Hi Warren, want to say that I’m so much thankful for this video. I’m just finishing mixing a live recorded rock opera performed in a stadium. A rock band with 7 people, a symphony orchestra with 33 musicians, a choir with 127 people, and 27 actors. Your video helps me resolve some issues that I didn’t know how to do before.
I'm amazed at how generous u are with revealing your tricks &knowledge ! Many greedy pros would never offer this priceless education ! Much respect !!! & thank you so much !!!
The bleed in the overheads usually determines my mix picture and I work with it instead of against. But the one thing I struggle with is getting enough room sound. I usually don't have crowd/room mics set up, but I'm gonna start. Because I don't have them, I kinda lean on my overheads and the bleed from the compressed lead vocal for the crowd sound. I definitely need to start putting up a couple mics for the room/crowd though. My mixes end up sounding like a studio cut until the song stops and you can barely hear them applause. Can't wait till I have a couple extra mics to throw up and ride up and down in between songs.
Just as I thought about recording and mixing a live gig in the near future with my band, there popped the notification from this video! A lot of useful information, thank you :)
This is FANTASTIC timing...I am in the middle of trying to work on recording and mixing my band - yep, we're in our 40's, no we are not good...but what I really want to do is get BETTER at live recording and mixing! Awesome timing!!!
Hi ckjjclan fantastic!! So glad to be able to help! That's awesome! I'm tracking today at United Recording in LA with Jack Douglas and I love looking down and seeing these great comments!! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Produce Like A Pro Honestly, the best part is knowing my kick file sounds a lot like yours... I was comparing it to a studio "thud" and my recording sounded decidedly dull in comparison - i feel better knowing i didn't make a mistake and that what i captured is what the pros get too. Also, I'll try going back and worrying less about the bleed from the vocal mics... I've been trying way too hard to gate ambient stuff out.
Hi Warren, Thank you for all over these great videos. I was Howard Pages understudy may years a go and for the live guitars manly the lead there was a EQ push of 2 to 3db with a 32 band graphic around 800Hz and 1.5KHz to give that live bite. Back in those day I carried a B16 with me to record the live gigs. It did the job but the digital world have made it so much easier to do.
Hi Ralph Dick Thanks very much for your kind words I really appreciate it! Yes recording and mixing live is a true art form! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I am mixing a live album for a church right now and this video has helped so much this is my first time mixing a live album that i didnt record and im dealing with the same issue of the tracks being printed very low and also poorly tuned drums so thanks so much for sharing you knowledge
Hi +Ryan Brown So glad to be able to help! I've done so many of these live mixes now, I invariably always spend linger cleaning them up than actual mixing! The good thing is once you get a template on one song it moves fairly quickly! Thanks very much I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Great video, Warren. Thanks. When you described the random bleed in Anthony Kiedis' mic as he moved around the stage and how it was more noticeable to hear silence in the spots where you cut it out.. It reminded me of when I had to remove a creak in the floor from a recording of "a moment of silence." But, the blank spot was noticeable because the sound of the "air" in the silent room was gone for two seconds, so I copied a piece of "silent room air" from the recording and patched it in where the creak was and the edit was undetectable. In the case of a editing unwanted stage bleed, you would have to replace the blank spot with the identical part of the song from a different section of the song, if you can get it, where the bleed was not offensive and hopefully the patch would be unnoticeable. Just a thought.
Indeed, I tried that, however being a live performance with far too many variables that didn’t work and caused more issues than it fixed. Ultimately gentle riding of the bleed and enough reverb to blend into the room works and actually maintains and somewhat enhances the live feel
Hi, in 2 hours I have an appointment for an internship to mix live recordings. This really helped me to understand the basics because I'm used to mix studio recordings. A whole new world. Your perspective is wide and clear. Thanks for the video and when I've mixed some recordings, I'll let you know my experience!
Hi Warren, want to say you that I feel so much thankfull having the chance of learning by someone as good as you. And with 'good' I don't mean just good Producer/Recording Engineer... But wonderfull person, too. It is very easy to get motivated and take all the confidence in the world for you. Hope you all have great times on your studios. My best regards from Spain. (And please pardon my mistakes with language). One more time, Thank You!. Alex
Hi Alexandre Miraz aw shucks thanks very much for the extremely kind words! I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Ive been doing "small" recordings for a few years, studio and live and I rather enjoy reinventing the wheel to some degree to see if I can figure out solutions to problems. That being said, I was very pleased to hear that some of the things I found helpful a pro like you also did; mainly allowing bleed and working around the bleed to keep the "live, stage" sound. Im always trying to learn and find out how to do things better. I have yet to really work with a good room mic sound. Can you advise the type and placement of room mics to achieve a nice stereo blend of the crowd and room? Also working with drums I really have only gated the toms. Very little hi hats as it seems the players usually are slamming those pretty good in live music. Using an RE20 inside the kick has yielded a good thick kick (with some channel magic applied lol) The locations of the players has a huge impact on bleed, I have found that, as much as possible, arranging the players in as straight a line so that the sources are all firing on the same axis as much as possible helps to some degree. Thank you for this priceless experience and advice you provide. If it is something that you do and is appropriate, I would love to send you a few songs from a recent live recording I did for you to briefly review and provide some advice on things I could do better. Thanks again brother and keep up the good work!
Good insight here. I’m currently struggling with a live recording with at least 8 open mics on a small stage, loud monitors and crowd. Tons of bleed, as you can imagine. Luckily, there’s very little background vocals and I’m able to simply mute the idle ones. I liked your comment about effects on the live mix. I usually finish a live mix by “putting” the whole thing in a room… for that I use the plugin “Space”… just a taste of it.
