Live Sound vs Studio Recording: Can You Do Both?
We compare the workflows of live sound and recording studio environments.
We’re looking at live sound vs studio recording from the engineer’s perspective to find out about the differences between the two worlds.
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Since most of the signal processing in both live and studio environments is done with plugins these days, there are more similarities in the role of the engineer than ever before.
Live Sound vs Studio Recording
Does this mean any studio engineer can waltz into a job in the live music industry? That’s what we’re going to find out. Let’s discuss the areas that overlap as well as those that are completely unique to each audio field.
Live Sound vs Studio Recording: What are the Goals?
Possibly the most important thing to understand when comparing live and studio environments is that the objectives are different. In live sound, for example, our primary task is sound reinforcement within the venue. This includes management of the PA system, all the signals running through the mixing console and ensuring that the performers can hear each other (and themselves) on stage.
On the other hand, studios are recording and production environments where our goal is to make records. Instead of entertaining a sea of punters, studio engineers are trying to achieve the best tracking session, mix, or master possible for their clients in a controlled acoustic space.
With different tasks to take care of, it makes sense that we use different equipment. From mics to consoles, monitors, and even cabling takes a different approach in live sound compared to recording studios. Although you’re still focused on the integrity and clarity of an audio signal, there are different skill sets that come into play in each of these different sound formats.
Live Sound vs Studio Recording: Monitoring
Although studio recording does not involve sound reinforcement for a live audience, there are still so many similarities in the way we approach monitoring for a live show compared to recording in the live room of a professional studio. In both cases, the performers need to hear monitor mixes, with slightly different level configurations to determine their parts from the other musicians.
In studios, performers generally use closed-back headphones for monitoring during a recording session. Meanwhile, stage performers use wireless in-ear monitoring systems for increased isolation and mobility. Furthermore, some performers also use stage wedges that are designed to provide monitoring that is angled to avoid feedback.
For the engineer, monitoring is quite similar, as studio monitors and headphones are used in both live and studio situations. However, with large live PA systems, the engineer may get his assistant to check and adjust levels remotely from different parts of the venue. Naturally, studios are treated acoustic environments, so the scope of monitors we can use is far greater.
Live Sound vs Studio Recording: Microphones
There is some overlap when it comes to microphones, as performers like U2’s Bono have often preferred to use the same mic (Shure Beta 58) in the studio and on stage. However, because we have a far greater risk of feedback in live situations, we generally want to avoid microphone bleed or spill wherever possible.
This is because, in live sound, our aim with microphones is to reinforce and amplify the instruments on stage so that they can be heard from anywhere in the venue. Alternatively, with studio recording, we are trying to paint pictures with sound, so capturing ambience with ultra-sensitive microphones is an essential part of many styles of music.
For these reasons, the range of mics we can use in studios is practically endless, while in live sound we often use hypercardioid dynamic and condenser mics that are designed to reject off-axis sound waves. In addition, stage mics are usually placed close to the source to get the clearest, cleanest signal possible without any spill.
Live Sound vs Studio Recording: Mixing
With live mixing, we use many of the same plugins and outboard gear as we do in studio. What’s more, many of the same concepts like a “lead vocal chain” or “drum bus processing” exist in both live and studio mixing. This certainly gives engineers the opportunity to moonlight in both formats, but there are some fundamentals to get your head around in either case.
While live engineering can be quite a pressured task, with loads of on-the-spot decisions to make, if you’re on tour with a band you’re able to familiarize yourself with the setlist and even create recallable mix templates for each song. Alternatively, mixing records can be far more analytical, and rather than a sound system, your concern is for the song to translate on any playback medium.
Because you have more time in studio mixing, there is a lot more space for experimentation. In live sound, there is far more aggressive use of high-pass filters as you keep tabs on your low-end via headphones. Your studio client might want a slightly different approach to every song on their album, whereas a touring engineer looks to give the audience the same face-melting experience of a performance in any venue.
Live Sound vs Studio Recording: Signal routing
On the technical side, the infrastructure of touring setups and recording studios does differ considerably due to the logistics involved with getting signals from one place to another. In studios, signal routing is relatively logical, as we capture sounds inside the live room and record the signals in the adjacent control room outside of the fishbowl.
Live sound is a bit of a head scratch, because the signals are often routed digitally over long distances from the stage box to the mixing console, and then back to the sound system (which is next to the stage). To do this, the signals are carried via CAT (ethernet) cables, and most engineers will use an extra set of AD/DA converters to patch analogue outboard gear into the desk.
In most studio recordings, the performances are overdubbed but there will be times when elaborate monitor mixes are required for each performer in a band or ensemble. Meanwhile, for touring, monitor mixers can simply recall the levels settings, so each performer has their ideal monitor mix in seconds.
More about Live Sound vs Studio Recording:
- Read about Live Sound
- Learn about Recording
- Thomann’s Guide to Digital Mixers
- Thomann’s Guide to Home Recording
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