punchline studio / Mixing for Concert Recordings
100+ live productions · Remote worldwide

Concert recordings people
want to listen to.

Professional mixing and mastering for live concert recordings – for bands, choirs, orchestras and theatre productions. Remote, worldwide.

Plenty of concerts get recorded and then nothing happens with them. The tracks sit on a hard drive because nobody is quite sure how to turn them into something you can release. That is exactly what we do. We have been mixing concert recordings for over ten years – club shows, church and choir concerts, festivals in front of several thousand people. You send us the multitrack, we send back a finished mix.

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References

Mixed by punchline studio.

Every video below is a real concert recording that we mixed and mastered. Best listened to on headphones.

Live concert recording mixed and mastered by punchline studio
Band concert recording mixed and mastered by punchline studio
Multitrack live recording mixed and mastered by punchline studio
Live concert audio mixed and mastered by punchline studio
Concert film with live audio mixed and mastered by punchline studio
Live recording in front of an audience, mixed and mastered by punchline studio
The discipline

Why a live mix doesn't work like a studio mix.

In a studio recording each instrument is recorded on its own. The guitar track contains only the guitar, the vocal track only the vocals. At a concert that is impossible: every microphone is open on stage at the same time, so they all pick each other up. The drums are audible in the vocal mic, the guitar amps are in the drum overheads, and the room mics capture everything at once, audience included.

On top of that come things a studio session never has to deal with: the volume shifts from piece to piece, there is feedback, there are announcements between the songs, and there is applause. All of it can be handled, but not with the methods of a studio production. You cannot remove the bleed between microphones, you have to work with it. You cannot take the room away, you can only shape it. And you must not simply flatten the level differences, because that is what kills the dynamics a concert lives on.

Many studios take on live work and only realise halfway through how different it is from a studio production. For us it is the main focus.

Bleed between microphones We use targeted gating and phase correction rather than cutting the tracks back wholesale.
Room sound and reverb tails The room stays audible, but is equalised and used to create depth in the mix.
Level jumps between songs and takes We match each piece individually, without losing the dynamics of the concert.
Weak or missing drums Drum tracks can be reinforced or replaced. Done in the right measure, you hear none of it.
Who we work with

Who has us mix their live material.

The process is always the same: you send us the tracks, we mix. What changes is what matters most in each kind of music.

Bands & artists

A live album, a live EP, a single song for the streaming services, or the recording from a release show. We mix rock, pop, folk, jazz, hip-hop and funk.

With a band it almost always comes down to the same question: how do you make the mix as punchy as a studio production without losing the energy of the concert? That is where most live mixes fail. They end up sounding either like a bootleg or like a sterile studio recording.

Choirs, orchestras & classical

Choir concerts, chamber concerts, orchestral performances and church music. Usually the recording is meant for the archive, for a CD for the members, or as documentation for funders and sponsors.

We treat classical recordings differently from band material: less processing, more care with room, balance and dynamics. The difficulty here is rarely loudness. It is keeping the individual voices and sections audible without the ensemble falling apart as a whole.

Theatre, dance & festivals

Theatre productions, dance performances, festival recordings and livestreams. Here the client is usually the venue or the production company rather than the artists themselves.

In stage productions speech intelligibility decides everything else. Radio mics, lavaliers, reverb in the hall and audience noise all work against it. On request we deliver to EBU R128 for broadcast and media libraries.

In detail

What happens to your material.

Live Recording Mixing

Input: multitrack recording from the desk or interface

  • Review and an honest assessment of the material before the quote
  • Session setup, gain staging, phase correction
  • Bleed and spill control
  • Room treatment and equalisation
  • Noise reduction, feedback and unwanted noise removal (iZotope RX)
  • Level and tonal matching between songs and takes
  • Drum enhancement and replacement as needed
  • Vocal editing and light pitch correction
  • EQ, compression and saturation per track
  • Stereo field, depth, automation
  • Applause, announcements and transitions as agreed
  • 2 rounds of revisions included

Mastering & delivery

Input: a mix from us or a finished stereo mixdown

  • Analogue and digital signal chain
  • Consistency across the whole concert
  • Gapless transitions for live albums
  • Loudness for streaming: −14 LUFS (Spotify), −16 LUFS (Apple)
  • Broadcast: EBU R128 / −23 LUFS on request
  • True peak limiting (−1 dBTP)
  • Stem mastering on request
  • DDP and CD masters on request
  • ISRC embedding on request
  • WAV (24–32 bit / 44.1–192 kHz) + MP3 320 kbps
  • Separate masters for video and streaming
  • 2 rounds of revisions included
When there's video involved

For concert films and livestreams we deliver the audio back in sync with the picture, matched to the video track – including a separate master for the platform the film runs on. Our own concert film label WeLive shows what it looks like when both come from the same house.