Thank you. This was super useful. Most of what I mix is live, bleedy, spikey & prone to accumulated mud & boxiness. Gates and heavy rolloffs are a double-edged sword, as you say. It’s a difficult balance to strike, and a very different job from mixing clean studio tracks. If you’d please consider more content like this, maybe mixing a sub-par live recording on a livestream, that would be absolutely amazing. Cheers
Fantastic! Wish I'd had this years ago when I was mixing for my old band. I'm looking at branching out into live recordings with a mobile setup so this is another brilliant resource. Cheers!!
I love this video! I have actually done quite a bit of live mixes as of late. The most difficult thing I've had to do is tune the vocals when they sound like there's a drumset inside the microphone....lol! I really enjoyed this video. Thanks!
Hi Jacob Longoria Thanks very much for your kind words I really appreciate it! Yes agreed tuning live vocals is really difficult indeed! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I'm currently mixing a live night of worship music for a local church. There are around 25 instrument/vocal tracks and 5 ambient mics for an hour-ish of music. I had to add an extra heavy guitar to fill out the bottom end in some spots, and I have used a *ridiculous* amount of reverb to simulate the feeling of the room it was recorded in, because the room mics just didn't have enough of the echo present. The lead guitarist also didn't tune before a song, and I had to pitch correct his guitar without making it sound weird (which is MUCH easier said than done when the guitar is drenched in reverb). I think there are audible drums in every single mic'd track. I've run into a lot of problems, and am currently on "final mix 10" or something like that, but I have really enjoyed the process of mixing live music in post quite a bit. They also are paying me for mixing the songs, and also are paying me to master it. I'm being super hard on myself to make sure they get their money's worth, but the mastering portion I'm just having the worst time with.
This video was golden. i was definitely having issues with a live vocal mix trying to chop out most of the bleed. you learn very quick that you are better off just leaving it and working with what you got.
after watching this video, I realize it take a lot of work to improve the quality of a live recording. original file of a live recording always sound thin and weak. Thanks Warren for this very informative video.
Perfect, thank you so much for sharing this! This is very useful for me since I will be mixing a live recording of my band this month. :) Greetings from Germany!
I’m doing my very first live recording mix and it’s a huge challenge, but this was incredibly helpful. Thank you so much for putting this together! It’s incredibly insightful
Great vid for when you've got cabin fever and need to bounce some thoughts. Very much enjoy the challenges of live - and the paradoxical trade offs you have to call to get the lead vocals balanced with the backing. Nice to get your teeth in to. This vid is great - as ever, very informative. Thanks Warren :)
Hi Luis Maza Thanks for your kind words! Yes will definitely be doing more videos on Live recording and mixing! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Pretty awesome. Thanks! I just started recording some gigs for my friends band and I ran into all of the things you mentioned while mixing. Although, I tried chopping the audio in the toms. While it does yield better separation (when the toms are panned correctly) it just got way to time consuming. (The shows I record are usually around 30 songs.) I ended up compromising by just gating the toms with an SSL channel strip. Thanks for all of the great advice!
I've done a bit of live mixing and I'd agree with not trying to fix details too much. I like to think of all the microphones on stage as giving a 3d picture of the overall sound. In theory if you get the panning, volume balance and phase issues sorted, you should have the sound in the room. You can't really get rid of anything but you can sculpt it as a whole. Then you can use the close mics and DIs to effect the mix. I'd love to see more on live mixing, there some good tips there.
Funny I am mixing a live rock band for a video right at the moment! Considering it is a 3 piece (Hendrix, Cream type band) and the only real issue I am having is panning the guitar and still filling out that gap where a doubled rhythm would be. I tried panning a reverb and I like it in some situations but it needs to be a bit more tighter sounding. Back in the day it seems easier to achieve this on tape. Any other hints that I am missing. So many thanx! Your channel has taught me more than and education I paid for!
Hi Alex Skyles I would pan the guitar around 20-30% and put the verb and a gentle slap the opposite side to fill it out a little. Thanks very much for your kind words I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Hi Warren, Again great info man! The link I sent you was recorded with a 421 on the kick , apex condensers for overheads, 58's on stereo guitar amps and vocals into my custom neve copy 10 channel board (1073 eq copy from the 1975) into protools digi08, I don't have a laptop so I drag my big ass G5 with me ! I love live recording and filming because it captures something that will only happen once .
That was fun and interesting! I've done live sound often (over the past 5 decades) and the control that is possible now is really amazing. At the same time, as you point out, it's all about the bleed, Seems quite ironic that Dick's song is the example for this tutorial!
I have mixed a lot of live shows, and would add that in a club situation with a small stage and 4 or 5 singers, dealing with cymbal bleed is one of the biggest challenges. It greatly affects what must be done with the drum overheads.
Very cool, Warren! I don't think I've ever seen information on mixing live stuff before. The tom treatment is something I recently did on a natural-ish jazzy-type tune. The tom mics contributed a lot to the overall sound, so I did the "gain down" thing you did, but I multed the actual tom hits to a different track and eq'd and compressed them differently to the sections that only consisted of bleed.
Hi Coldroom Studio aw shucks so glad to be able to help! Yes preserving the tom bleed can really help achieve a more natural drum sound. Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Absolutely great subject! Would be marvellous to see your approach on a live recording from a tight noisy club stage. Especially, which reverbs will make sense to match a small venue? (I don't think of an average club's ambiance as being exciting)
Hi Sven Glansberg that's a fantastic idea!! I will definitely do one of those as soon as I can! Thanks very much for your kind words I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I'm really hoping to see a follow up video on this subject that goes pass just scratching the surface. I'm a live sound engineer primarily and I've just started recording the shows I run sound for to make an extra profit. I learned so much from this and I look forward to seeing if there will be a follow up on the recording and mixing process of live shows.
Hi +Jacob Richter Yes that's a fantastic idea! Thanks very much for your great comment I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
Warren, it looks like you have a lot of cool gear in the racks in your studio. Do you have a video going through your setup the same way you do when you visit other studios?
Really cool video thanks! I run a digital mixer live though most of my instruments are electronic. Wondering back in the 70's that some bands would actually record live (though maybe seperated by different rooms) ? Love this channel thanks for the great support!
