Is a Stereo Desk Recording Enough for a Live Album?

After almost every concert there is a recording from the mixing desk. Usually it is a stereo capture, because that is the button you can press without any preparation. The question that follows is always the same: is that enough for a live album? The honest answer is that for a release it usually is not, while for plenty of other purposes it is.

What a stereo desk recording actually is

A stereo recording from the desk is a copy of what came out of the speakers in the hall. That sounds like exactly what you want, and it is precisely the problem. The front-of-house mix was never meant to stand on its own. It was an addition to whatever was already loud on stage.

The drums carried the room by themselves, so the engineer sent very little of them through the PA. In the recording they are therefore almost missing. The vocal had to compete with the stage volume and sits far too far forward. The bass came through the subwoofers, which often do not appear in a stereo capture at all.

In short, the mix you captured was never a mix for headphones. It was a mix for one particular room on one particular evening.

The decisive difference

With a multitrack recording every instrument exists separately and every decision can be made again. With a stereo recording every decision has already been made and cannot be reversed. If the guitar is too loud, it stays too loud – there is no fader left for it on its own.

What can still be done with a stereo recording

That does not make a stereo recording worthless. A fair amount can be improved.

Tonal balance across the frequency range. If the recording sounds dull, thin or boxy overall, careful equalisation corrects a great deal. A muddy recording can become one people are happy to listen to.

Noise and interference. Hum, hiss, isolated feedback and stray noises can be removed with restoration tools without the music suffering.

Level and dynamics. The recording can be brought up to streaming level so it does not sound quieter than everything around it, and differences between pieces can be evened out.

Editing and running order. Trimming applause, removing announcements, setting clean transitions, splitting the concert into individual tracks – none of that depends on the track count.

What cannot be done

Anything involving individual instruments is out of reach. You cannot bring the vocal down without bringing the music behind it down as well. You cannot add drums that were never captured. You cannot soften a guitar that sounded harsh in the house mix without affecting everything around it.

For a release on Spotify or a CD you intend to sell, that is usually not enough. For a concert video on YouTube, an internal documentation or an archive recording, it can be perfectly sufficient.

When the extra effort pays off

If it is already clear that a concert is meant to become a release, the multitrack recording is almost always worth it – provided somebody thinks of it in advance. The additional work on the day is small: on most digital consoles it comes down to a few settings and either a computer or an SD card. What becomes possible afterwards is a different matter entirely.

How this works on the common desks is covered here: how to get your concert tracks off the digital desk.

And if all you have is a stereo recording, send it anyway. We will listen and tell you honestly what can be made of it. Sometimes the result is better than expected, sometimes we advise against it. Either way you find out beforehand.

In short

A stereo desk recording is the house mix and was never meant to stand alone
Tonal balance, noise, level and editing can all be improved considerably
Individual instruments cannot be rebalanced or added afterwards
Often fine for YouTube and archive use, usually not enough for a release
Multitrack costs almost nothing extra on the day and determines everything after it

Common questions

Is a stereo recording from the mixing desk enough for a live album?

For a release, usually not. A stereo recording is a copy of the front-of-house mix and was never meant to stand on its own: the drums carried the room and are nearly absent from the recording, the vocal sits too far forward, the bass came through the subwoofers. That balance cannot be undone afterwards because there are no separate tracks. For a concert video or an archive recording a stereo capture can be perfectly sufficient.

What can still be improved on a stereo desk recording?

Tonal balance across the frequency range improves considerably with equalisation, and hum, hiss and isolated feedback can be removed. Level and dynamics can be brought up to streaming standard and differences between pieces evened out. Editing is also unaffected by track count: trimming applause, removing announcements and splitting the concert into individual tracks.

Why does the desk recording sound different from the concert in the hall?

Because the front-of-house mix was only part of what the audience heard. On stage the drums and amplifiers were already loud, so very little of them ran through the PA. That portion is missing entirely from the recording, while vocals and other quiet signals are far too present. The mix was made for a particular room, not for headphones.

What does it cost to have a live recording mixed?

Live recording mixing starts at €450 per piece, mastering at €95, both together at €515. A whole concert is quoted as one package: with many short numbers through a tiered discount of up to 10 %, and for long-form works such as classical and church concerts by total running time and track count. All prices include German VAT.

You can hear what we make of live material on our page for mixing concert recordings, with listening examples from real concert recordings.