Pricing

What live mixing costs.

All prices include German VAT. For business clients with a valid EU VAT ID we invoice net under the reverse-charge procedure. Live material takes more work than a studio production, so the rates sit slightly above our standard mixing.

Mixing
Live Recording Mixing
from €450
per song · incl. VAT
  • Song up to approx. 6 minutes, up to 32 tracks
  • Bleed and room treatment
  • Noise reduction & restoration
  • Matching between takes
  • Drum enhancement
  • 2 revisions
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Mastering
Live Mastering
from €95
per song · incl. VAT
  • Streaming-optimised
  • Consistency across the concert
  • Gapless transitions for live albums
  • Broadcast on request
  • 2 revisions
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Popular
Complete package
Mixing & Mastering
from €515
per song · incl. VAT
  • Everything from mixing + mastering
  • Coordinated workflow
  • 4 revisions
  • All formats
  • Fastest turnaround
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Complete package
Full concert
on request
Quoted by scope, not per song

For a whole concert we don't bill piece by piece. With many short numbers the tiered discount applies, up to 10 %. For classical, church and orchestral concerts that doesn't work – a single movement can run as long as three pop songs. There we base the price on total running time, track count and effort. Consistent treatment across the whole show, gapless transitions and applause handling are always included.

Request a quote

Album and concert packages: 5 % from 5 pieces · 10 % from 10 pieces. For long-form works – classical, orchestral, church concerts – we quote by total running time rather than per piece, because a symphony movement doesn't compare to a pop song. Send us two or three raw tracks first – then we'll tell you specifically what's possible and what it costs, before you commit.

How it works

The process.

It makes no difference whether the concert took place in Freiburg, Hamburg or Milan. The whole process runs remotely.

01
A short enquiryWhat kind of concert, how many pieces, what it was recorded with. A sentence or two is enough to start.
02
Material checkSend us two or three raw tracks or one complete song. We will listen and tell you before the quote what can be made of it. If the material is not good enough, we will say so.
03
Send the filesThe multitrack as WAV, via WeTransfer, Dropbox or Google Drive. How to get the tracks out of your desk is covered in the FAQ.
04
BriefingReferences, target format (streaming, CD, video, broadcast), and what should happen to applause and announcements.
05
First mixAs a private streaming link, no download needed. Within 3–5 working days for single songs; for whole concerts we agree a schedule up front.
06
RevisionsFeedback in writing and as specific as possible: timecode, track, what bothers you. Two rounds are included.
07
DeliveryWAV, MP3, DDP, picture-synced audio for video – whatever you need.
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Maik Styrnol, mixing and mastering engineer for live recordings at punchline studio

Photo: Maik Styrnol · CC BY-SA 4.0

Who mixes

Maik Styrnol

I've been mixing music for over ten years – studio productions as much as live material, from the first demo to concert recordings in front of several thousand people. That's over a hundred live productions by now: bands, choirs, orchestras, theatre.

Together with my brother Pirmin I run punchline studio in Lahr in the Black Forest. Whatever lands here, I mix personally – no team in the background, no presets. And if I think nothing good will come of a piece of material, I say so beforehand.

The proof

WeLive – our own concert film label.

Under the WeLive label we produce our own concert films: recording, mix, master, picture. Each of these films was captured in a single evening and still sounds like a carefully produced studio recording. We treat our clients' recordings exactly the same way.

So this is work we do not only on commission but for ourselves as well. That is why we know what we are doing with live material. Watch all films on YouTube → · Concert film production

FAQ

Common questions about live mixing.