Perfect timing, I just recorded 16 tracks of live band and will be mixing in studio as soon as I can get my daw to playback 32bit pcm files..lol Thanks for sharing your knowledge!Harry
Thanks Warren. 90% of my recording is live performance. The room we play / record in is rather small and I get a lot of bleed into every mic... I try not to use gates... My biggest challenge is that I send the vocal mic into the audio interface > Logic and the vocals are monitored in the room for the performance using an AUX out (just vocals). When the vocal hits a peak (loud) note the room mics (and sometimes the Drum Overheads) get slammed with the vocal. I like to have the room mics in the final mix with a bit of reverb for ambience but they get slammed during vocal peaks. Any suggestions...??? I also have UAD equip so if you can suggest a plugin to tame the live recording...?? Or a room mic suggestion...??? 16 mics go into a PreSonus RM16 > Logic > only the Vocal Mic is returned to the room to hear the Vocals. All other mics go to a headphone mix for setting levels. I do get 8ms of Latency but it doesn't cause a problem...
Hi C Carr thanks for the great question! I wonder if you can put your singer on headphones and have less vocal through the PA? Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I really want to wrap my head around the adding drum samples to recorded acoustic drums. Is there a place to go towards for more info on this subject? I see you do not in a lot of your videos. Is there a simple trick or do you physically place a sample kick or snare beat on the Timeline for every measure ? It seems like a really long process considering snare rolls or all the random sounds produced from the kick and snare. Thank you if you can steer me in the tight direction. Warren I really love your videos and your room . It's so cluttered with cool Nick knacks I love it ... I pause the videos to check out every detail of like the army nen. Or Beatles paraphernalia. Love it. Thanks.
Hi Warren, great video. Did you use this some mix (plugins setup) for all the songs? Did you work all songs just in one PT session? Thanks again! Greetings from Chile!
I play acoustic guitar with one hand (all hammer ons and pulls offs) and then use my right for percussion on the instrument. I'll setup loops that are vibe-y and spacious and then come in with main parts overtop etc. I mention this because I've done a good job of capturing audiences in live settings. However, it's been difficult to translate this experience to a recording and make the quality of my live performance available to listeners on TH-cam. As I look to invest in a "studio setup", I'm deliberating about what gear to buy to at least attempt to facilitate my live show on TH-cam. I think my future success as an artist is indicative on achieving this. I would much appreciate you suggesting a studio setup that is a-typical in comparison to the classic interface/mic/laptop combo. I want to play live, and record it live in a private rehearsal space I am renting. One other thing to mention.. My vocal being light and sultry means that playing in huge spaces is very helpful. It helps the nuance of my vocal be very audible to me and therefore facilitates a performance that usually is a million times better than any choked up studio setting where I'm crushed by the walls of a soundbooth. This is one of the main reasons why a live-recording setup is desirable. I'll look forward to your reply. Rock on, dude. -Marc
The only video I have found on the internet that I need! Would you know how they did the multi tracking? Through preamps and interfaces from the mixer or computer straight from mixer? Thanks warren, Josh.
Hi +Jerby Djokoto Thanks for the great comment! I also use Logic as well, mainly for my keys etc and I also love it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
As a live audio engineer who is working on some tracks of a recent gig, this was awesome. Do you have any tips for choral stuff with drum bleed in the choir mics? You answered many of my questions in this video. Thanks for all the information!
Hi Erwin Vásquez thanks for the great question! Yes indeed, in Jazz I love allowing things to naturally bleed into each other! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
i learn a lot from all your vid sir...tqvm..!!! u r amazing sharing all of your diamond to all n again a very BIG thanks to you sir.!! (sorry my bad English sir)
Hey Warren, Ever looked into the Sound Radix Auto Align plug in that allows you to phase and time align your tracks? Pretty straightforward and easy to use plug in. I know you've got a system in place that you use.
Hi gospodruma yes ***** was talking about that, I would interested to see what it did and how it sounded. Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Hi Warren! Thanks for a great insight! At first I thought that the verb on the kick and snare sounded extreme but it seems to blend really well with the rest of the mix. What's your approach on it? Do you somehow match the reverb to the room sound or to the natural reverb that the vocal track has?
Hi Paul Kazantsev thanks for the great question. Yes I try to match it and make it feel like the same room. Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Hi there, Warren. Thanks ever so much for sharing your knowledge and experience. Absolutely marvelous! I am in the process of mixing a live recording with a synth band called Agregat with some backing tracks, SPD drums, baritone electric guitar and vocals. To what extent would you say that the overall norms or 'rules' that you describe in this video would apply to a setup like this? All the best, Eirik
Thank you so much for your video! Really awesome stuff! We're working on a recent live recording of concert and trying to get the vocals to sit nicely in the mix but there's quite a bit of distortion in the lead vocals in loud regions of the tracks. Any ideas on how to fix this?
Hi +Natasha Djokoto Thanks for the great question! Wow that's a tough one, I'd have to hear. It depends on what kind of distortion you're talking about? If it's pleasing then you could leave it, sometimes I've actually exaggerated it with a saturation plug in if it's the right moment on the singer. I hope that helps! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Warren my friend you are a godsend. I'm in the middle of mixing a private Music Festival weekend that a friend of mine thrown with a lot of pretty good bands in it and this is exactly what I needed to see. also it's got a lot of different styles and it goes from like reggae to rock to Bluegrass which is presenting a challenge in and of itself trying to mix with the genres in mind. how do you approach something like that that has widely varying genres?
Hi Warren. This video was really helpful as I am currently mixing a live show recorded in a hotel ballroom. I was just wondering if you could tell me more about the reverbs you used. Did you use the same reverb for everything or did you use different reverbs for the drums compared to the vocals? I'm trying to work out how to make everything sound like it belongs in the same space/room. Thanks as always for the videos they are great.
