Recording Jazz, Choral and Classical Music David Lau is the founder of The Brookwood Recording Studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he specializes in recording jazz and classical chamber music, symphonies, community choruses, and choral and orchestral ensembles. Recorded many faculty members and large ensembles of The University of Michigan, including the 398-member Michigan Marching Band. Recreating the experience of playing live was David Lau's design goal for his recording studio. They don't like working in a totally 'dead' acoustic space because they can't hear themselves or each other as well as they would in a more live hall. They may not be used to listening through headphones and are not able to perform to the same level as a live performance.
Vocalists have a particularly difficult time.
They strain to sing louder because they don't hear their voice reflected back as in a live concert hall. Even though we can add some reverb to provide the illusion of a concert hall in the control room, inexperienced artists, especially, need to hear that as they perform. The main studio room is not totally dead, like many pop studios. With the improved clarity that digital recording provides, there is no reason not to give musicians some room ambiance. Even though some walls are parallel, using the golden section ratio means that there are no bad resonances to muddy up the sound.