One of the most important aspects of a live concert is the sound quality. Whether it’s the fluidity and balance of the mix that your ears perceive at the show, or in our case, the accurate reproduction of that sound in the 1′s and 0′s of your recording.
In Part 2 of this guide on how to tape concerts, I will be exploring the different options for capturing the sound of the show in the way of microphone setup in the venue, microphone types, specific microphone models that I recommend you check out, soundboard recording and the different recording devices available to make your job in post-production a bit easier. I will also discuss a bit about room acoustics and things you should note about the venue you are taping in order to maximize the potential quality of the recording.
If you have missed a part in this series, or need to know more about another aspect of concert taping, please see the other parts of this guide as they become available.
Part 1, Overview & Preparing for the show
Part 2, Audio Production (you are here already)
Part 3, Video Production
Part 4, Shooting the show
Part 5, Post Production
Part 6, Exporting & Delivery
The Audio Mix
For the purpose of this guide we will assume you will be getting both a soundboard and audience recording. The soundboard recording will be what the sound engineer mixes for the audience, supplemented with an audience microphone recording. It is possible to run an independent output for each channel to the soundboard into a multi-track recorder for mixing in post-production, but we won’t be covering that.
The basis for your mix will be the soundboard recording, as it will be the most clear recording you will get. Factors such as sound reflection from the venue walls and dreaded crowd noise will minimally affect the soundboard feed to your recorder.
Keep in mind that the house engineer is often NOT mixing for your recording! His or her job is to please the crowd with a balanced mix adjusted for the acoustics of the room, not to please you. If you want full control over the mix, you should look into hiring an audio professional to do a multi-track recording of every channel off the board.
The mixing skills of the sound engineer can also be an issue. Most bands on national tours will have a dedicated sound engineer that knows the band’s music, their setlist and the sound they want to achieve. On the other hand, almost every venue has an in-house sound engineer that is responsible for explaining the venue’s setup to guest sound engineers, sometimes running monitor mixes and more often mixing for opening bands on the tour. While the house guy might not know the music of the band, they will often be very in-tune with how to mix for the venue they work at.
In all honesty, sound engineers are hit-or-miss in the small venues across the nation: most are great and will do whatever they can to help you achieve a great recording, while others will be downright rude to you, for whatever reason… ego, hassle, whatever.
It goes without saying that you should always be respectful when coming onto someone else’s mixing console. Be considerate and asking (rather than demanding) for their help in getting patched into the board will help your show go more smoothly.
Room Acoustics & Planning the Audio Mix
We talked about previewing the venue before showing up to tape a show in Part 1. Knowing the environment you are recording in will allow you to plan which equipment is necessary for your show, as hauling a truck of gear to a show and then not being able to use it is simply a waste of your time.
So how big is this place? How many people can the venue house at full capacity? Are you taping a hole-in-the-wall bar or a huge arena show? It is important to know the answer to these types of questions to plan for what type of audio recording you’re likely to get from both your mic and soundboard sources.
Regardless of venue size, you should also run mics in the audience to capture the sound of the room. With room mics you will be able to capture what the sound engineer is mixing for and will usually come away with a very balanced recording. Once we get into post-production, the two recordings will be synced and mixed together. The level of each recording will usually be determined by the venue size, but I’ll expand on that in Part 5.
The Soundboard Recording
Most venues and sound engineers will assist you in hooking into their soundboard to capture the live mix. Hopefully you read Part 1 on how to get permission for all of this, so there won’t be any surprises on the day of the show.
The soundboard recording will be the life-blood of your final audio mix. You will be recording most everything on stage, and getting a recording of how it sounds before it goes through the speaker system, but after it passes through the board’s pre-amps, EQ’s and effects.
How does this benefit you as a taper? To be short and technically concise, the high frequency portions of the sound spectrum have a lesser chance of reaching your microphones in the audience than lower frequency sound. This comes down to the length of the sound waves at different frequencies. If you want a more in-depth technical knowledge on the technical properties of sound, I highly recommend Sound for Television and Film by Tomlinson Holman.
Your soundboard recording will also not be affected by sound reflecting from the walls of the room, which if excessive, can have a negative effect on a recording. Remember, you can always add echo/reverb later, but it’s very difficult to remove ! If you want an example of how bad this can sound, try recording your voice from across the bathroom.