Hi Warren, thanks you for this video, it's amazing, super useful. I have a question, do you ever "gain down" your vocal when the singer doesn't sing like you do with the toms ? Or do you let the bleed into the mix ? Thanks again and cheers from France !
Do you align the vocal mic to the kick drum on a large stage? Synonymous to hearing FOH engineers say they delay the house rig to the depth of the kick drum, like 7ms to sometimes higher? Or do you do let the vocal sit to add space to the mix image? In contrast, would you align the kick drum transients in the vocal mic to the kick mic itself if your lead vocal is less than 6 feet away, on a very small stage?
Thanks Warren. This is quite informative. But I have 2 questions ;) 1. Have You found that You need to cut recording for songs and then work on them separately, or always tend to mix whole in one project. 2. Do You (and I know this is general, and will depend on project) automate pan to move to some shots (if I remember there was something like that in one of Rolling Stones dvd), or use a stage shot for the whole recording?
Arkadiusz Gołąb Hey A. see my other comment above. I work on 30+ songs a gig and I leave them in one session. I find using the same verbs / eq / compression across the entire session makes it a cohesive collection. There is always automation and clip gain to fix inconsistencies.
Hi Arkadiusz Gołąb thanks for the great question! As Anthony mentioned below I tend keep the settings fairly consistent so that it feels like one live show. Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
awesome video, good technique on your drum mix. Seems very time consuming to insert a sample/midi drums on every drum hit but well worth it, very clean. Do you prefer to have the actual recording Eq'd/mixed or would you prefer a rough recording so you can do everything in post production?
Hi +Jeremy Robinson Yes it is time consuming, but when you have poorly recorded live material that's what you have to do! Plus it's syncing to picture so I have to take extra care! Happy New Year! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Hi thanks for the vid. Do you think room mics are usefull if there was no crowd for a quarantine live show for exemple? It creates phasing issues but doesnt bring a real energy. Could it be better to send the mix in a convolution reverb bus ?
Hey Warren, great video. When you have to mix a full live concert or a full live session, do you mix every track on a separate session or you mix the whole in the same session?
So what about the BGVS. As in how do you deal with them because most probably they were standing close to the band so the bleed is just massive. Also, I see some guys end up doing overdub on the vocals but mixing it with the live recording cause there are some things the singer does on stage they cannot replicate so I guess what I am asking is if you have the capability of doing an overdub, should I?
Hi Warren, I'm Matias From Uruguay. I have some doubt about who use my reverbs in the drums. I'm using a drum plate reverb (Rverb) in the snare, kick, toms and hi hat, but not in the overhead. I'm not happy with the results. Maybe you could help me with some tips. Thanks for this video, it is my guide for my first live recording mixxing.
Hi Warren. Great video again. Very inspiring. Thanks for that! I was wondering how do you approach the whole concert. I mean if you do use the same settings of your plugins and fx or you change it per song. The volume of drums for example may vary from song to song and the plugins might react different than. Do you separate the songs as different sessions on protools or you do the whole concert in one session? Greetings Sebastian.
Warren, how do you work with mono against your stereo image? I always notice the mono is impeccable in these....while having an amazing stereo image. Especially in live stuff...How do you gain structure all that mono information and have it so clean? With everything clear as a bell!?
Hi +Jack Nolan I have created and acquired them over the years! Sometimes I paste them by hand! However for the live stuff I used Melodyne to create MIDI info and then Addictive drums to add the samples! I hope that helps! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
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Hi Warren, want to say that I’m so much thankful for this video. I’m just finishing mixing a live recorded rock opera performed in a stadium. A rock band with 7 people, a symphony orchestra with 33 musicians, a choir with 127 people, and 27 actors. Your video helps me resolve some issues that I didn’t know how to do before.
wow you have a video for literally everything I type in the youtube search engine! Much needed insight in this one, greatly appreciate it..
XdmL wow! Thanks ever so much!!
I'm amazed at how generous u are with revealing your tricks &knowledge ! Many greedy pros would never offer this priceless education ! Much respect !!! & thank you so much !!!
Hi Tommy S thank you ever so much! Really glad to be able help! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
The bleed in the overheads usually determines my mix picture and I work with it instead of against. But the one thing I struggle with is getting enough room sound. I usually don't have crowd/room mics set up, but I'm gonna start. Because I don't have them, I kinda lean on my overheads and the bleed from the compressed lead vocal for the crowd sound. I definitely need to start putting up a couple mics for the room/crowd though. My mixes end up sounding like a studio cut until the song stops and you can barely hear them applause. Can't wait till I have a couple extra mics to throw up and ride up and down in between songs.
Just as I thought about recording and mixing a live gig in the near future with my band, there popped the notification from this video! A lot of useful information, thank you :)
You are the game changer, this whole new generation (including me) needs you. Much Love from the Philippines, Warren. God bless you!
This is FANTASTIC timing...I am in the middle of trying to work on recording and mixing my band - yep, we're in our 40's, no we are not good...but what I really want to do is get BETTER at live recording and mixing! Awesome timing!!!
Hi ckjjclan fantastic!! So glad to be able to help! That's awesome! I'm tracking today at United Recording in LA with Jack Douglas and I love looking down and seeing these great comments!! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Produce Like A Pro Honestly, the best part is knowing my kick file sounds a lot like yours... I was comparing it to a studio "thud" and my recording sounded decidedly dull in comparison - i feel better knowing i didn't make a mistake and that what i captured is what the pros get too. Also, I'll try going back and worrying less about the bleed from the vocal mics... I've been trying way too hard to gate ambient stuff out.
Hi ckjjclan great! Glad to be able to help! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Hi Warren, Thank you for all over these great videos. I was Howard Pages understudy may years a go and for the live guitars manly the lead there was a EQ push of 2 to 3db with a 32 band graphic around 800Hz and 1.5KHz to give that live bite. Back in those day I carried a B16 with me to record the live gigs. It did the job but the digital world have made it so much easier to do.
