Your Work Record

Live music is a perfect example of an event that exists totally in the "now". The experience is fleeting and the audience carries away only the most intangible of products, a memory. It is this intangibility that can cause the topic of live recording to arise during the preparation (or minutes before) many live events. As the person mixing FOH (Front-of-House) sound, you will get a request to record the show for one of four reasons -- the band wants to check the FOH mix (your work), the band wants to hear how the music sounds (their work), the band wants to give their friends a copy of their live shows, or the band wants to sell CDs of their live shows. If you take pride in your FOH sound, then you must take this recording task seriously.

Except in rare situations, a send from the FOH console to a DAT machine is not enough to capture the event and do justice to your work. Live sound mixing is the art of combining sounds heard direct from the stage (such as guitar amps, snare drums and, unfortunately, stage monitors) with those from the FOH loudspeaker system. Recording the output from the mixing console will only provide part of the mix, lacking all of the sounds from the stage (except in extremely large venues and outdoors) that you naturally blend into the total balance. The solution, when time allows, is to build a recording mix on an auxiliary bus or output matrix. This allows you to create a balance of instruments and vocals specifically for the recording. This will achieve a better musical balance than the typically vocal-heavy FOH mix, but it is not enough to capture the true qualities of a live performance.

The typical mix, direct from the FOH console, will be claustrophobically dry. The room acoustics in the venue will be part of the qualities that make the live concert. While they may not be helpful in some venues (OK, that may be an understatement. It is a wonder that anything musical even reaches the audience in some venues) but, even then, the FOH mix is made in this context. The acoustical conditions of the room also influence the performers. Therefore, any recording of the event should include some of these acoustical conditions. The amount of the room acoustic you mix into the recording should be based on the positive aspects it can bring to the sound of the performance. In really bad conditions, the room mics may only be used for applause between songs. In excellent conditions, high-quality room mics can bring an essential richness to the recording that cannot be achieved with even the best digital reverbs in a recording studio.

The audience/room mics should never simply be mixed directly with a feed from the FOH console. It takes time for the sound to travel from the FOH loudspeakers to these mics, which would add an unnatural echo to the recording. The feed from the FOH mixing console must always be delayed to match this transit time. If you are using a digital mixer, or have a spare two-channel signal delay, the whole mix of audience/room mics and FOH feed can be recorded at once.

If a signal delay for the FOH feed is not available at the performance, record the FOH feed separately from the audience/room mics, in mono on each track of a DAT machine, in stereo on multiple DAT machines or to a multi-track. After the performance, transfer the recording to a hard disk editing system and synchronize audience/room mics with the FOH mix. While creating your recording notes, don't forget to include an estimate of the distance from the FOH loudspeaker to the microphones. Then, simply convert this value into milliseconds (1.13 ms per foot at 72 degrees F) to set the offset. You may find that you can create more "presence" when the FOH mix track is slightly ahead of the audience/room mics. However, this is very dependent on the qualities and style of the music combined with the sound quality of the FOH loudspeaker system.

This is a permanent record of your work. If you want it to reflect the effort you have invested in creating a great live sound event, you must invest the same level of effort into the recording. It then becomes a complex juggling act to get a good recording during a busy show. Always keep in mind that the recording will be played when you are not around to explain why the vocals sound funny or the high-hat's too loud. The best solution is to spend the effort on creating a live recording that speaks for you. No excuses, no refunds.

United Entertainment Media Inc.
460 Park Avenue South, 9th Floor
New York, NY, 10016
Ph. 212-378-0400
FAX 212-378-2160

page construction