Paper 24- Live Recording Tips

Stage & Studio: Live Recording Tips

Bartus, John. Acoustic Guitar 16. 3  (Sep 2005): 82-84.

Abstract (Summary)

Tips for creating a quality live recording are offered, including: (1) Find a suitable venue. (2) Choose the gear. (3) Allow time to fix problems. A sidebar has tips for mixing a live recording.

Full text

Headnote
It might seem crazy, but if you can find a comfortable venue and gear that fits your performance style, live recording is a quick way to get your new songs down on CD.
"Why record a live CD?" you might ask. In my case, it had been two vears s'nce my 'ast studio release, but I had no time in my schedule W W to book studio time and record my new songs. Because I play more than 100 shows a year, I thought recording a live CD would be a piece of cake. Then I caught myself, reminded that nothing that seems easy at first blush ever really is. Before I got too far into it, I sat down and made a list of steps to take to ensure I got what I wanted.

STEP 1: FIND A SUITABLE VENUE
First was where to record. One of my favorite local clubs in the Florida Keys where I live is the Hurricane in Marathon. The room sounds great for a solo acoustic act, and I knew I'd be able to set up the event with enough lead time to allow maximum publicity. It helps to choose a venue you feel comfortable in and know well. Not having to worry about petty and mundane things (like irritable club owners) will ease your mind, and an enthusiastic crowd can elevate your performance to magical realms.

Perhaps the best piece of advice I can offer anyone who dares to record a live album is this: Don't try to get it all down in one night. For the sake of continuity and ease of setup and breakdown, I scheduled back-to-back gigs on two consecutive nights.

STEP 2: CHOOSE YOUR GEAR
My next question was, "What gear am I going to record with?" I remembered the few occasions I dragged a DAT deck to a gig. Let's just say that I wasn't impressed with the recording quality I got from the PA feed, and I had no control of the mix, audience noise (or lack thereof), effects levels, or ambience. The trusty, tape-based MDM (modular digital multitrack) is always an option, as is recording direct to hard disk. A computer-based or stand-alone DAW (digital audio workstation) should provide all the recording, editing, and mixing functions you'll need.

Whichever you choose, make sure it can record enough simultaneous tracks to get it all down at once. I chose my trusty Alesis ADAT HD24 modular hard-disk recorder, which, at 24-bit resolution, would give me a clear sound with plenty of headroom-I wouldn't have to use any compression while recording. For the front end, I used an Alesis Studio 12R mic preamp/mixer combo. (I purchased the Studio 12R several years ago for small live-recording projects because of its quiet preamps and ease of use with multitrack recorders.) I used the inserts on each channel to send the preamp signal directly to (and return it from) the ADAT HD24. This simple signal path allowed me to capture the cleanest possible sound to disk.

I perform mostly solo acoustic shows, but I still like fairly loud monitors. Using a sensitive studio condenser mic for my voice was not an option. So I chose a basic Shure SM57, equipped with a foam pop filter. This mic has a relatively flat frequency response, as well as good off-axis rejection that keeps most of the monitor sound out of the microphone and, consequently, out of the recording. Other people swear by their favorite dynamic vocal mic. If you do consider a condenser microphone, choose one that's built to withstand the punishment of a live stage.

In addition, I wanted my recording to capture the live feel, so I set up another pair of SM57s in an X-Y configuration. I placed them on a boom stand, positioned to pick up the crowd while minimizing the sound from the speakers.

STEP 3: PICK A GUITAR TO PLAY
Perhaps the most personal choice you'll need to make is which guitar to use. The second most personal choice is how to record that guitar. And one choice may affect the other. I believe the acoustic guitar's tone is captured most faithfully by a well-placed microphone. Unfortunately, if you like loud monitors or move around onstage as I do, a well-placed mic is about as useful as air brakes on a snail. Fortunately, there are other options. I've always been happy with the sound of my Takamine EAN-15C's pickup plugged directly into the board, so I used this approach for my recording.