Hi Ralph Dick Thanks very much for your kind words I really appreciate it! Yes recording and mixing live is a true art form! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I am mixing a live album for a church right now and this video has helped so much this is my first time mixing a live album that i didnt record and im dealing with the same issue of the tracks being printed very low and also poorly tuned drums so thanks so much for sharing you knowledge
Hi +Ryan Brown So glad to be able to help! I've done so many of these live mixes now, I invariably always spend linger cleaning them up than actual mixing! The good thing is once you get a template on one song it moves fairly quickly! Thanks very much I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Great video, Warren. Thanks.
When you described the random bleed in Anthony Kiedis' mic as he moved around the stage and how it was more noticeable to hear silence in the spots where you cut it out.. It reminded me of when I had to remove a creak in the floor from a recording of "a moment of silence." But, the blank spot was noticeable because the sound of the "air" in the silent room was gone for two seconds, so I copied a piece of "silent room air" from the recording and patched it in where the creak was and the edit was undetectable.
In the case of a editing unwanted stage bleed, you would have to replace the blank spot with the identical part of the song from a different section of the song, if you can get it, where the bleed was not offensive and hopefully the patch would be unnoticeable.
Just a thought.
Indeed, I tried that, however being a live performance with far too many variables that didn’t work and caused more issues than it fixed. Ultimately gentle riding of the bleed and enough reverb to blend into the room works and actually maintains and somewhat enhances the live feel
@@Producelikeapro Nice one! Reverb fixes lots of stuff. It's like duct tape! lol
Hi, in 2 hours I have an appointment for an internship to mix live recordings. This really helped me to understand the basics because I'm used to mix studio recordings. A whole new world. Your perspective is wide and clear. Thanks for the video and when I've mixed some recordings, I'll let you know my experience!
Hi +MrRecklessDubstep I hope you;re interview went well! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
Hi Warren, want to say you that I feel so much thankfull having the chance of learning by someone as good as you. And with 'good' I don't mean just good Producer/Recording Engineer... But wonderfull person, too. It is very easy to get motivated and take all the confidence in the world for you. Hope you all have great times on your studios. My best regards from Spain. (And please pardon my mistakes with language). One more time, Thank You!. Alex
Hi Alexandre Miraz aw shucks thanks very much for the extremely kind words! I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Ive been doing "small" recordings for a few years, studio and live and I rather enjoy reinventing the wheel to some degree to see if I can figure out solutions to problems.
That being said, I was very pleased to hear that some of the things I found helpful a pro like you also did; mainly allowing bleed and working around the bleed to keep the "live, stage" sound. Im always trying to learn and find out how to do things better.
I have yet to really work with a good room mic sound. Can you advise the type and placement of room mics to achieve a nice stereo blend of the crowd and room?
Also working with drums I really have only gated the toms. Very little hi hats as it seems the players usually are slamming those pretty good in live music. Using an RE20 inside the kick has yielded a good thick kick (with some channel magic applied lol)
The locations of the players has a huge impact on bleed, I have found that, as much as possible, arranging the players in as straight a line so that the sources are all firing on the same axis as much as possible helps to some degree.
Thank you for this priceless experience and advice you provide. If it is something that you do and is appropriate, I would love to send you a few songs from a recent live recording I did for you to briefly review and provide some advice on things I could do better.
Thanks again brother and keep up the good work!
For every issue, you have a solution. Thanks Warren! 🤘🐍
Thanks ever so much
Good insight here. I’m currently struggling with a live recording with at least 8 open mics on a small stage, loud monitors and crowd. Tons of bleed, as you can imagine. Luckily, there’s very little background vocals and I’m able to simply mute the idle ones. I liked your comment about effects on the live mix. I usually finish a live mix by “putting” the whole thing in a room… for that I use the plugin “Space”… just a taste of it.
Thank you. This was super useful. Most of what I mix is live, bleedy, spikey & prone to accumulated mud & boxiness. Gates and heavy rolloffs are a double-edged sword, as you say. It’s a difficult balance to strike, and a very different job from mixing clean studio tracks. If you’d please consider more content like this, maybe mixing a sub-par live recording on a livestream, that would be absolutely amazing. Cheers
Fantastic! Wish I'd had this years ago when I was mixing for my old band. I'm looking at branching out into live recordings with a mobile setup so this is another brilliant resource. Cheers!!
Hi Howard Hedger that's a great idea, have fun live recording! ! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Damn, in 25 minutes you gave me so much usefull info. Thanks allot!!!
Thanks for sharing some great wisdom with us all. Most appreciated Warren!
Hi ***** My pleasure and thanks for watching! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Produce Like A Pro very awesome video , I have learned a lot , I was doing things wrong .... Thanks for share !!!!!
I love this video! I have actually done quite a bit of live mixes as of late. The most difficult thing I've had to do is tune the vocals when they sound like there's a drumset inside the microphone....lol! I really enjoyed this video. Thanks!
Hi Jacob Longoria Thanks very much for your kind words I really appreciate it! Yes agreed tuning live vocals is really difficult indeed! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I'm currently mixing a live night of worship music for a local church. There are around 25 instrument/vocal tracks and 5 ambient mics for an hour-ish of music. I had to add an extra heavy guitar to fill out the bottom end in some spots, and I have used a *ridiculous* amount of reverb to simulate the feeling of the room it was recorded in, because the room mics just didn't have enough of the echo present. The lead guitarist also didn't tune before a song, and I had to pitch correct his guitar without making it sound weird (which is MUCH easier said than done when the guitar is drenched in reverb). I think there are audible drums in every single mic'd track. I've run into a lot of problems, and am currently on "final mix 10" or something like that, but I have really enjoyed the process of mixing live music in post quite a bit. They also are paying me for mixing the songs, and also are paying me to master it. I'm being super hard on myself to make sure they get their money's worth, but the mastering portion I'm just having the worst time with.
