2. Pick a large room at least the size of a living room. The room needs to sound good and be devoid of loud outside noises. Avoid rooms with a lot of glass.
3. Keep the microphone centered and as away from instruments/speaker cabinets as possible (and keep your mic far away from large windows).
4. Critical that everyone plays quieter, there needs to be some headroom to get louder on certain passages.
5. Create balance in the room by arranging instruments/cabs so that the loudest are furthest away. Test and adjust placement of instruments/cabs until a good balance is achieved. A dB sound meter can also be used to set the instrument/cab/vocal levels at the mic.
6. A cardioid microphone is directional, so sound off-axis will be limited. A figure 8 around the cardioid area will work and putting a drummer or another louder instrument/cab in the "dead" spot directly behind a cardioid might help tame the sound if overly loud.
