How to Record Live Music Performance and Get Good Audio - Tips for Live Gigs

Your last performance was awesome but the recording has too much background and crowd noise. And the audio for your music performance isn't clear.

It's time to get better audio from your live gigs. And I'm going to show you a simple way to do that.

You'll also hear some of my live performance (with good audio using this method that I'm showing you) at the end, so hang around for that!

Here's the website to Bullfrog Creek Brewing where I played and filmed this show:

Gear you need when the venue has its own sound system:

How to sync audio and video:

Timeline of Contents:

01:31 - Additional gear needed for recording direct audio
04:16 - How to connect everything for your recording
09:18 - How to create the video
10:54 - Shoutout to Bullfrog Creek Brewing
11:38 - What beer I'm drinking here
11:56 - Jason's live performance

Keep it Metal,
Jason

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[TheChicagoTodd]

One thing I used to do to help me sync up audio tracks with video, is when the camera and audio are rolling...look directly into the camera and hold my hands up and do a single, very deliberate clap...that really gives a great audio and visual reference point.

[EstebanBrunomusic]

All of your videos are so useful. I've got a gig coming soon and I'm gonna try recording it with more audio quality. Thanks for your content! I hope you have a great day! I'm sending you good vibes!!

[trendchamberlain]

Thank you! I trying to figure this out for a while now

[TheChicagoTodd]

Some mixers let you record your mix out onto an SD card that is in the mixer, which negates the need for the audio interface. Some mixers even let you record the main mix AND each individual channel for additional mixing in your DAW later. Fun stuff!!

[Black-Sheep-Society-xx]

Great video.

One thing I like to do is record a beep sound to sync the audio file with the video file after cutting the HD cam audio.

That makes it easy to line everything up.

I started with Sony Vegas for my video years ago as a cheaper solution to more expensive software.

A company called Magix bought out that video software from Sony.

Magix Movie Studio is the beginner to pro software.

I do recommend getting into pro tools or another professional software that recording studios actually use if you're serious about producing audio and video content.

Glad to hear your live music Jason. I will be down this year to Clearwater.

I'll definitely want to come to a show.

See you soon my friend.

[angusmeigh]

I can remember reading about how to make good live recordings way back in the 1980s. Back when there were just electronic mixing desks and no computerised recording. The article I read said to use a multitrack recorder with one track for each instrument, one track for the vocals and one track for the crowd noise to make it sound like a proper live concert with the sound of the audiencd crowd.

[Hicks-gm]

This is really great information Jason I still have a lot to learn about music and live performances

[psmail]

Hi. Hey I'm sure you know but it bears mentioning ... For sure this will work but I think there are simpler ways. One is to replace the interface and the computer with a zoom H2NXLR or H4 or H6 - less gear, fewer cables. Or replace your own mixer with one with midi - Mackie make them - and keep the computer. Or if you want to remix in post get something like the Behringer Flow8. Or, as others mention, get a board with a built in SD card recording facility, something from Presonus if youre ok with just a stereo mix or something from Zoom. If you want to record multitrack. Or as someone else.mentioned - the Q8 will do both the audio and video at the same time and save you the sync process for even less gear. Cheers.

[mrcjjr]

Great video (as usual)...very informative and detailed stuff. Thanks for sharing 😁👍🏼

[Gulsha]

Thanks a lot Jason !! I play at similar kind of venues in India and record my gigs using Zoom Q2n-4k and it brings somewhat better audio as compared to mobiles but I wanted to record from the mixer directly and found this video quite helpful. I will get my audio interface and hopefully try this out soon. Thanks !!

[johnallenjames]

Another way to get clean audio from live recordings is to use a video camera that has XLR inputs. The Zoom Q8 and Q8n are just a few hundred dollars and have 2 XLR inputs. I have an old (from 2010) Canon XF100 that I use for the live videos you see on my channel. This simplifies things for me because I don't need to set up a computer or audio interface at the gig and has the added benefit of already having the audio and video synced. You can still shoot other angles with your phone(s) to add to the video when you edit because - I agree - newer phones shoot perfectly acceptable video. I also agree that it helps tremendously to have videos of yourself playing with clean audio - whatever way you capture it.

[VafaMottahedin]

One little tip is (for logic) make sure your frame rate on your daw is set to the right value to sync up with video. I used to record video on iPhone which is 60fps, but record audio on logic, and I think the frame rate was not right. As a result the video and audio wouldn’t sync up and would “drift” over long periods like 10mins or longer. It’s kind of counterintuitive to think that audio has a concept of frames per second but that’s what it does!

[Scottkellyandthedynamics]

What do you think just using 2 condenser mics at the right positions where the sound combines?

[TheSingingDoctor]

Great video! Thank you. Do you currently go directly through your EV50M?

[robdmusic]

Did you ever make a video to show how to multi track? Also, thank you for this video🙏🏼 exactly what I needed

[iantoubin]

Hi, thanks for the video. Just wondering, is your guitar amp mic’d up and plugged into your mixer?

[ggtirevite]

Hi there, just saw your video. I'm just starting up and all I use is a small yamaha acoustic amp instead of a sound board. Any suggestions?

[roostercogburnmusic]

Nice - qq will the PA speaker out into an iRig into an iphone running garage band work as well ?

[darbycarpenter]

Great video but I got lost hooking up the interface to the sound board. Is it out of the board into the interface? Then out of the interface to where. Sorry I am confused.

[eddie]

is there any free apps when im at a concert i wont get buzzing or distortion as the last concert i was at to record a littl video on my phone it was buzzy and distorted, tia.