The air conditioning goes off for every take and back on the moment the take ends, vocal tracking moves to the morning, and every stringed instrument gets checked against the tuner after each break. That is most of what a heat wave asks of a session, and in the San Fernando Valley the question comes up every September. Sherman Oaks sits on the Valley's south rim along Ventura Boulevard, a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles about ten miles and twenty freeway minutes west of my Burbank room, and its home studios fight the thermometer harder than mine does.
How hot does the Valley actually get?
Hotter than the rest of Los Angeles, by a margin that shows up on a session calendar. The all-time high for the whole county was recorded in the Valley: 121 degrees at Pierce College in Woodland Hills on 6 September 2020, logged by the National Weather Service station there, about eight miles west of Sherman Oaks. The coastal basin gets ocean air over a low rim, while the Valley sits behind the Santa Monica Mountains, so the sea breeze arrives late and already spent, and an afternoon that stays mild at the beach runs well into the 90s on Ventura Boulevard. The hottest stretch of the Valley's year lands in late summer and early fall, exactly when release schedules tighten before the holidays.
Why is the air conditioner the first problem on the microphone?
Because it raises the floor under the vocal. A window unit puts a compressor motor a few feet from the mic, a central system hisses through every vent in the room, and even a quiet ductless head moves enough air to register. Broadband hiss cannot be gated out from under a voice, since the gate opens for every phrase and the hiss rides in with it, and noise reduction strong enough to remove it leaves artifacts on sustained notes. The working habit is old and free: unit off for the take, back on between takes. I keep a level meter open and read the room both ways; the difference is routinely 10 dB or more, and 10 dB of noise floor separates a quiet verse that works from one that needs repair later.
What does the heat do to the instruments?
It detunes them between takes. Guitar strings expand as they warm and drop flat, the neck moves with the room, and a guitar tracked at 78 degrees will not agree with the same guitar tracked at 88. The fix costs nothing: tuner after every break and after every AC cycle. Drum heads loosen the same way. A piano is a different animal, moved more by humidity swings than by the thermometer itself, which is why the tuning window around a session matters; I wrote through that logic in what a session piano tuning actually fixes.
What about the computer and the gear?
Heat slows a computer long before it damages one. Laptops throttle their processors as they warm, and a machine that throttles in the middle of a bounce stutters the audio or drops the take. Keep the computer out of direct window light, give the interface air instead of stacking gear on top of it, and bounce long sessions in the cooler hours. Condenser microphones ask for one specific habit: a mic that crossed the Valley in an air-conditioned car arrives colder than the room it enters, so it gets ten minutes in its case before the case opens. And save and back up before the hottest stretch of the afternoon, because a blackout in a heat wave takes the session with it.
How does scheduling beat the thermometer?
By putting the voice in the coolest hours. Vocals track in the morning, edits and comping fill the afternoon, and the room's AC gets a head start before anyone sings. The Valley cools slowly after sunset, so the evening buys less relief than the clock suggests, and the morning stays the session's best real estate. My own room runs the opposite schedule some weeks, because Hollywood Burbank Airport's curfew opens a quiet stretch late at night, the logic I mapped in night vocal sessions around the Burbank curfew. A Sherman Oaks room has no curfew to wait out, so it gets to take the morning instead.
Where does Sherman Oaks actually sit on the map?
Inside the city of Los Angeles. Sherman Oaks is a neighborhood, with Studio City to its east, Van Nuys to its north, and the interchange where the 101 meets the 405 at its western edge. Burbank, where I work, is a separate incorporated city east along the 101 and 134. The distinction earns its keep in practice, because noise rules, permits and even airport curfews belong to whichever city hall the room happens to sit under, and a Valley address does not mean the rules match from one boulevard to the next.
Frequently asked
Can you record vocals with the air conditioning running? Sometimes, with a quiet ductless system far from the microphone and a forgiving arrangement. The safer habit costs nothing. Unit off for the take, on between takes, and a level meter check of the room both ways.
Why do guitars drift out of tune between takes in the heat? Strings expand as they warm and go flat, and the neck moves with the room. Retune after every break and after every AC cycle rather than trusting the morning's tuning.
Is Sherman Oaks a separate city? No. Sherman Oaks is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, on the south side of the San Fernando Valley. Burbank, east along the 101 and 134, is a separate incorporated city.
If your Valley room is fighting a heat wave
Record 30 seconds of the room twice, air conditioning on and off, and listen back loud. If the difference startles you, schedule takes around the compressor cycle before spending anything on treatment. For a second opinion, send me both clips. Credits are at /credits, background at /about.