thoughts on mixing a live show
6:45 AM - Just got through with a weekend of mixing Ken Slavin's new album, "Live at the Metropolitan Room." Polishing every single note (not kidding: every single note of a one-hour concert), getting every level just right, making sure the bass and piano and drums sit in just the right proportions every moment, getting the feel of the audience just so.
In a studio recording you can theoretically re-record and punch in and re-take till you get exactly what you wanted. With a live show, though, it's one shot and that's it. You get one chance to place the mics just right to pick up the sound of each instrument, and then the players have one chance to nail every aspect of a nuanced performance (because there's always bleed from the other instruments on stage) there's not a lot you can do to actually change or fix wrong notes or strange cues. Right around 100,000 notes, and every one can make it or break it.
But then again, in the studio there's not a lot you can do to re-create the magic of a great performance in front of an excited audience. Studios can be so dry and uninspiring. So I've been enjoying every single minute of it, hearing some terrific musicians do their thing in front of an audience that was, quite literally, jazzed.
Slavin is an amazingly great performer, with a real knack for reaching an audience with just the right blend of professional polish and human emotion. It's a pleasure to work on tracks like this and bring out their grain and make them shine and pull out all those odd, interesting moments that could only happen once in a career.
Lucky for you the record button was on, and you get to hear this recording in about a month.
In a studio recording you can theoretically re-record and punch in and re-take till you get exactly what you wanted. With a live show, though, it's one shot and that's it. You get one chance to place the mics just right to pick up the sound of each instrument, and then the players have one chance to nail every aspect of a nuanced performance (because there's always bleed from the other instruments on stage) there's not a lot you can do to actually change or fix wrong notes or strange cues. Right around 100,000 notes, and every one can make it or break it.
But then again, in the studio there's not a lot you can do to re-create the magic of a great performance in front of an excited audience. Studios can be so dry and uninspiring. So I've been enjoying every single minute of it, hearing some terrific musicians do their thing in front of an audience that was, quite literally, jazzed.
Slavin is an amazingly great performer, with a real knack for reaching an audience with just the right blend of professional polish and human emotion. It's a pleasure to work on tracks like this and bring out their grain and make them shine and pull out all those odd, interesting moments that could only happen once in a career.
Lucky for you the record button was on, and you get to hear this recording in about a month.
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