STEP 4: HIRE AN ENGINEER (OR RECORD IT YOURSELF?)
With this setup, I decided it would be fairly easy to record the show myself, especially since I was controlling the PA mix from the stage. If, however, a house engineer is controlling the mix, set up your recording gear where he or she can control it. This may require additional coordination, but getting the technical details off your mind may free you up to concentrate on the performance. This brings up a cardinal rule of gigging: Always be nice to the sound engineer, especially when trusting them with your recorded sound.

STEP 5; ALLOW TIME TO FiX PROBLEMS
On the day of the first show, I got to the Hurricane early so I'd have plenty of time to set up and even relax a bit before the show. Well, that was the original idea. After I got everything wired, I found I was having connection problems with a couple of crucial cables. As Murphy's Law would have it, my formerly trusty backup cables also exhibited the same problems. Fortunately, I live just two miles from the Hurricane, so after a quick trip to my home studio I was back in business.

I connected everything directly to the Alesis Studio 12R and used the channel inserts to send and return the signals to and from the ADAT HD24. I was able to use the faders to control the live mix and send a stereo signal to the house PA system via the main stereo outs. I made sure that the recording levels were set correctly-checking the VU meters on the Studio 12R to make sure I wasn't overdriving the preamps while monitoring the meters on the ADAT HD24 to prevent going past O dB and into digital overload. When you're setting levels, remember that most people play and sing louder during the actual show than at sound check.

ON WITH THE SHOW
Finally, it was showtime. I pressed "record," got onstage, and hoped for the best. Two nights later, my recording was done and I had enough material to choose the best performances during mixdown. All in all, I accomplished what I set out to do: capture a truly live recording and put it out on disc.

MIX IT GOOD
A well-recorded performance should almost mix itself, but here are a few tips to ensure that it goes smoothly. Compress the vocals to tame any peaks. A 2.5:1 soft-knee setting at -5 to -10 dB smoothes out the sound and still sounds natural. Add reverb for ambience. The Hurricane audience tracks came out great for applause between songs, but there was too much noise (talking, glass clinking, etc.) to use the tracks as natural ambience-I had to mute them during the actual music. To create the appropriate ambience, I used a medium-sized ; room reverb setting from an Alesis Kj Wedge processor on both the instrument and vocal tracks. It was just enough to complete the aural image of everything being recorded in the same live room.

Use effects judiciously. I added a bit of subtle chorus from another Wedge on the guitar track to make the piezo pickup sound a bit friendlier, and a barely perceptible amount of vocal thickening (slightly detuned and delayed signals panned left and right) from my TC Helicon VoicePrism.
"The best piece of advice I can offer anyone who dares to record a live album is: don't try to get it all down in one night."

AuthorAffiliation
TO HEAR JOHN BARTUS' LIVE RECORDING, go to www.johnbartus.com.

AuthorAffiliation
Florida Keys-based singer-songwriter JOHN BARTUS details how he recorded his live CD (and how you can, too!) in this issue's Stage and Studio. Bartus has entertained audiences for a quarter century, both as a solo acoustic act and fronting various bands you've never heard of (Death and Taxes, Men Without Parents, The Dead Parrot Society) until now. In addition to playing more than 120 dates a year, Bartus owns a recording studio and co-owns the five south Florida Weekly newspapers and three gift shops (with wife Marlene). He's also the Mayor of Marathon, "Heart of the Florida Keys." Bartus hopes to catch up on a lot of music and sleep after he's term-limited out of office next March.

Indexing (details)
Cite

Narrow subject
Mixing (Recording), Recording Techniques, Recording Equipment (Audio), Live Recordings

Broad subject
Sound Recording/Processing/Systems

Title
Stage & Studio: Live Recording Tips

Author
Bartus, John

Publication title
Acoustic Guitar

Volume
16

Issue
3

Source details
153

Pages
82-84

Publication year
2005

Publication date
Sep 2005

Year
2005

Publisher
String Letter Publishing, Inc
Place of publication
San Anselmo, Calif.

Country of publication
United States

Journal subject
Popular Music, Music, Solo Instrument Music

ISSN
1049-9261

Source type
Magazines

Language of publication
English

Document type
Instruction/Guidelines

Document feature
Photographs

ProQuest document ID
1485841

Document URL
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1485841?accountid=144516

Last updated
2012-08-23

Database
International Index to Music Periodicals Full Text