seem like the most obvious strategy in a professional work environment where excellence is the goal. Yet it is a golden source of inspiration.

A Dialogue in Search of the Sweet Spot

At Sound Liaison, mixing is always a dialogue. Between Peter and myself. Often with the musicians present. It is almost a game, searching for that golden sweet spot where everything aligns. Where balance, depth and emotion converge. When we reach that point, there is usually a moment of silence in the room. Then a smile. That is when you know the recording is ready to meet the world.

Conclusion: Mix With Your Heart

Recording and mixing are not mechanical processes. They are living acts of interpretation. Your first intuitive decision is often closer to the truth than endless analysis. The mind should serve the heart, not dominate it. Use your intellect to solve the problems your heart identifies, not to overrule it.
Because in the end, music is not evaluated by technical perfection alone. It is felt. And when you mix with your heart, guided by intuition and supported by craft, you give the music its best chance to breathe.

At Sound Liaison, that balance between intuition and precision defines our approach,  and perhaps that is why the recordings continue to surprise us.

Frans

By Frans de Rond, Engineer at Sound Liaison

At Sound Liaison, we have always been driven by curiosity, about music, about space, about the emotional truth hidden inside a performance. Over the years, I’ve worked with many recording techniques, from complex microphone arrays to minimalistic setups. But few approaches have fascinated me as deeply as the one-mic recording technique. Using a single stereo microphone, the Josephson C700S, and placing the musicians around it has opened a completely new world of sonic authenticity. It’s a world I feel compelled to explore further, and once you’ve truly heard it, turning back becomes difficult.

The Fundamental Difference: Natural Acoustic Mixing vs. Electronic Mixing

When most people think about recording music, they imagine the typical studio setup: every instrument close-miked, sometimes with multiple microphones each, and then balanced, processed, and panned inside the mixing console. This is the dominant approach in modern production, and for good reasons, it provides control, isolation and flexibility.

But a one-mic recording is something entirely different. With the Josephson C700S, all instruments blend physically in the air, not electronically in the desk. The sound waves interact, merging, reinforcing and sometimes gently masking one another, long before they reach the microphone diaphragm. What you capture is the actual acoustic event, the way it happens in real life. And that, to me, is incredibly powerful.

Eliminating Phase Issues: Why One Mic Makes Life Easier

One of the biggest technical challenges in multi-mic recording is phase interference. When multiple microphones pick up the same sound source at slightly different times, those signals can combine in unpredictable ways. Some frequencies cancel out, others are boosted, and the result can be a smearing or hollowing of the sound. Engineers spend countless hours adjusting placement, polarity, distance, and delay to minimize these effects.

With one microphone, none of that is an issue. There are no competing arrival times between microphones, only the natural timing and spacing of the instruments themselves. The phase coherence is simply built into the physical world. What you hear is stable, focused, and true.

No Unwanted Bleed - Because Everything Is Meant to Bleed

In multi-mic setups, engineers also fight bleed: the spill of one instrument into another’s microphone. While some bleed can add warmth or cohesion, excessive or uncontrolled bleed can make mixing sometimes very difficult. It reduces isolation, complicates EQ decisions and often forces compromises.

In a single-mic session, bleed isn’t a problem, it is the system. Every instrument interacts with every other instrument in the natural acoustic space, and the distance to the mic becomes the primary “fader.” Musicians adjust themselves, not the controls. This requires skill and awareness from the performers, but when it works, it is breathtaking.

Air Mixing vs. Electronic Mixing

When sound waves mix in the air, they combine according to the natural laws of acoustics, pressure variations merging into a single and complex waveform before reaching the microphone. This waveform already includes the spatial cues, tonal balances and dynamic relationships shaped by the environment and the musicians’ positions. Electronic mixing, by contrast, combines separately captured signals inside a console or DAW. While powerful, it is essentially reconstructing a sonic reality that did not physically exist. Air mixing captures the real acoustic event; electronic mixing creates an acoustic illusion.

Why This Feels More Like a Real Live Performance

What continually inspires me is how a one-mic recording resembles the experience of attending an unamplified live performance. When you sit in a hall listening to an orchestra or a chamber group, no sound engineer is balancing faders, you’re hearing instruments interacting in space. The blend is organic, dynamic and inherently musical.

Every time I visit the Metropole Orkest during rehearsals (they are located in the same building), I’m struck by how beautiful the ensemble sounds without amplification. In contrast, their live concerts in large venues must be amplified to reach the audience. While the result can be impressive, it is fundamentally different. The electronic system, no matter how advanced, creates a mediated version of the sound.

Compare that with listening to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the 'Main Hall'. There, you experience instruments merging acoustically, and the hall itself becomes part of the ensemble. That natural blend, the way sound waves fill the space and interact with your ears, is something technology still struggles to replicate.

A Jazz Band Around a Single Microphone

This is exactly what happens when we record a jazz ensemble around one microphone. The musicians adapt their dynamics and positions, moving slightly closer or farther to shape the balance. Instead of relying on faders and plugins, we rely on ears, intuition and the simple physics of sound.

It can be challenging, every mistake is exposed, and every detail matters. But it is also deeply rewarding. When the musicians lock in, when the room supports the performance and when the stereo image from the Josephson C700S opens up like a living tableau, it feels as if the music breathes.

