Top five tips for a great live recording
The best albums are those recorded live. The energy in the room, the connection, the spontaneity; you simply cannot re-create that in a studio. Today’s technology has enabled us to capture art as sound like never before. No tape jams, less hum and feedback and total autopilot are of days past. I remember when all we had were 12 tracks that could record simultaneously and had to figure out how to mix down 32 channels live on the spot. Today, we push a button, everything rolls, and we are free to focus on the live show. However, there are still some time honored traditions that can move a live recording from good to great. Here are five tips for a great live recording.
Start at the Source
Garbage in, garbage out. Start with a great acoustic sounding source. No amount of postproduction can fix an out of tune bass or a drumhead that should have been replaced years ago. For a deeper dive, visit my article “Want great sound? Start with the Source” https://davidproductionsnyc.com/2019/06/14/want-great-sound-start-with-the-source/ If the instrument is not top shelf, your going to want to address that first.
Use quality pickup gear
It takes a certain amount of resource to manufacture a great sounding microphone. Some of the best still have components that are made by hand. Equipment also has to survive the rigors of a live environment. You don’t want to take you pricey, delicate ribbon mics out to an outdoor festival. We also need to be mindful of proper grounding and other electrical phenomenon. Use DI boxes with really good transformers. I recommend Radial. https://www.radialeng.com/product_category/direct-box They are built like tanks and will last you years of heavy use.
Multi-track
The day this breakthrough occurred, I thought the live recording market would explode. But for some reason, we as an industry are not taking full advantage of this gift. Good pre-amps, a laptop and a hard drive. Even if you have a six track recorder, use all the channels! Seems like common sense, but I cannot tell you how many times I here after the fact that it would have been nice to have a few things separated, but all you asked for was a 2 track mix.
Pepper the room with ambient mics
Professionals call this capturing room tone and capturing it is truly an art. You can scour for days reading tricks and best practices, but the only way to really learn it is to do it. Every acoustic environment carries with is a whole bag of sound. Reverberation times, inflection, reflection, on and on can be found everywhere. Use this to your advantage and put some mics around the space. Capture the excitement of the crowd. Mix that into 5.1 surround sound and place the future listener right in the center.
Listen
My two favorite live albums are “Stop Making Sense” by the Talking Heads and “Alive” by Kiss. Both bands have incredible live shows requiring massive amounts of energy and discipline. But if you listen closely, everything is on pitch and captured flawlessly. There is much accolade due to that artist, but also the recording engineers who did there job that night. You need to be there, in the moment, actively listening to what is happening. Experiment with technique. If you are not passionate about the project, don’t do it. You have one shot to capture that moment. Be prepared, collaborate with all involved, and go make some records.