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Message: [QUOTE="Bombastus, post: 91362, member: 2178"] Toontrack recorded LA Sessions SDX in four positions across two rooms of Studio D at The Village in Los Angeles. Three positions sit in the main room, while the fourth is a sealed vocal booth. That distinction matters because these are not four interchangeable ambience presets. Niko Bolas chose the Piano Spot, Studio Floor, Riser, and Vocal Booth after testing locations inside Studio D. Across [B][URL='https://goldmidi.com/community/threads/toontrack-introduced-la-sessions-sdx-with-niko-bolas.76738/']the LA Sessions SDX recording setup[/URL][/B], the position is tied to the kit that was sampled there, so changing rooms is not simply swapping the same drums into a new acoustic space. [HEADING=2]The Piano Spot and Studio Floor shape different kinds of depth[/HEADING] The Piano Spot is the strangest setup of the four. Bolas placed The Village’s grand piano close to the drums, opened the lid, and put four stereo microphone pairs underneath it to capture the strings resonating when the kit was played. Those piano microphones become another ambience layer rather than part of the drum close-mic chain. That gives the Piano Spot a specific type of natural room color. Toontrack describes it as warm, organic, and suited to singer-songwriter and acoustic pop material, but the useful detail is how that character was created. The resonance comes from a physical instrument reacting inside the room, not from a conventional room microphone alone. The Indigo kit owned by Russ Kunkel and the Newspaper kit associated with Anthony LoGerfo were recorded in this position. That pairing also means the Piano Spot should not be treated as a universal room option for every kit in the library. The kit choice and recording position arrive together. The Studio Floor takes a more controlled route. Bolas put the kits directly in front of Studio D’s echo chamber window facing the control room, where reflections from the glass interact with the room’s wide, relatively shallow dimensions. Toontrack characterizes the result as focused, punchy, and slightly drier while still retaining room movement. Its microphone layout supports that balance. The setup includes overheads, Glyn-style top and side microphones, a mid ambience microphone, and a stereo pair in the echo chamber. Denny Fongheiser’s Koa kit and Steve Jordan’s Ebony kit were captured there, giving this position a tighter alternative to the more resonant Piano Spot. [HEADING=2]The Riser keeps focus without shrinking the room[/HEADING] The Riser is not a conventional stage platform. Toontrack says the Studio D podium sits just under a foot and a half above the floor, with treatment on the nearby walls and ceiling controlling early reflections. The drums can still project through the full length of the main room. That combination explains why the Riser can sound focused up close without losing a larger ambient tail. It is a useful middle ground when you want stronger separation around the direct sound but still need the room to contribute scale. The chamber microphones remain part of the capture, so controlled does not mean stripped of space. Kenny Aronoff’s Sunset kit and Charley Drayton’s Big Kick kit were recorded on the Riser. Both are described by Toontrack in forceful terms, and the placement suits that purpose without relying on an excessively live immediate boundary. The geometry is doing real work before any mixer processing enters the picture. The practical detail is [B]controlled room reflections with retained ambience[/B]. That is more precise than calling the Riser simply bigger or more open, because its treated nearby surfaces and access to the longer room are pulling in opposite directions. You get local control and distant space in the same capture. [HEADING=2]The Vocal Booth is dry without becoming flat[/HEADING] The Vocal Booth, often called the Tahiti Booth by The Village’s engineers, is larger than a typical vocal booth. Its acoustic decay is short and dense, yet Toontrack says it still carries a clear sense of natural room ambience. That makes it different from a dead isolation box. The microphone plan is surprisingly expansive for the driest recording position. Beyond the close microphones, overheads, and Glyn-style pairings, the booth setup includes two rear stereo pairs, two room stereo pairs, and a stereo pair feeding the chamber. You can therefore work with a short-decay source while still having several captured perspectives for depth. The Foundaround percussion kit, Stella Mozgawa’s Bone Dry kit, and Steve Jordan’s Open kit were recorded in the booth. That range is revealing because the room supports both intentionally muffled drums and a warmly tuned open kit without forcing them into the same envelope. The space limits excessive bloom while leaving enough captured ambience to shape later. The four positions are not a simple wet-to-dry ladder. Specific kits, reflections, microphone arrays, and physical positions were sampled as connected recording decisions. Choosing a sound therefore starts with the performance character and the room together, not with ambience as an afterthought. [/QUOTE]

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