12/03/2019
Monitoring - Live music multi-track recording
High quality headphones are the better choice for a live multi-track recording than speakers. For a number of reasons:
1) Headphones are a good solution to block out any exterior sound which is especially important when the recording engineer is in the same room or close to the performers off-stage.
2) Headphones eliminate room acoustics issues. The use of speakers would introduce variables that would be difficult to control.
3) High quality headphones are essential to ensure that each track is clean, free of hum, buzz, or any unwanted electric noise, and void of acoustic noise such as a mic or mic stand being hit by the drummer, or inadvertently moving as the drummer is playing. Speaking of drum mics, the best option is to use drum mic clips that mount to the rim of the drums. This eliminates at least 4 mic stands, and greatly reduces the clutter around the drum kit. I suggest using these if the drummer allows direct attachment. They also make a special stand for the high-hat which works well in some instances. This leaves the two overheads mics for stereo, and the kick drum mic on stands.
Summary:Headphones make critical listening possible, tracks can routinely be soloed using prefade listen (PFL) for any other extraneous sound on any and all tracks being recorded. One option is the Beyer 770 Pro closed-back headphones made for critical studio monitoring, but there a other brands as well from many manufacturers.
Other notes on live recording:
I see very few reasons to equalize tracks while recording... with the exception of removing out of band sounds that do not reduce quality of the instrument(s) being recorded. The same holds true with compression and gating. Save this for post production if at all possible...
However, mild limiting may be warranted if there is a chance that distortion will be introduced without warning. This is most likely on a vocal mic when the artists decides to get the audience involved and screams out to the audience to get a response. If a track has distortion it may be difficult or nearly impossible to repair in post-production mixing.
So, for the reasons mentioned here, the recording engineer should find the right headphones that he or she can trust to do the job without compromising the sound quality of the live music recording.
Thanks for reading!
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