It goes without saying that smaller venues will usually have a less powerful sound system than a larger venue. Now, believe it or not, live music is loud by nature?meaning less of the instruments need to go through the house sound system to satisfy the crowd in a small venue. This means less instruments in your soundboard recording. Sometimes vocals and drums are all you will get through the house sound, and sometimes bass guitar, depending on the size of the amplifier the bass player uses. In smaller venues, the sound for the guitars is only that of the amplifier stack used by the guitar player. If one thing is missing from the mix, it’s probably the guitars.
In larger venues, you can rest a bit easier, as everything is usually run through the soundboard.
Hooking Into the Soundboard
While we’re just about ready to talk about mics, you need to know how to connect from the soundboard to your recorder.
Most soundboards will have a dual-XLR output (one for the left-channel, one for the right-channel.) This output is a “post-fader” output–meaning the audio levels of each channel are affected by the fader and EQ’s of each channel strip on the board.
You will need one of two types of cables to patch into the soundboard: 2x XLR-Female –> 1/8″ Stereo Mini-Jack (get at least 60 inches long) or two separate XLR-Female –> XLR-Male mic cables (the longer the better.) Which cables you need will depend on which inputs your recorder has.
Microphone Types
I’m sure most of you are aware that microphones can be overloaded with loud enough sound. After all, different types of microphones are more sensitive than others.
You are probably well-aware of this if your first attempt at filming a concert was with your video-capable cell phone and all you could hear on playback was “BURMMM BRUMM TIK BURM BURMMM SHHYOW WA SHOW TSSHH TSHH SHHT” at 10 frames per second.
If you are unfamiliar with the different types of microphones, rather than rehash what many others have already explained elsewhere, please visit this MediaCollege.com article, or the more tech-oriented WikiPedia entry on microphones, to find out all about the most common mic-types: dynamic, condenser and ribbon. Pay special attention to the descriptions on condenser mics, as those are what I will be recommending for audience mics below.
I’ll be using terminology explained in these articles throughout the rest of Part 2 and the rest of the guide. Pay attention to the terms “polar pattern” and “phantom power” as they will be coming up later.
Ready to go on? Here comes the fun part…
Recommended Microphones For Concert Recording
First off, I recommend that you head over to the Live Music Archive and check out a few different recordings that were done using different microphones. You can find this out through what’s called the “lineage” where tapers describe the signal path of their audio rig. (Hint: the first piece of gear given is usually the mic model.)
When listening to other recordings, keep in mind that the quality of those shows differs greatly based on the actual location in the venue it was recorded from, and the room’s shape and size, in addition to the mics used. I hope this helps drive home that the point the place you set up your mics in the venue makes all the difference in the final result. That, and it goes to show that it’s not how good your equipment is, but how well you know how to use it.
There are a whole array of microphones out there capable of recording in a loud environment. The following recommendations are based on bang-for-buck quality and geared as recommendations for somebody who just needs the basics for capturing good audio. Make no mistake–the gear recommendations here are all great and will produce above-average results. But as with audio, there are groups of purists and other audiophiles out there willing to spend lots and lots of money for great-sounding audio.
I won’t be going into all of the other type of gear you can add to your rig, so if you’re interested in fleshing out your rig even more, head over to the TapersSection.com Forums and check out some of the additional gear other people are using.
With that, here’s the low-down on which microphones I can recommend for taping your concert on a mild budget (because after all, you need a recorder too.)
The SP-CMC-2 mics from Sound Professionals are discreet mic capsules capable of being clipped to just about anything using a normal lapel mic clip.
I would describe their sound quality as very good, but a bit lacking in the sparkle of the high-end of the audio spectrum. The best way to describe it would be like if you listened to the concert with a shirt over your head. You can hear everything just fine, but it might sound a bit better if your shirt… wasn’t over your head. Not to mention people might look at you funny, if they don’t already (you stick out like a sore thumb with that huge mic stand.)
But! This “veil” effect isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you’re taping in a medium to large-sized venue.
If you have secured a soundboard feed for recording, these mics make a great supplement as an audience recording. The soundboard source will dominate over the mic source in the upper-mid range and highs and fill-in where these mics are not as clear. This will leave you a bit less post-production work in the audio mixing stage, but also a bit less control of the final mixed version for your video.