This video was golden. i was definitely having issues with a live vocal mix trying to chop out most of the bleed. you learn very quick that you are better off just leaving it and working with what you got.
i was just mixing a live song and i started to get that cymbal effect as i was cleaning up the vocal track thanks for the advise
after watching this video, I realize it take a lot of work to improve the quality of a live recording. original file of a live recording always sound thin and weak. Thanks Warren for this very informative video.
So far the best tutorial on this subject I've seen. *****
Perfect, thank you so much for sharing this! This is very useful for me since I will be mixing a live recording of my band this month. :) Greetings from Germany!
Hi ***** so glad to be able to help! Thanks very much for your kind words I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I’m doing my very first live recording mix and it’s a huge challenge, but this was incredibly helpful. Thank you so much for putting this together! It’s incredibly insightful
Great vid for when you've got cabin fever and need to bounce some thoughts. Very much enjoy the challenges of live - and the paradoxical trade offs you have to call to get the lead vocals balanced with the backing. Nice to get your teeth in to. This vid is great - as ever, very informative. Thanks Warren :)
Thank you for all your precoius advice and information, please Produce Like A Pro add more content on live music tracking and mixing!!!!!!!
Hi Luis Maza Thanks for your kind words! Yes will definitely be doing more videos on Live recording and mixing! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
a very interesting and clear understanding of mixing concept thanks Warren Huart
Doing my first live Mixes nowadays, and this little course is very helpful! Thank's!!
Wow man, thanks so much! I've learnt a lot today!! Cheers from Brazil!
Flutu Music thank you ever so much!!
Pretty awesome. Thanks! I just started recording some gigs for my friends band and I ran into all of the things you mentioned while mixing. Although, I tried chopping the audio in the toms. While it does yield better separation (when the toms are panned correctly) it just got way to time consuming. (The shows I record are usually around 30 songs.) I ended up compromising by just gating the toms with an SSL channel strip. Thanks for all of the great advice!
Hi Anthony Anzalone I completely understand! The Dick Wagner memorial concert is 3 hours long!! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I once tried making a live recording sound like it was done in the studio. I'll be remixing that one tonight now that I've seen this!
Hi Daan Jonkers fantastic! Let me know how it goes! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I've done a bit of live mixing and I'd agree with not trying to fix details too much. I like to think of all the microphones on stage as giving a 3d picture of the overall sound. In theory if you get the panning, volume balance and phase issues sorted, you should have the sound in the room. You can't really get rid of anything but you can sculpt it as a whole. Then you can use the close mics and DIs to effect the mix. I'd love to see more on live mixing, there some good tips there.
Funny I am mixing a live rock band for a video right at the moment! Considering it is a 3 piece (Hendrix, Cream type band) and the only real issue I am having is panning the guitar and still filling out that gap where a doubled rhythm would be. I tried panning a reverb and I like it in some situations but it needs to be a bit more tighter sounding. Back in the day it seems easier to achieve this on tape. Any other hints that I am missing. So many thanx! Your channel has taught me more than and education I paid for!
Hi Alex Skyles I would pan the guitar around 20-30% and put the verb and a gentle slap the opposite side to fill it out a little. Thanks very much for your kind words I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Hi Warren, Again great info man! The link I sent you was recorded with a 421 on the kick , apex condensers for overheads, 58's on stereo guitar amps and vocals into my custom neve copy 10 channel board (1073 eq copy from the 1975) into protools digi08, I don't have a laptop so I drag my big ass G5 with me ! I love live recording and filming because it captures something that will only happen once .
Hi Tom MacDonald absolutely!! I love live recording and mixing as well! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
That was fun and interesting! I've done live sound often (over the past 5 decades) and the control that is possible now is really amazing. At the same time, as you point out, it's all about the bleed, Seems quite ironic that Dick's song is the example for this tutorial!
Hi Michael Parson-McNamara thanks very much!! Yes it's a true art live mixing! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I have mixed a lot of live shows, and would add that in a club situation with a small stage and 4 or 5 singers, dealing with cymbal bleed is one of the biggest challenges. It greatly affects what must be done with the drum overheads.
Pretty cool haven't seen something like this.
Thanks blood lord I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Very cool, Warren! I don't think I've ever seen information on mixing live stuff before. The tom treatment is something I recently did on a natural-ish jazzy-type tune. The tom mics contributed a lot to the overall sound, so I did the "gain down" thing you did, but I multed the actual tom hits to a different track and eq'd and compressed them differently to the sections that only consisted of bleed.
Hi Coldroom Studio aw shucks so glad to be able to help! Yes preserving the tom bleed can really help achieve a more natural drum sound. Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Thanks Warren!! I have learnt so much from your videos, I love recording live!
I think this is one of the most interesting videos you have posted. Thanks for sharing :)
Hi apinakapinastorba thanks very much! I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Simply beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks ever so much for sharing!
Great video as always! I would love to see a video about the 5.1 mixing you mentioned!
Hi Papercut Music & Production yes soon! Anxious to do that as well! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Wow Warren, you are so talented. You have so much experience. We can see the years of experience coming through loud and clear. Impressive :)
Thanks. Your videos are very helpful.
Josh Stovall thanks ever so much!!
Thank you!
Thanks ever so much for sharing!
thanks so much for making sharing this one Warren exactly the reference I need for my latest assessment, merry Christmas have a fantastic new year :)
Whenever I see you... I sing your focusrite bundle song.....pa rum pa rum parum pa.....
Hahah thanks
Absolutely great subject! Would be marvellous to see your approach on a live recording from a tight noisy club stage. Especially, which reverbs will make sense to match a small venue? (I don't think of an average club's ambiance as being exciting)
Hi Sven Glansberg that's a fantastic idea!! I will definitely do one of those as soon as I can! Thanks very much for your kind words I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I'm really hoping to see a follow up video on this subject that goes pass just scratching the surface. I'm a live sound engineer primarily and I've just started recording the shows I run sound for to make an extra profit. I learned so much from this and I look forward to seeing if there will be a follow up on the recording and mixing process of live shows.