A Path Worth Following

One-mic recording is not a shortcut. It’s not easier, faster or more flexible than multi-mic production. It demands careful placement, exceptional musicianship and a willingness to surrender control. But the payoff is authenticity, a sound that resonates emotionally because it reflects a real acoustic moment.

Having heard what is possible, I find myself drawn further down this path. It’s a journey of discovery, and I’m not sure where it will lead. But one thing is certain: once you’ve experienced the beauty of natural acoustic mixing, it’s hard to forget.

Special thanks to Harry van Dalen from Rhapsody and Bert van der Wolf from The Spirit of Turtle for their invaluable insights and inspiration along the way to write this blog. 

Behind the Scenes of Soft Shoulders

A Tribute to Ack van Rooyen

It’s impossible to think of Soft Shoulders without thinking of the man who made it so special – the legendary Ack van Rooyen. This album, recorded live in Studio 2 of the MCO in Hilversum, turned out to be one of Ack’s very last recordings. He played until the very end of his remarkable life, and even in his nineties, his sound was filled with that unmistakable warmth, grace, and lyrical depth that had touched generations of listeners.

Ack’s career is the stuff of jazz history. From his early years playing with the Dutch Jazz Orchestra, his work with Kurt Edelhagen, and his long collaboration with his brother Jerry van Rooyen, to his later recordings with The Metropole Orchestra and European big bands, Ack’s tone was always instantly recognizable, pure gold on brass. Though he was loved by an older jazz audience, Ack would often smile and say, “I always play for a young audience.” It was this youthful curiosity and joy that kept his music alive, right until the very last note.

Two Days of Recording – Spreading the Energy

For Soft Shoulders, we planned two recording days in Studio 2. At Ack’s age, the only limitation he faced was endurance; he could no longer perform at peak energy for long stretches. Splitting the work over two days allowed him to stay fresh and focused.

The live concert at the end of the second day was divided into two short sets of about half an hour each. It turned out to be a wise decision — every note radiated clarity and intention.

At the end of the first day, I offered Ack and pianist Juraj Stanik a ride back to the hotel. Juraj, a bit exhausted, sighed, “That was intense… I’m tired.” Ack turned to him with a twinkle in his eye and said, “The youth isn’t what it used to be.” That moment summed up who he was, humble, humorous and always in control of the atmosphere.

A New Challenge: One Stereo Microphone

Although Ack had recorded countless albums, there was something new about this session: we were going to record with just one stereo microphone, a Josephson C700S. This One Mic Recording technique is at the heart of Sound Liaison’s philosophy: capturing musicians as naturally as possible, preserving their spatial relationship and the sound of the room.

We first positioned the piano so that it would also sit well visually for the live audience the next day, no need to move it later. Then Ack, who preferred sitting on a stool, found a comfortable position in relation to both the piano and the microphone. For Ack, this approach required some patience. We spent time testing and repositioning him and to achieve the perfect balance, until the sound felt right, warm, balanced and true to their natural dynamics. Every time Ack wanted to hear the result, he had to walk to the control room. But once we found the sweet spot, everything fell into place.

The biggest challenge was psychological. Ack had spent his entire life playing into his personal microphone. Now, I asked him to forget the mic altogether and simply play toward the audience. Once he relaxed into that mindset, the music opened up beautifully.

The First Take

Though our plan was to use the live concert as the main source for the album, we decided to record a few backup takes, just in case something didn’t go perfectly during the concert. This gave Ack a sense of calm; he knew we already had something special preserved.

When we were finally ready to roll, Peter Bjørnild, my Sound Liaison partner, said he needed a quick visit to the restroom. Ack smiled and said, “Start the tape anyway.” By the time Peter returned, the first take was already in the can, and it was beautiful.

That’s what experience sounds like. Ack didn’t need to warm up; he simply was music.

Friendship in Sound

One of the most moving aspects of Soft Shoulders is the deep friendship between Ack and Juraj. You can feel it in every track, the way Juraj’s piano gently supports Ack’s phrasing, how they listen to one another, leaving space, breathing together. It’s a dialogue between two souls who trust each other completely, and that intimacy is what makes this recording so timeless.

Technical Notes

The recording was made in PCM DXD 352 kHz, the highest resolution we were working with at that time. The acoustic beauty of MCO Studio 2, a room that has hosted so many legendary Dutch recordings, shines through in every note.

Listening back now, I sometimes wonder what Ack would sound like if we could have recorded him in (Pure) DSD256, our current reference format. But of course, you can’t redo magic moments like these, they exist once, perfectly, as memories.

Remembering Ack

As I write this, the idea arises to organize a tribute, a project where a young generation of trumpet players, all inspired by Ack, perform his favorite tunes. It feels like the right way to honor him: keeping his sound alive through new voices.

Ack van Rooyen was a remarkable man and a magnificent musician. His tone, humor, and humanity are forever etched into Soft Shoulders. When you listen to this album, you are not just hearing music, you are hearing a life well lived, captured forever in sound.

Where to find the album

Soft Shoulders by Ack van & Juraj Stanik is available directly via Sound Liaison: https://soundliaison.com/products/ack-van-rooyen-juraj-stanik-soft-shoulders . For high-resolution downloads, visit the above link and select your preferred format.