Recording - August 2013 - 16

Text and photos by Paul Vnuk Jr.
These days, camping out in a studio for weeks on end is just not the way most
bands operate—bands want to be recorded during live performances, not so
much with a traditional album in mind, but rather for broadcast, internet streaming, concert downloads, for bonus tracks on albums and more. I can almost guarantee that if you are an audio engineer or a performing musician, the subject of
capturing a live performance will eventually come up.
Back in our September 2007 issue, I wrote in detail about the process of multitracking a band live and then crafting that into a live CD. I highlighted the pros and cons
of recording multiple live performances, the expectations that the band and performer
should and shouldn’t have, as well as tips for creating the final live album experience.
I now do live recording on almost a weekly basis, mostly for internet streaming, but
also for many of the other reasons listed above...downloads, bonus tracks, as well as
the occasional full album release. With that in mind, it’s time to update my advice!

It’s for this reason that bands choose to go with
a simple stereo mix of the show, done in real
time. This is especially true for the new trend of
instant downloads, and bands who duplicate
CDs and sell them minutes after a performance
has ended. The downside of the board tape is
that it’s rare that what goes to “tape” sounds
exactly like what the audience experiences.

The rights and the wrongs
The question should be put to everybody involved: “Why do you want to
make a live recording?”
A good answer: “Our band has a power and presence live that doesn’t come
across as well in the studio.”
A bad answer: “It should be cheaper and less time-consuming to just record us at
a live gig than going into a proper studio and going through all that hassle, right?”
Here’s what you’re up against: In live performance, wrong notes are played,
equipment can be unpredictable, rhythms may fluctuate, bleed will be unavoidable, the sound of the venue will impose itself into the mix, and even if a performer
remembers the show as one of the greatest nights of their life, a great live experience will not always translate into a recording that warrants repeated listenings.
On the other hand, mistakes could be the result of bold chances taken, good performers feeding off of each other, their gear, the audience and the room, and occasionally a live experience that we feel may not have been good at all while it happened
may surprise us on playback with magic moments that can never be duplicated.
Multitrack or board mix?
When deciding what kind of live recording to make, there are two initial choices, multitrack or stereo. The direct-to-stereo recording is often called a board
tape. Of course most of us would jump right away to multitrack, and it is a wise
choice when the goal is a professional live album (or live single) or full-scale concert video, especially where multichannel audio (surround) may be involved.
However, let me give you a warning: Multitracked concerts can mean biting off
more than one can chew (or, rather, edit and mix). I have been a part of many festivals, small tours, and even single shows that were multitracked specifically with the
idea of a full-scale release, only to find that in the end nobody had the time or motivation to wade through the material and then mix the performances down! It was simply too overwhelming, and many of those recordings sit in the can to this day. This is
a problem that has plagued even famous artists, and there’s no way around it other
than either having someone with a lot of motivation and time on his hands (and who
the artists agree will do a good job!) do all the work, or paying a pro to do it.
16

RECORDING August 2013

The medium’s no longer a factor
Recording a concert in the ’70s and ’80s usually included a big mobile recording truck
parked outside the venue, complete with tape
machines, a high-end console, tie lines and
more. Back when I started recording live bands
in the mid-’90s, it was the Alesis ADAT, Mackie’s
1604 mixer, and cables and snakes by Hosa
that made it much more feasible and affordable
to track bands live on a local level.
Recording - August 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - August 2013
