Live Recordings - any mix tips?

if6was9

I've done a few live recordings before of bands all tracking together in a room but recently did my first recording of an actual gig.
Anyone got any tips for the mix?
So far I've decided to approach it from building the mix from the overheads which I've also severely high-passed to minimise bleed, my reasoning being that since these tracks have the most bleed that adding them later would make such a difference to the mix i'd have to go mess with the whole thing anyways to make room for them. Good idea or not?

Also I figure as I add each track in mix time it would be a good idea to toggle the phase of it and pick which sounds best as since theres bleed and it was all tracked in 1 go there's bound to be some phase issues.

i've learned a ton about what i'm gonna do for the next time already to make the tracks better at record time but thought you dudes might have some good points and words of wisdom ye'd be so kind as to share!

PaulBrewer

To treat the tracks as individual entities is a mistake simply because they're not.

There's hats on the vocal, guitar in the kick etc that isn't going away.

Treat the mix as a balance and don't be afraid of ambience.

teamdresch

Probably the vocal is gonna be the biggest and most important thing in the mix.
Maybe it'd be a better idea to start with that and build the rest of the mix around it.

I wouldn't make any decisions about high passing or where to high pass the overheads without reference to the rest of the mix.

Checking phase as you add elements is a sterling idea.

trackmixstudio

As Paul said, throw all the faders up and work from there.
I would gate the drums and mix samples in to get punch/clarity from the kit, but for the rest, as the stones once said "let it bleed"

if6was9

yeah i'm gonna sample replace the kick, probably do the same with the toms. I'm actually pretty pleased with the snare, I might try mix a sample in with it a little for that extra oomph but tonally i'm pretty happy with it. I'll try gating it too,


I gave it all a few listens with everything up to get a feel for it and then threw faders (virtual, ITB here!) down once I knew where everything is kinda at sound wise. I figure this way I can shape the mix while still knowing whats coming and keeping room for that. I've never started mixes with everything going- is this how you guys mix or is it just with live stuff?

Vocals seem to be the hardest, they're metal bands and the levels are all over the place with them, i'm gonna have to squash them and automate as I go, thats gonna take some time considering the sets are both over 40 minutes each!

Any more tips or advice?

PaulBrewer

if6was9 wrote: »

I've never started mixes with everything going- is this how you guys mix or is it just with live stuff?

If you read interviews with remixers the usual process is throw everything up (taking it the tech stuff routing crossfades etc are sorted) and 'see' how the track does or doesn't work.

if6was9

Interesting as I just started to read the Mix engineers handbook and theres a bit on this at the start where alot of the contributers talk about how they start and alot of guys had different points.

madtheory

I'd agree. Put up the faders, do a quick balance, and then see if anything needs eq/ compression, echo reverb etc. But it takes a lot of experience to decide what, if anything, might be required... I would avoid gating unless the kick and snare needed serious work due to bad mic positioning or tuning. I would gate the toms "manually" i.e. edit around them. Far better than a gate. I do this on studio recordings too. I assume most people do?

It's a mistake to automatically high pass the overheads. More often, there's a cool balance in there of the other instruments and it can be the key to maintaining the excitement of the performance. I would probably HP the close mics on the guitar cabs though, and the vocal too, something like 80Hz, but that depends on what filter you're using, and the slope of it.

This is more of a recording tip, but it's great to have a stereo pair at the back of the room to give an audience perspective, and if possible a (cardioid) pair facing away from the PA to record the audience. Recordings straight from the desk usually sound very dead. You end up trying to use the bleed from the audience in between songs.

if6was9

yeah i'm definately gonna chuck a mic pointed towards the audience next time, didn't catch one this time but seems alright- you can definately hear the crowd in the quieter sections and the end,

I always HP guitar cabs, round 60- 100 hz depending on the tuning and the actual sound of whats recorded, Would have been nice to have taken Di's of the guitars and bass now, that would have given me alot of options for putting whats missing on the guitars and bass back in, as it is the recorded sound isn't the finest ever.

I'm gonna high pass the OH's, clears up the overall sound alot in this case in a good way