When Apogee opted to throw its annual NAMM party at the Jazz Kitchen in Anaheim, California, no one expected a band as fantastic as Kenny Sara and the Sounds of New Orleans. Far from a typical house band, the group took the stage in front of a few hundred producers, musicians and sound engineers – just a slightly daunting task- and blew everyone away. Bob Clearmountain was so blown away in fact that he invited the jazz band to record at his and Betty Bennett’s privately-owned Berkeley Street Studios in Santa Monica. Brandon Duncan, who helped Bob record and mix the live album with Apogee AD & DA-16X converters, details the mic’ing techniques used to maximize their New Orleans sound. Now with a live album mixed by undeniably one of the industry’s best, Kenny Sara and the Sounds of New Orleans have not only set the bar shockingly high for house bands, they have proven that luck and circumstance meet when we least expect.