Why almost everything here is recorded after dark

Look at the timestamps on our session files and they are nearly all between ten at night and four in the morning. People assume this is a mood decision. Mostly it is not.

The boring reasons

1. It is quieter. A vocal mic picks up traffic through a wall you would swear was soundproof. At two in the morning there is no traffic.
2. Nobody interrupts. No calls, no deliveries, no one asking a quick question. A take needs an uninterrupted hour and daytime does not hand those out.
3. The room is cooler. Equipment runs better, and so does a singer who is not sweating under lights.

And the one that is not boring

Something happens to a voice late at night. Not technically — a microphone cannot tell what time it is. But a person can, and a person who is a little tired stops performing.

That is the whole thing. At eight in the evening a singer is singing. At two in the morning they are just saying it, and the difference is audible on the first playback.

Tired is not the same as bad. Tired is the sound of somebody who has given up on sounding impressive.

The cost is real. Everyone is wrecked the next day and the schedule never recovers. We keep doing it because the takes are better and we have stopped pretending otherwise.