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 the tiered discount of up to 10 %, and for long-form works such as classical, orchestral and church concerts by total running time and track count, because a symphony movement doesn't compare to a pop song. Live material sits above our studio rates because there is considerably more work behind it: bleed, room sound, level jumps between pieces. All prices include German VAT; for business clients with a valid EU VAT ID we invoice under the reverse-charge procedure.
Is a stereo recording from the mixing desk enough?
We can almost always improve something – but the options are limited. In a finished stereo mix every decision has already been made: if the guitar is too loud, it stays too loud. What works is equalisation, noise removal, loudness and a considerably better overall balance. What doesn't work is re-weighting individual instruments after the fact. For a real live album production we need the individual tracks. Send us the recording anyway – we'll tell you honestly what can come of it.
How do I get the individual tracks out of my digital mixing desk?
Almost every modern digital desk can record multitrack to a USB stick or computer. On the Behringer X32 and Midas M32 this runs via the X-USB card or directly as a 32-track recording to USB. Allen & Heath SQ and Avantis record to SD card or over Dante, Yamaha QL and CL via Dante Virtual Soundcard or Nuendo Live, the Behringer Wing straight to SD, Presonus StudioLive through Capture. If you're not sure how it works on your desk, just ask – we know the common systems. The most important thing is to test it once before the concert, not after.
The recording sounds dull and the audience is too loud. Can it still be saved?
Usually yes. Dullness often comes from microphone positions and room damping and improves considerably with targeted equalisation. An audience that is too loud in the overheads and room mics is a classic live problem and is manageable with the right combination of gating, balance and restoration. What stays difficult: heavily distorted tracks, completely missing instruments and severe clipping in the recording. Send us a sample and you'll get an honest assessment instead of a guess.
We have a concert video but the audio is bad. Can you do the sound only?
Yes, that's one of our most frequent jobs. You send the multitrack recording plus the video or a reference track, and we deliver the finished audio back in sync with the picture – as a stereo master or as separate stems, depending on what your video edit needs. On request with a separate master for YouTube, broadcast or media libraries.
Can several concert nights be combined into one album?
Yes, that's common practice for live albums. We match tone and level across all nights so that a continuous concert emerges in the end. The only requirement is that the recordings are technically comparable – same miking, same track layout. If the entire setup changed between nights, it becomes more involved.
Can mistakes be fixed afterwards?
Small things, yes: an off-pitch vocal phrase, a missed entry, a wrong note. If you want to record overdubs afterwards yourself, that's possible too – we blend them in so the edit isn't audible. But it should stay the exception. Past a certain point you end up with a studio recording plus audience noise, and you can hear that.
What happens to applause and announcements?
That's your call. For streaming platforms we usually trim applause to a minimum, because individual songs stand on their own there. For a live album it stays in and is crossfaded seamlessly so the flow of the evening is preserved. Announcements can stay in full, be shortened or removed. Tell us up front what the recording is for and we'll work to that.
Do you work with choirs and classical concerts?
Yes. Choir concerts, chamber music, orchestras and church music are regular work for us. The approach differs from band material: less processing, more care with room, balance and the intelligibility of individual sections. On request we deliver a CD master including a DDP file for the pressing plant.
How long does a whole concert take?
For a single song, 3–5 working days to the first mix. A complete concert with ten to fifteen pieces takes two to four weeks depending on the material and our workload. If there's a fixed date – an anniversary, a release, a members' meeting – tell us right away and we'll plan backwards from it.
Do you deliver broadcast-compliant masters?
Yes, to EBU R128 at −23 LUFS with the corresponding true peak requirements. On request you'll get a second master for streaming in parallel, because the requirements there are different.
What's the difference from ordinary studio mixing?
In a studio recording every track was created in isolation and all parameters are controlled. In a live recording the microphones bleed into each other, the room is part of the recording, and level differences between pieces are normal. That calls for different tools, a different order of work and considerably more time – which is why it's a separate category with its own price. For pure studio productions, everything is on our Mixing & Mastering page.
How does working together from abroad work?
Exactly as it does within Germany: you send the files, we send the mix back. We work regularly with artists from Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the USA. Communication by email, video call or messenger. For payment, a bank transfer by IBAN is the most straightforward, PayPal works too. For business clients with a valid EU VAT ID we invoice under the reverse-charge procedure.
In depth

More on live recordings.

What we actually do in the studio, and why.

See all articles
Technical standards

What we work with.

Live Recording Mixing
  • Avid Pro Tools Ultimate
  • Multitrack recordings up to 64 tracks
  • Sample rates 44.1–192 kHz, 24 bit / 32 bit float
  • Bleed control, phase correction, room treatment
  • Drum enhancement and replacement
  • Experience: 100+ live productions
Restoration
  • iZotope RX (de-noise, de-click, de-hum, spectral repair)
  • Feedback and unwanted noise removal
  • Recovery of clipped passages where possible
Mastering & delivery
  • Analogue and digital signal chain
  • Streaming: −14 LUFS (Spotify), −16 LUFS (Apple)
  • Broadcast: EBU R128 / −23 LUFS
  • True peak limiting −1 dBTP
  • Gapless, DDP, CD master, ISRC
  • Picture-synced delivery for video
Monitoring & plugins
  • Genelec 8050, Yamaha MSP 5
  • Consumer check: Teufel, Denon, Harman Kardon
  • FabFilter, Pulsar Modular, Tokyo Dawn Labs
  • Waves, Soundtoys, Valhalla, UAD / Apollo
Ready?

Send us your concert.

Two or three raw tracks are enough to start. We will listen to them and get back to you within 24 hours with an honest assessment and a price.

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