The concert is played, everyone is happy, and somewhere there is a recording. The question we get most often afterwards is not what mixing costs – it is how to get the tracks out of the desk in the first place. The good news: almost every digital console of the last ten years can record multitrack. The catch: you need to have set it up and tested it once, before the concert rather than after it.
Why multitrack and not simply stereo
A stereo recording from the desk is the finished front-of-house mix, built for that room, that PA and the fact that the stage volume was already doing part of the work. That is exactly the problem. What worked in the hall does not work on headphones: the kick drum that came through the subs is almost absent from the recording, the vocal that had to cut through the stage is far too loud, and the acoustic guitar nobody wanted in the monitors is not there at all.
With a multitrack recording every signal exists on its own. Anything weighted wrongly in the hall can be decided again. That is the difference between a memory of the evening and a release.
The one rule that matters
Test the recording all the way through before it counts – ideally at the soundcheck of the concert you intend to record. Not at home in theory, but with the real setup, the real channels and the real SD card. Most failed recordings do not fail on technology. They fail because nobody pressed record.
Behringer X32 and Midas M32
The two consoles are closely related and extremely common in clubs, halls and community venues. There are two routes.
Straight to USB stick: the built-in recorder captures two tracks only, so stereo. That is not enough for a live album. Use it as a safety copy alongside the multitrack.
Via the X-USB card to a computer: this is the route for 32 tracks. The card is already fitted in most units. Connect the desk to a laptop over USB, install the X-USB driver and record into any DAW – Reaper is popular here because it is cheap and stable. Important: set the routing so the card takes the signals before the channel strip, meaning pre-fader and pre-EQ. Otherwise you record the front-of-house processing along with it, and that is not something you want to inherit when mixing.
Common mistake: recording post-fader. If the engineer pulls the vocal fader during the show, it comes down in the recording too, and evening that out afterwards is tedious.
Allen & Heath SQ and Avantis
The SQ series records multitrack straight to an SD card with the optional module – up to 32 tracks depending on the model, with no computer involved. That is the most convenient route there is: card in, hit record, done. Use a fast card; cheap SD cards produce dropouts that cannot be repaired afterwards.
Alternatively the recording runs over Dante or the USB-B port into a DAW. On the Avantis, Dante is the usual path. The same rule applies: set the tap point pre-fader.
Yamaha QL and CL
On Yamaha consoles multitrack recording runs over Dante. Two options: Dante Virtual Soundcard as a software driver on a computer and then recording into a DAW, or Nuendo Live, which was built for exactly this and carries the channel names across automatically. The second is more pleasant in practice, because afterwards the tracks are not called Ch01 to Ch32.
Allow some lead time. Dante needs a clean network, and setting up clock and routing takes longer the first time than you expect.
Behringer Wing, Presonus StudioLive and others
The Wing records up to 64 tracks straight to SD card – no computer, no expansion card. For live recordings it is one of the most straightforward systems currently available.
Presonus StudioLive records through the bundled Capture software, and on newer models directly to SD as well. Soundcraft Vi and DiGiCo normally run over MADI or Dante into a separate recorder – worth agreeing with the engineer on site beforehand.
What we need in order to mix
Format: WAV, 24 bit or 32 bit float, at the sample rate of the recording, usually 48 kHz. No MP3s, not even for a first listen.
Structure: one folder per concert, all tracks the same length and starting at the same point. Individual files per channel are ideal. A single multichannel file works too – we split it here.
Names: two minutes spent naming the channels on the desk before the show saves a round of questions later. Kick, Snare, HiHat, OH L, OH R, Bass DI is worth a great deal. Ch01 to Ch32 means we have to guess.
Alongside: a setlist with the rough running order and, if you have one, a phone video of the evening. It sounds trivial but it helps enormously, especially with concerts made up of many short pieces.
In short
- Multitrack rather than stereo – a desk stereo mix is built for the room, not for headphones
- X32/M32 via the X-USB card, SQ and Wing straight to SD, Yamaha QL/CL over Dante
- Always tap pre-fader and pre-EQ, or you record the front-of-house processing too
- Name the channels before the concert and test the recording all the way through
- Deliver as WAV 24 bit, one folder per concert, all tracks the same length
Common questions
If you are unsure whether your setup will produce a usable multitrack, get in touch before the concert. And if the recording already exists, send us two or three raw tracks and we will tell you honestly what can be made of it. More on our live recording mixing page.