Hi +Jacob Richter Yes that's a fantastic idea! Thanks very much for your great comment I really appreciate it! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
Warren, it looks like you have a lot of cool gear in the racks in your studio. Do you have a video going through your setup the same way you do when you visit other studios?
Really cool video thanks! I run a digital mixer live though most of my instruments are electronic. Wondering back in the 70's that some bands would actually record live (though maybe seperated by different rooms) ? Love this channel thanks for the great support!
Perfect timing, I just recorded 16 tracks of live band and will be mixing in studio as soon as I can get my daw to playback 32bit pcm files..lol Thanks for sharing your knowledge!Harry
Thanks Warren. 90% of my recording is live performance. The room we play / record in is rather small and I get a lot of bleed into every mic... I try not to use gates... My biggest challenge is that I send the vocal mic into the audio interface > Logic and the vocals are monitored in the room for the performance using an AUX out (just vocals).
When the vocal hits a peak (loud) note the room mics (and sometimes the Drum Overheads) get slammed with the vocal. I like to have the room mics in the final mix with a bit of reverb for ambience but they get slammed during vocal peaks. Any suggestions...??? I also have UAD equip so if you can suggest a plugin to tame the live recording...?? Or a room mic suggestion...???
16 mics go into a PreSonus RM16 > Logic > only the Vocal Mic is returned to the room to hear the Vocals. All other mics go to a headphone mix for setting levels. I do get 8ms of Latency but it doesn't cause a problem...
Hi C Carr thanks for the great question! I wonder if you can put your singer on headphones and have less vocal through the PA? Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I really want to wrap my head around the adding drum samples to recorded acoustic drums. Is there a place to go towards for more info on this subject? I see you do not in a lot of your videos. Is there a simple trick or do you physically place a sample kick or snare beat on the Timeline for every measure ? It seems like a really long process considering snare rolls or all the random sounds produced from the kick and snare. Thank you if you can steer me in the tight direction. Warren I really love your videos and your room . It's so cluttered with cool Nick knacks I love it ... I pause the videos to check out every detail of like the army nen. Or Beatles paraphernalia. Love it. Thanks.
great Masterclass. thank u from Portugal
Hi Warren, great video. Did you use this some mix (plugins setup) for all the songs? Did you work all songs just in one PT session? Thanks again! Greetings from Chile!
I play acoustic guitar with one hand (all hammer ons and pulls offs) and then use my right for percussion on the instrument. I'll setup loops that are vibe-y and spacious and then come in with main parts overtop etc.
I mention this because I've done a good job of capturing audiences in live settings. However, it's been difficult to translate this experience to a recording and make the quality of my live performance available to listeners on TH-cam.
As I look to invest in a "studio setup", I'm deliberating about what gear to buy to at least attempt to facilitate my live show on TH-cam. I think my future success as an artist is indicative on achieving this.
I would much appreciate you suggesting a studio setup that is a-typical in comparison to the classic interface/mic/laptop combo. I want to play live, and record it live in a private rehearsal space I am renting.
One other thing to mention.. My vocal being light and sultry means that playing in huge spaces is very helpful. It helps the nuance of my vocal be very audible to me and therefore facilitates a performance that usually is a million times better than any choked up studio setting where I'm crushed by the walls of a soundbooth. This is one of the main reasons why a live-recording setup is desirable.
I'll look forward to your reply. Rock on, dude. -Marc
Thank you for making my bass sound great....
Hi Joe Bass wow thanks very much!! Glad to help! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
The only video I have found on the internet that I need! Would you know how they did the multi tracking? Through preamps and interfaces from the mixer or computer straight from mixer? Thanks warren, Josh.
A 5.1 Video would be awesome to see you do.
Hi Matthew Cutlass yes that's definitely in the works! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Very helpful video. Thanks a lot. I use logic pro X but i still found this very helpful.
Hi +Jerby Djokoto Thanks for the great comment! I also use Logic as well, mainly for my keys etc and I also love it! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
As a live audio engineer who is working on some tracks of a recent gig, this was awesome. Do you have any tips for choral stuff with drum bleed in the choir mics? You answered many of my questions in this video. Thanks for all the information!
Hello again teacher warren :p, do this concepts also apply if are recorded a live jazz group or a jazz band in an studio?
Hi Erwin Vásquez thanks for the great question! Yes indeed, in Jazz I love allowing things to naturally bleed into each other! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
i learn a lot from all your vid sir...tqvm..!!! u r amazing sharing all of your diamond to all n again a very BIG thanks to you sir.!! (sorry my bad English sir)
Helpful thank you
You’re very welcome
Hey Warren,
Ever looked into the Sound Radix Auto Align plug in that allows you to phase and time align your tracks? Pretty straightforward and easy to use plug in. I know you've got a system in place that you use.
Hi gospodruma yes ***** was talking about that, I would interested to see what it did and how it sounded. Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
great job warren lots of great advise thank you
Hi Warren! Thanks for a great insight! At first I thought that the verb on the kick and snare sounded extreme but it seems to blend really well with the rest of the mix. What's your approach on it? Do you somehow match the reverb to the room sound or to the natural reverb that the vocal track has?
Hi Paul Kazantsev thanks for the great question. Yes I try to match it and make it feel like the same room. Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Hi there, Warren. Thanks ever so much for sharing your knowledge and experience. Absolutely marvelous! I am in the process of mixing a live recording with a synth band called Agregat with some backing tracks, SPD drums, baritone electric guitar and vocals. To what extent would you say that the overall norms or 'rules' that you describe in this video would apply to a setup like this? All the best, Eirik
Thank you so much for your video! Really awesome stuff!
We're working on a recent live recording of concert and trying to get the vocals to sit nicely in the mix but there's quite a bit of distortion in the lead vocals in loud regions of the tracks. Any ideas on how to fix this?
