Re: LAL recording techniques

[mleaman@sccoast.net (Mark Leaman)]

>   I have to question what has been said so far about the way "Live At Leeds" 
>was recorded.  It is true that the recording was taken straight from the 
>board, but I seriously doubt that the instruments were run straight into the
>board.  

Mike:

The instuments are for the most part run into the board, so as to be played
out of the P.A. speakers. Now, when I was a roadie they didn't mike the amps
(of course, that was 4 years later and stadiums not small venues), but the
drums were of course. A lot of the sound also came from the amps themselves
to the crowd. Which is why some bands are so bleeding loud.
One reason that soundboard boots are good/bad is that while all of it is
clear, it's not mixed to listen to as a CD/album...it's mixed for the P.A.
A good example of the guitars run through the soundboard would be the Dead
tour of the late 70s...where each string of Garcia's guitar had a separate
speaker. Naturally that couldn't have done by mikes.

>The amps were miked, and the mikes run into the board.  That's how it's
>primarily done today, and I have to assume it was the standard then, even more
>so.  I'm not sure that amplifiers then even had "line outs" or if direct boxes 
>even existed (could someone comment on this?). 

They did in `74.

>And I believe it's a generally 
>accepted rule that guitars run straight into a board generally sound like crap;
>close miking of the amp itself, as can be seen on Pete's speaker cabs in the
>wide-angle picture of the stage in the LAL booklet, gives a much fuller sound.
>And part of that is because of the fact that external mikes will pick up more
>of the natural reverberation and ambiance of the room.   
>   Now, how much of the "ambiance" of the hall that we hear in LAL is what was
>picked up by the external mikes, and how much was "added" by additional area
>mikes, is an open question.  But I will say that vocal mikes, at the front of
>the stage, tend to pick up more crowd noise, and such, than you might figure.
>Despends, a lot, I suppose, on how loud the fans are screaming....

And LEEDS has very little crowd noise, especially the original version. It
almost sounds like a studio album. At least, there is no crowd noise during
the songs themselves.

>   Anyways, my point is, there were a lot more external mikes recording things
>than just the vocal mikes.  And they would have picked up a lot of the sound
>in the hall, even >without< a phalanx of speakers ringing the theatre, shooting
>sound directly back at the stage, which apparently was the case.  

Without having been there, I cannot say definitely that there were or
weren't mikes for the audience...I mean, if there were they could have been
mixed very low. My impression is that if there was, they were either
directed away from the audience or were mixed down low.


              Cheers                    ML