[Dixielandjazz] Live versus Studio Recordings

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi All,

Gordon of Northridge wrote:
>snip
I have always contended that bands recorded live in concert are more exciting 
and 'electrified' and it somehow comes across in the recording.... I can 
listen to just about any CD and tell if it was a 'studio job' or  a 'live in 
concert' job....Have asked several pro musicians if they have an explanation.  One 
theme keeps coming up is that they are striving for 'perfection' in the studio 
jobs.... trying to get it down 'perfect' with as few takes (less studio time) 
as possible....and the band leader wants that 'perfect CD' as representation 
of his band.........whereas on a live concert everyone is  more focused in 
having fun and entertaining an audience...... that sure comes through on the 
performance/recording.
 
Would love to read some discussion on this
<snip

Another factor in live performances is the energy which the band gets from the audience. When the band is going well and the audience is giving back that energy, it's like putting your car into overdrive: it all just becomes more effortless.  Modern studio software and techniques make the fixing of studio goofs much easier than in the past, so naturally producers and bandleaders will use the technology to achieve a blemish-free product, but given the costs of studio time, there is inevitably a tendency for musicians to play within their comfort zones. I'm not disapproving of this and, as muso and bandleader myself,  I fully understand the imperatives, but musicians recognise that goofs and clams are inevitable in a live performance (although that won't stop them from cringeing when they hear them on record) and, as Duke Heitger says, if clams had been forbidden by the record producers of the 1920s, we'd never have heard Louis Armstrong's Wild Man Blues.

Some of Condon's Town Hall Concert recordings include Big Sid Catlett on drums, but I feel another thread coming on, so I'll quit here and start separately on Big Sid.

Regards,

Ken Mathieson
www.classicjazzorchestra.org.uk