Optimally, you will want to run these up on a mic boom stand and suspend each mic off the end of the stand into mid-air. If the venue you’re taping at doesn’t have room for a stand, or you’re not allowed to put one up, you may have to clip them to your shirt. By suspending the mics you will get them above the crowd noise that may leak in otherwise, not to mention it will free you up to do something other than stand still as a statue during the show.
These mics have a cardioid polar pattern (you read the Wikipedia article, right?), but are still very suspect to off-axis noise because of their small size. Again, elevation is the key to capturing the best house sound in the venue.
CAUTION: Avoid clipping these (or any mic) to something that is libel to vibrate when the band starts playing, as the mics will not only pick up the sound of the show, but any vibrations along the cable!
The mics terminate in a stereo 1/8″ mini-jack (the size of most headphone plugs.) This will be important when we get to the type of recorder you will be using.
NOTE: To use these mics at their full potential will require a battery box. A battery box contains a 9V battery that is used to power the mics over the mic cable. The signal chain for a setup using a battery box would be Mics > 1/8″ stereo input on Battery Box > 1/8″ stereo input on Recorder. As for which to buy, I suggest the SP-SPSB-1 by Sound Professionals for $100.
If you’re interested in other Sound Professionals mics, they have a page dedicated to displaying recorded live music with many different models of their microphones.
The DPA 4061 mics by DPA Microphones are also discreet mic capsules that can be clipped to anything. They have a clearer high end than the CMC-2′s and definitely a lot better low-end bass response. Low-end bass, the frequency range that a subwoofer produces (below ~120hz), can easily be lost in the soundboard feed, yet present in the house sound system. Glad you’re doing a mic recording, aren’t you?
With the DPA 4061′s you will have a much better chance of correcting any lacking parts of the soundboard feed, due to the mic’s well-rounded sound. The bass response is right-on and the highs sparkle clearly. The mid-range is hit or miss depending on the venue, but is most often an accurate representation of room sound at the show.
The cables for the 4061′s, like the SP-CMC-2′s, are held together and can be split to separate the mics from each other a few feet (or more if you desire.) The cable terminates into a stereo 1/8″ mini-jack so be sure to use a recorder that accepts this type of input.
A quality of the 4061′s that may hold them back is that they are omnidirectional mics, meaning they pick up sound equally in a 360-degree radius (but you knew that.) In a medium to large venue, this surround effect will add a lot of the crowd noise and room reflections to the recording, something you might not want depending on the size of the room and how noisy the crowd is that night.
The 4061′s are best used in small to medium-sized venues, and it is ESSENTIAL that you elevate them from the crowd to minimize the distracting noise of people talking during the show. If they are not elevated you will hear people chattering in the far-left or far-right of the stereo-field, and that’s not the easiest thing to fix later!
The mics sell separately at about $400 each (you’ll need two, so you’re looking at $800.)
To power the mics, you can choose to power them over XLR cables, but will need two DAD6001′s that convert from microdot to XLR. They run $100/each.
Alternately, you can also use the MMA6000, a small mic pre-amplifier made by DPA to power the mics. Each mic hooks into the amplifier via microdot connection. This little box runs about $300.
The Studio Projects C4 matched-pair of microphones are my favorite to use for capturing live shows due to their well-roundedness, their attractive price point, and they take standard 3-pin XLR cables capable of supplying 48V phantom power to them.
They have built-in 0, -10dB or -20dB pads for extremely close mic’ing of a loud PA system if the venue is small, or handle at 0dB just fine if placed near the soundboard in medium to large venues. They also feature an adjustable bass roll-off at 0 (off), 75hz or 150hz to help attenuate massive amounts of bass if the situation calls for it (e.g. a rap concert.)
Having great control over the sound within the mics themselves is a major benefit, as altering the sound at the input-source is the most effective way of maximizing sound quality in the signal chain, as opposed to using a pad/roll-off on a battery box or the recorder itself like the SP-CMC-2 and DPA 4061 would require.