Hi +Natasha Djokoto Thanks for the great question! Wow that's a tough one, I'd have to hear. It depends on what kind of distortion you're talking about? If it's pleasing then you could leave it, sometimes I've actually exaggerated it with a saturation plug in if it's the right moment on the singer. I hope that helps! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Thanks Warren 🇬🇧👌
Interesting video Warren ! Thanks a lot for the great tips ! :)
Hi Inverted Poles thanks very much! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Great vid, very useful, thanks
Warren my friend you are a godsend. I'm in the middle of mixing a private Music Festival weekend that a friend of mine thrown with a lot of pretty good bands in it and this is exactly what I needed to see. also it's got a lot of different styles and it goes from like reggae to rock to Bluegrass which is presenting a challenge in and of itself trying to mix with the genres in mind. how do you approach something like that that has widely varying genres?
Hi Warren. This video was really helpful as I am currently mixing a live show recorded in a hotel ballroom. I was just wondering if you could tell me more about the reverbs you used. Did you use the same reverb for everything or did you use different reverbs for the drums compared to the vocals? I'm trying to work out how to make everything sound like it belongs in the same space/room. Thanks as always for the videos they are great.
Hi Warren, thanks you for this video, it's amazing, super useful. I have a question, do you ever "gain down" your vocal when the singer doesn't sing like you do with the toms ? Or do you let the bleed into the mix ? Thanks again and cheers from France !
Awesome video, man! Thank you a lot!
Great vid!
Hi ebbulk thanks very much! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Produce Like A Pro
Do you align the vocal mic to the kick drum on a large stage? Synonymous to hearing FOH engineers say they delay the house rig to the depth of the kick drum, like 7ms to sometimes higher? Or do you do let the vocal sit to add space to the mix image? In contrast, would you align the kick drum transients in the vocal mic to the kick mic itself if your lead vocal is less than 6 feet away, on a very small stage?
Thanks Warren. This is quite informative. But I have 2 questions ;)
1. Have You found that You need to cut recording for songs and then work on them separately, or always tend to mix whole in one project.
2. Do You (and I know this is general, and will depend on project) automate pan to move to some shots (if I remember there was something like that in one of Rolling Stones dvd), or use a stage shot for the whole recording?
Arkadiusz Gołąb Hey A. see my other comment above. I work on 30+ songs a gig and I leave them in one session. I find using the same verbs / eq / compression across the entire session makes it a cohesive collection. There is always automation and clip gain to fix inconsistencies.
Hi Arkadiusz Gołąb thanks for the great question! As Anthony mentioned below I tend keep the settings fairly consistent so that it feels like one live show. Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
awesome video, good technique on your drum mix. Seems very time consuming to insert a sample/midi drums on every drum hit but well worth it, very clean. Do you prefer to have the actual recording Eq'd/mixed or would you prefer a rough recording so you can do everything in post production?
Hi +Jeremy Robinson Yes it is time consuming, but when you have poorly recorded live material that's what you have to do! Plus it's syncing to picture so I have to take extra care! Happy New Year! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
Any reason to manually automate out the bleed out of the toms instead of using something like a noise gate to do the work for you?
Marvellous question! I know that if I do it manually it will always work and recall 100% the same each time! The extra couple of minutes is worth it!
What did you use to print the Snare and kick samples?
So you use the big reverb on the kick drum too? This won't muddy up the mix too much?
great content, thank you
Hi +keeelane Thanks for watching!! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
Hi thanks for the vid.
Do you think room mics are usefull if there was no crowd for a quarantine live show for exemple?
It creates phasing issues but doesnt bring a real energy. Could it be better to send the mix in a convolution reverb bus ?
I learned a lot from you mate, thank you so much and keep em coming ! :)
Great video. Did you ever make a video about mixing in 5.1 as it seems to me there isnt all that much about it ?
Hey Warren, great video. When you have to mix a full live concert or a full live session, do you mix every track on a separate session or you mix the whole in the same session?
So what about the BGVS. As in how do you deal with them because most probably they were standing close to the band so the bleed is just massive. Also, I see some guys end up doing overdub on the vocals but mixing it with the live recording cause there are some things the singer does on stage they cannot replicate so I guess what I am asking is if you have the capability of doing an overdub, should I?
Hi! Hope you answer me, what is the best way to mix a show recorded? I have to make a mix song by song? About the eq, compressions and effects?
Hi Warren, I'm Matias From Uruguay. I have some doubt about who use my reverbs in the drums. I'm using a drum plate reverb (Rverb) in the snare, kick, toms and hi hat, but not in the overhead. I'm not happy with the results. Maybe you could help me with some tips.
Thanks for this video, it is my guide for my first live recording mixxing.
Hi Warren. Great video again. Very inspiring. Thanks for that! I was wondering how do you approach the whole concert. I mean if you do use the same settings of your plugins and fx or you change it per song. The volume of drums for example may vary from song to song and the plugins might react different than. Do you separate the songs as different sessions on protools or you do the whole concert in one session? Greetings Sebastian.
Warren, how do you work with mono against your stereo image? I always notice the mono is impeccable in these....while having an amazing stereo image. Especially in live stuff...How do you gain structure all that mono information and have it so clean? With everything clear as a bell!?
Hi Warren, Thanks for the great video. What reverb did you use on the Drums, Vocals and Instrument?
HI Lucky! Thanks ever so much for the great comment! Often I use the Avid one! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
Do you mix the entire set as a whole or do you mix song by song because each songs volume would be different correct?
HI +Jeremy Robinson I mixed the whole live set! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
Great Video! But where did you get those kick and snare samples from and how did you put them in?!
Hi +Jack Nolan I have created and acquired them over the years! Sometimes I paste them by hand! However for the live stuff I used Melodyne to create MIDI info and then Addictive drums to add the samples! I hope that helps! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren