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A crash course in live recording for keyboardists

Record Your Gig

By Moderated by Stephen Fortner | July, 2007

Jerry Lee Lewis played piano with his cowboy boots. Keith Emerson jabbed knives between the keys of Hammond organs. Steve Walsh of prog-rockers Kansas did handstands on his keyboard rig. While such moments of high macho have become iconic among keyboard players who perform live, they’ve done little to change the perception that onstage, we’re the Mr. Spocks of the band. Especially when our band wants to record a live gig. After all, we’re standing next to a rack of LED-covered synths and maybe a laptop computer, so we must be the sort of geeks who can capture studio-quality tracks for the band’s demo or website. Right?

Such a request may make you want to render your bandleader unconscious with a well-placed Vulcan nerve pinch, but today’s tools make it surprisingly easy to raise one eyebrow, intone “fascinating,” and be the hero of your ship.

THE RATIONALE

Why record your gig? Why not just make your demo in the more controlled environment of a home or project studio? Because a live performance may be your best practical opportunity to record your band, period.

Raise your hand if this is you: Your band is a too big to fit into the available home studio space, and you don’t have the budget to book a larger studio. Besides, you’d rather spend your money on gear you’ll own permanently. Then, there was that time you tried to record your drummer and the nice police officer explained the noise complaint from your neighbors. An actual gig happens in a venue where loud music is expected.

Then there’s the fact that live performance is, quite often, just more musical. Capturing the energy of musicians interacting with each other and with the audience isn’t something you achieve by bandmates coming over separately to play overdubs into your computer — assuming you can even get them to do this. In the working world of live entertainment, a paying gig is often the only thing that’ll make many “pros” put shoes on their feet and a key in the ignition, so you may need to use their time while you have it.

THE APPROACHES

In the following stories, we’ll examine ways to capture your live performance, from the quick ’n dirty to the highly ambitious.

The Ultimate Live Gig Recording Session.
See how the Jedi masters at Skywalker Sound record a live concert when hyperspace is the only limit on resources.

The Board Tape Goes Digital.
With today’s high-definition, handheld stereo recorders, you can plug into the house sound board to grab a great live mix.

Real-World Room Miking.
Want to use stereo mics to record the whole show? Here’s how to do it in real venues that pose real challenges.

Electronica Unplugged.
Learn how avant-garde, laptop-based electronic music ensembles preserve their recitals and jam sessions.

Live on Live.
Technology guru Craig Anderton gives step-by-step details on using Ableton Live as a performance and recording platform at the same time.

Is Eight Enough?
Take on multitrack live production when your tracks are limited by the inputs on your audio interface or standalone recorder.

Extreme Multitrack.
Set up a live recording with a track for every mic and instrument in your band, go against all sane advice by playing keys at the same time, and live to tell about it.

Through it all, we’ll relate our real-gig experiences so you can decide which method best suits your budget, available prep time, and needs.

YOU GOTTA HAVE CONNECTIONS

Mmm . . . cables. Not exactly a glamorous place to begin, but it’s even less glamorous to be stuck without ones that you need. Whatever recording approach you choose from the following pages, have as many different kinds of adaptors or short adaptor cables on hand as you have recording channels, and you’ll be ready to grab signal from any jack, anywhere. One connector on each cable should be what you need to plug into a channel of your audio interface or standalone recorder. In most cases, this is either an XLR male or 1/4" balanced TRS plug (you may need a “Y” cable to get two channels worth of audio into the 1/8" stereo input on some handheld recorders). What goes on the other end? Check out the guide labeled 'Connectors' to the right of the story.

Hot Tip

Compile two almost-identical adaptor sets, both with a connector smorgasbord on one end, but one set with XLR male plugs on the opposite end, the other with XLR female. Why? Clubs tend to have plenty of XLR mic cables on hand, but adaptors are scarce. If you need a long cable run from the FOH mixer to the stage, just plug the right adaptor onto one or both ends of a mic cable. If necessary, you can even chain mic cables between adaptors to bridge the distance. Whirlwind (whirlwindusa.com), Monster (monstercable.com), Mogami (mogamicable.com), and Planet Waves (planetwaves.com) all make great pre-wired cables. If you’re cool soldering your own, we like Neutrik connectors (neutrik.com).