The sound quality of the C4s is as well-rounded as the DPA 4061′s, but maybe not as uncolored as the DPA’s are. The C4′s have the added benefit of having switchable capsules on the end of the mics that change their polar pattern from omnidirectional to cardioid. Again, the omnidirectional caps work best in a smaller setting and the cardioids in larger venues elevated on boom stands.
Each C4 microphone requires a normal XLR mic cable to run to your recorder, so you will need two XLR-Male to XLR-Female cables. Depending on the recorder you’re using, this XLR-termination may or may not be a good thing. Most professional-quality recording devices accept XLR mic cables, while other smaller recorders accept stereo 1/8″ mini-jack plugs. We’re getting there?hold on!
The versatility and quality of these mics makes them ideal for taping shows in venues that allow mic stands and in which the main PA speakers are above crowd level.
So how much are a pair of these bad boys? You can get both mics for about $400–the same price you would pay for just one of the 4061 mics. If your recorder has the option of supplying 48V phantom power, you can power the mics using that and save a dedicated preamp.
All of the above mics do a great job. I suggest you go with whichever set is within your budget and man-power to operate properly. Please don’t think this list exhausts all of the mics suitable for this type of job. Feel free to check out other mics and try them on your own. If you find a pair of mics that are really amazing, I would love to hear about your experience with them.
Recommended Recorders For Concert Recording
Now that you have an idea on the different recording sources, you need something to actually record it with. Again, I will give recommendations on a few different recorders that are capable of the job and hit several different budget brackets.
Portable recorders keep getting smaller and smaller. Before the advent of solid-state flash media, portable DAT recorders (like the Sony TCD-D8 and Tascam DA-P1) were the primary recorders you would find people using to tape concerts and most other field-recording for film.
If you need a quick-glance reference, the comparison table following the description of the mics will show a more technical-comparison of the 3 recorders recommended below.
The little Edirol R-09 looks a bit like a cell phone, and is just about the size of one. Now if we can just get our cell phones to record audio at the quality of this little guy.
The R-09 records to SD memory cards at 24-bit/48kHz. It has a 1/8″ stereo mic-input and a 1/8″ stereo line-in input. If you use a battery box, hit the line-in, if you’re rolling without one, chance it with the mic-input. The device connects via USB to PC/MAC and takes 2 AA batteries.
Overall not a bad little device for $400 retail. Depending on your mic setup and other gear you can afford, this might be the right choice for you.
Note: You will need an additional device that is capable of supplying 48V phantom power to your mics, as this little recorder is not capable of producing it!
Again, like the R-09, the MicroTrack II is about as small as a cell phone. 24-bit/96kHz audio records to CF cards. It has a few more inputs than the R-09, including two 1/4″ TRS inputs, along with a 1/8″ stereo line-in input.
The 1/4″ TRS inputs provide 48V phantom power, so you could use the C4s with it.
You will benefit from the internal rechargeable battery over the AA’s of the R-09, and at $100 cheaper ($300 street price) the MicroTrack II should come out ahead for most tapers looking for a small setup.
The HD-P2 is more considered a “field recorder” than just a “portable recorder” like the previous two. It may be like comparing apples to oranges, as I’m offering the HD-P2 as the only field recorder in this recommendation, but that’s because it will do just about everything you need for recording a live concert.
The HD-P2 records to CF cards and uses two XLR’s as its primary inputs. It has no 1/8″ mic inputs, and no 1/4″ inputs, but makes up for it with the two XLR inputs for professional-grade mic inputs. The XLRs can feed 48V phantom power over each line, making it adequate for powering the C4 mics above.
The biggest advantage to you as somebody taping audio to later be synced with video is the HD-P2′s ability to both jam-sync to timecode and to record at the same video framerate you’re shooting. I won’t go into detail on how to do all of this since it’s in the manual, so if you invest in one, be sure to read up on this feature. I will explain the frame-rate issues a bit, though.
If you were shooting 60i digital video (like most cameras do) you would set the reocrder’s frame rate to 29.97 DF (drop-frame.) If you were shooting 24pA with a DVX100, you would set it to 23.976. For just 24p on a DVX100, you would set it to 29.97 and DF/NDF according to your scene-file settings. This will be a HUUUGE advantage for you when you get into post-production and are trying to sync up the audio sources, as if you set the recorder to the correct framerate, you will not have to tweak the audio any to get it to sync with the video.
