Recording off the floor

[eeb]

Lately I've been really wanted to record a project completely off the floor.. vocals and all and tweaking and punching in any small issues..

the problem i hear with alot of recordings these days is a complete lack of energy.. so many otherwise great records just sound dead.


Ever go see a band live and be soo pumped about them.. you buy there cd.. pop it in your stereo the next day and go awwwwwwww with disappointment?
I want to avoid that.


anyone else ever feel this way?

any hints for getting that live sound to reproduce in a recording

 

[RAMI]

Well, you'll have a hell of a time punching in parts of a live performance.

I don't think the "energy" from a ive show is in the sound as much as it's in the show, and the energy from "being there", the crowd, etc..... What I mean is, take a feed of a live performance straight from the board and you might be surprised at how shitty it sounds.

Some of the most energetic sounding studio performances were probably recorded one track at a time, believe it or not. I think getting that "energetic" feel has a lot more to do with proper tracking, good performance, good room, an engineer that knows what they're doing, etc....

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

any hints for getting that live sound to reproduce in a recording

Make sure when you listen to the recording that you've had as much drugs and alcohol as you did at the gig.

G.

 

[RAMI]

Make sure when you listen to the recording that you've had as much drugs and alcohol as you did at the gig.

G.

Hehe....sort of my point.

(Kind of re-enforces the meaning of the thread title "Recording off the floor")

 

[eeb]

i guess what's inspired me is the latest young widows record.

The album is called old wounds.

Basically, the engineer recorded 4 shows then they went into the studio and fixed anything they had to.

the album sounds amazing

www.myspace.com/youngwidows it's loud noisy rock music. You really don't get the just of this record from the few songs on myspace though.


i'm sure sometimes things seem better live.. but if you have really good players sometimes you can't beat that chemistry of everyone playing together..

 

[RAMI]

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and blame MySpace. That really sounds like shit.

 

[Yonce N Mild]

Part of it is just playing together. I struggle to get the same passion in my voice when I'm recording vox as I do when I play live.
If you want a more "live" sound mic everyone up and record them all at the same time. You'll get tons of bleed and may have to use some gobos or creative mic placement to minimize it but it definitely help add some life to the performance.

 

[eeb]

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and blame MySpace. That really sounds like shit.

really?

the energy of this is bleeding out of the recording.. everyone seems soo set on having a technically "perfect" recording these days that they're sucking the life out of the preformance.

a band like this wouldn't sound right with a super clean and "perfect" recording.. you have to take that into context..

I think it's brilliantly recorded and mixed.

Obviously this technique wouldn't work for every situation..

 

[RAMI]

Energy, maybe. Bit it still sounds like crap, to me. I think you're a little influenced by KNOWING it's a live recording. If someone just presented this to you and you never heard it before, you'd probably think it doesn't sound that great. By the same token, you probably love many other bands in the same genre who's recordings were done in the studio.

I'm not talking about perfectly clean, sterilized recordings (even though, I'm not even sure what that means). There are hundreds of great sounding bands in that genre, and they didn't all put out "live" recordings, yet still have the "energy" you keep talking about.

 

[eeb]

Energy, maybe. Bit it still sounds like crap, to me. I think you're a little influenced by KNOWING it's a live recording. If someone just presented this to you and you never heard it before, you'd probably think it doesn't sound that great. By the same token, you probably love many other bands in the same genre who's recordings were done in the studio.

I'm not talking about perfectly clean, sterilized recordings (even though, I'm not even sure what that means). There are hundreds of great sounding bands in that genre, and they didn't all put out "live" recordings, yet still have the "energy" you keep talking about.

Actually I had no idea who recorded or how they recorded the first time I got into this album.

To be honest I don't like very many bands in this genre at all. Maybe fugazi, but that's about it. There's just something special about this album.. the songs, everything about it.

I take offense that you'd assume things about me like that.

Regardless if you like the recording or not let's not get off topic.

The real question I suppose i'm asking is this:

Is it still valid to record off the floor these days?

I know what you're saying that alot of amazing records with tons of energy have been done by tracking.. but lets not forget that alot of truly great albums of the past HAD to be recorded all at once. I still think that if everything comes together in the right way a live recording could be something really special.

 

[RAMI]

I take offense that you'd assume things about me like that.

You take offense???? Give me a break.

I'm giving you my opinion on something. If you're going to get your panties in a bunch over that, you shouldn't have asked the question in the first place.

I understand that you love the recording, and there's nothing wrong with that. I love a lot of albums that I find there's something "magical" about, and a lot of people would probably tell me I'm nuts. That's what music is all about. I'm not putting down that you like this. I was just trying to explain why I think the "energy" of a live performance often comes from the fact that there's an energy at a concert that has little to do with how the actual recording sounds, and more to do with the "event" itself.

Just my opinion, don't get offended.

 

[eeb]

i do agree with you that alot of times with alot of band the energy is more about being there..

but sometimes don't you find a band is just SOOO much better live than in the recording? this is more what i'm talking about.

again like i said not every band could pull off an amazing off the floor record or live album. But it is something i'd love to experiment with.

didn't mean to start anything with ya though. I totally get where you're coming from


p.s. My "i take offense" statement wasn't entirely serious.. but i was referring to you assuming that i thought the record sounded great because i knew how it was done.. which is false.. I only recently discovered how the record was made.

 

[RAMI]

i do agree with you that alot of times with alot of band the energy is more about being there..

but sometimes don't you find a band is just SOOO much better live than in the recording? this is more what i'm talking about.

again like i said not every band could pull off an amazing off the floor record or live album. But it is something i'd love to experiment with.

didn't mean to start anything with ya though. I totally get where you're coming from


p.s. My "i take offense" statement wasn't entirely serious.. but i was referring to you assuming that i thought the record sounded great because i knew how it was done.. which is false.. I only recently discovered how the record was made.

Fair enough, brother.

I don't disagree with anything you just said. Some bands seem much better live than in the studio. Some, the opposite. Some can pull of both. Some are hard to figure out. Like Alice Cooper back in the day. The live show was so visually powerful, that you'd think they'd be a better live band. But they sounded and played like shit live. The visual aspect saved them. But their albums sounded great...to me anyway.