Take good notes. Make sure that the engineer keeps thorough notes on which microphones and other gear are used for each instrument (the signal path). You might need to match your sound on another session. Also, completely document track assignments and any other information such as which fiddle track is the scratch and which is the keeper. The result of poor notes can be disastrous; I have seen scratch parts come out on the record.

Decide if isolation is important. Leakage or bleeding occurs when the sound from one instrument is recorded by another instrument’s microphone. For instance, if the fiddle bleeds onto the bass mic and makes a mistake that a punch (the re-recording of the offending section) could repair, then the sound of the fiddle’s mistake would still be on the bass track. This is not a problem if everyone records live together and you do not plan on using the option to punch.

Decide whether or not to overdub. Multitrack recorders are necessary for overdubbing. This gives you the opportunity to record one part at a time and to re-record and punch until you have a perfect take. The advantages of this method are obvious, but recording live—where everybody has to provide a flawless performance simultaneously—definitely adds an edge, a very tangible energy that’s normally lost with overdubs.

Decide on a recording format. The cliché is that analog tape is warmer than digital-tape and hard-disk formats. This is debatable, but what is certainly true is that digital formats make punching, cut-and-paste edits, and various other fixes much easier.

Capture the sound you want on tape. Do not assume that you can improve the tone of your instrument through the use of equalization, effects, and processing once it is down on tape. These tools help to sculpt a final mix, but they cannot effectively make a poorly recorded part sound good. The right microphones for your application must be placed in exactly the best location to capture your instrument’s timbre. Initial microphone selection and proper mic placement can take an hour or more. Different microphone preamplifiers can also color your tone. I routinely record the string bass, bass drum, and vocals with a slight amount of compression to make their levels a touch more even and consistent, but you can easily abuse this technique.

Familiarize yourself with the editing capabilities of the studio. As you begin work, make sure that you understand what you can and cannot do in the way of punches, cut-and-paste edits, and other fixes. Knowing that you can easily repair many technical imperfections frees you up to concentrate on the overall feel of the performance.

Make sure you have a good cue mix. If your session involves the use of headphones and/or a click track, make sure that everyone can hear it clearly. A click track (usually provided by a drum machine) can be recorded on its own track and used to facilitate not only a solid performance but also the use of cut-and-paste editing. You can experiment with which drum sounds suit your fancy. Open headphones allow sound to escape into the room, and the click track or other undesirable sounds can easily bleed into your mic. Closed headphones solve this problem, but you do not receive any acoustic information directly from your instrument, and this can be quite disorienting. I normally record my violin with the right earpiece covering my ear and the left earpiece slid off my ear about halfway so that I can hear my violin directly. Also, make sure that the count-off is very solid; starting well is often the most difficult part of a piece.

Do not rush the final mix.The effect of mixing is subtle but profound. Each instrument must occupy its own space in the sonic spectrum, and this process takes time. Familiarize yourself with the basic tools of mixing such as EQ (equalization), reverb (reverberation), compression, pan (panorama), and delay. You must create a psychoacoustical space that matches the overall aesthetic of the music. The most important decision you can make is to hire an engineer who shares your vision. Do not attempt to mix for too many hours in a day because your ears will fatigue and become less reliable.