Noob live recording question.

[twdavis]

In the video clipcbelow, there are multitrack recordings of just lead and rhythm guitar from a 1975 performance of Parasite that was recorded for KISS' Alive (the other instruments can be heard faintly in the background so you know where at in the song it is). The album was partially at Cobo Arena in Detroit. This clip is taken from that concert. The very first picture in the video shows the band from the front. If you look very closely behind them, you see their amplifiers but there are no microphones in front of them. BTW, the pic is also from that concert.

Do mics sometimes get placed in back of an amplifier on the speaker?

I know I probably an idiot but I'm not an expert on live recording.


YouTube - KISS - Parasite Guitars Track - Cobo Hall 1975


Thanks!

 

[Armistice]

moresound will know... he was probably running the sound for Kiss back in the day...

 

[bouldersoundguy]

A. There only has to be one mic for each guitar, and it might be on a driver blocked from view.

B. It could be on the back. That's a bit non-standard, but I've done it successfully (and unsuccessfully).

C. There could be an miced amp behind the stacks, and the stacks could be empty cabinets put there for show.

D. They could be going direct, but that seems unlikely for the style of music and era.

 

[twdavis]

I'm inclined to believe the mics are in back of the speakers because if the amps were somewhere backstage separately, you wouldn't be able to hear both guitars and the drums bleeding into each channel, but you can, because both Ace Frehley and Paul Stanley's amps are sitting right next to one another. I also don't see a mic in front of Gene Simmons' SVTs in ANY pic from that concert either.


Interesting.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

I'm inclined to believe the mics are in back of the speakers because if the amps were somewhere backstage separately, you wouldn't be able to hear both guitars and the drums bleeding into each channel, but you can, because both Ace Frehley and Paul Stanley's amps are sitting right next to one another.

Often the real amps are placed right behind the drums and fake stacks, so they could easily have bled into each other's mics.

I also don't see a mic in front of Gene Simmons' SVTs in ANY pic from that concert either.

The common, though not universal, practice of taking a direct line off the bass may have already been established by this time.