Fortunately, there’s a tool available to most of us that’s great for providing feedback that can lead to self-improvement. I’m talking about recording the live mix for later evaluation. 

Often, those who try it quickly abandon the idea because they immediately don’t like what they hear, and it’s easier to blame the recording by saying it doesn’t sound like it does in the room rather than accept the fact that what they’re hearing live is tainted by what they think.

I record my live mix at every opportunity so that I can listen to it later for insight about myself and what I thought I was hearing during the gig.  So far, I’ve come away from this process with two major revelations.

First, it’s critical to not over-think things. I believe this to be the bane of most technically oriented people. There comes a point where the specifications become more of a distraction, rather than helping.

Second, I’ve learned a new skill. Being able to evaluate a mix that’s not working and determine what needs to be cut in level is a greater expertise than boosting levels for certain mix elements that can’t be heard.

Should you expect to hear a ready-to-release recorded mix? Of course not. But you should be able to hear the foundation, pad, rhythm, lead and fill all more or less in their correct relationships.

My recording process varies. If it’s a standing gig, I’ll use whatever is at hand - cassette, DAT and CD-R recorders. My preference now is digital, and I’ve used a (HHB) PortaDAT. When that gave up the ghost, I picked up an Edirol R-09 and take it with me to gigs.

Here’s a recording of the opening number from the next gig I did with the Aaron Richner Band.

For this occasion, I had a little more time to prepare, and took my Apogee PSX-100 and Alesis HD24 just to record this two-track mix. The console was a 32-channel Mackie SR and I patched the converter to a pair of the main out jacks.

Is this a perfect mix? No. But we need to keep things in perspective. As much as we may work to minimize the effect of the environment on our perception, I don’t think it could ever be completely eliminated.

But a good live mix will have all the elements in place, and these should be there to be heard on the recording.

Great sound can be relatively easy to achieve. The solution is in removing the ideas that we think up that get in the way of it.

Author’s note: My thanks to Aaron Richner for permission to use his original song “Know You’re Close”. Click here to check out Aaron’s Myspace page.

Since his start 29 years ago on a Shure Vocalmaster system, James Cadwallader remains in love with live sound. Based in the western U.S., he’s held a wide range of professional audio positions, performing mixing, recording, and technician duties.

More articles on PSW by James Cadwallader:
How And Why Unity Mixing Can Make All The Difference In The World
Yes, Virginia, System Gain Structure Matters - Here’s Why
No Slave to Gear: Maximizing What You Get Out Of What You Have

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