The major downsides to the HD-P2 is its crazy portable power source: 8x AA batteries. If that wasn’t bad enough, those 8 batteries only get you about 3.5hrs recording time (even less if you need phantom power.) If you can, bring along your AC cable and plug in to power wherever you are. You can also power the HD-P2 over a 6-pin Firewire connection. Because of the way Firewire works, you will need a 6-pin to 6-pin Firewire cable to power the device, not a 4-pin to 6-pin. If your laptop has a 6-pin Firewire slot like the HD-P2 does, you can use that as an additional power source.
Priced at $1000, it might look a bit expensive compared to the other the other recorders recommended here, but given it’s extra features that benefit shooting video in tandem with it, I highly recommend picking one up, as it will save you more time and frustration in the long run. While it is possible to sync audio from the other two recorders to your video, it will take some additional steps (not to mention additional time and software $$$) to get it dead-on like the HD-P2 will.
Recorder Comparison Table
|
Edirol R-09 |
MicroTrack II |
Tascam HD-P2 |
| Highest Bit-depth/Sample-Rate |
24/48 |
24/96 |
24/192 |
| Highest MP3 Recording Quality |
320kbps |
320kbps |
No |
| Recording Medium |
Secure Digital (SD) |
CompactFlash (CF) |
CompactFlash (CF) |
| Pro Mic Inputs |
No |
2 1/4″ TRS |
2 XLR |
| Phantom Power |
No |
48V |
48V |
| 1/8″ Stereo-Mic Input |
1 |
1 |
No |
| Digital Inputs |
No |
1 S-PDIF |
1 S-PDIF |
| Sync to video frame-rate/timecode |
No |
No |
Timecode (XLR & BNC), Most STD Frame-rates |
| PC Connection |
USB 2.0 |
USB 2.0 |
Firewire (6-pin) |
| Portable Power Source |
2x AA |
Internal Lithium-Ion |
8x AA |
| AC Power |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Cost |
$400 |
$300 |
$1000 |
Camera Microphone Inputs
Many professional-grade video cameras have XLR inputs (including some of the cameras recommended in Part 3) These inputs are typically capable of powering condenser mics with 48V phantom power as well. If you plan to have a camera near the soundboard, you could consider running your soundboard patch, or even your mic source, into your camera’s XLR inputs. This method has both some advantages, and disadvantages.
Pros of running audio into your camera
- The audio will be frame-accurately synced to your video.
- No need to invest in a field recorder, flash media or batteries.
Cons of running audio into your camera
- Controlling input levels is not as accurate as a field recorder.
- You will often hear more noise if the input level is up too high (camera pre-amps are not as good as dedicated pre-amps, or those on a field recorder like the HD-P2.)
- Phantom power will drain more of your camera battery.
- Limited to the audio bit-depth and sample rate of the camera, which is often 16-bit/48kHz.
While I don’t recommend using your camera as a recorder if you can avoid it, it is possible. Having a dedicated audio recorder is better suited to record the music than a camera. But if you’ve already got the camera and are on a tight budget, your camera will do an adequate job.
Wrap Up
After reading this section you should have a good grasp on the different elements of your final audio mix (the soundboard and mic recordings) and the different roles they will play in your final mix. If it’s not quite clear yet on how the mic source will sound compared to the soundboard, just wait for Part 5 – Post Production where I’ll go a bit more in-depth on the sound characteristics of each and how to boost the quality of your final mix with a few tweaks to each source.
You should have a better idea of what to look for in selecting a set of mics to use for recording the show and which recorders to run your mics and soundboard patch into.
In the next part of this guide I will be doing the same type of coverage as was done for audio, but focusing on the visual aspect of the concert: your video mix. We’ll touch on camera setups, how to handle the camera, things to consider for planning the look of your video, recommendations on cameras to use and a few tips that will save you time in the editing room during the multicam mixing stage.
John Kary is Creative Director at Titus Films. Having directed and produced over 100 concert films, John is well-traveled in capturing the energy of live music. Having been responsible for all aspects of producing a concert film at varying times in his career, he has emerged as one of the premiere concert filmmakers in the U.S. When not shooting live shows he can be found shooting independent films around his home town of Lawrence, Kansas. For more info visit www.titusfilms.com.
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