The Do’s and Don’ts of Hiring a Professional to Record Your Live Performance

Dedicated musicians know the power and energy of a great live performance. Capturing the intensity of the performer and the vitality of the crowd can a daunting task. If you are planning on recording your next concert or recital, using a professional recording engineer is the only way to guarantee a high quality reproduction of your live performance.

Creating professional recordings will allow you to submit your work to music schools, festivals, competitions, and conservatories. Additionally, you will be able to sell your CDs at your next concert, or provide copies to friends and family.

You certainly want to hire someone who can track the CD as you would like it. Some recording companies believe in a “one-size-fits-all” approach while others only cater to the advanced requests of their clients. You most likely want to find a company that fits somewhere in the middle – one where you can make changes to the engineer’s standard approach, but not have to be an expert in the recording industry. Also, professionals can provide audio normalization, and noise reduction services to make sure listeners are hearing you, and not background distractions.

Do’s when hiring a professional recording engineer:

• Do plan at least 1 to 1.5 hours for set-up and break down
• Do let your engineer know if there are balconies or any unusual performance spaces.
• Do inform stagehands that your performance will be recorded. They will need to work with the recording engineer to perfect the setup of your stage.
• Do make sure there is adequate electrical sockets to plug-in the recording equipment
• Do choose an engineer with years of experience and an extensive performing background

Don’ts when hiring a professional recording engineer:

• Don’t plan on recording outdoors; it is very impractical for a number of reasons
• Don’t hire someone who records “direct to CD.” Yes, you might be able to get your recording right away, but the accuracy of your performance may be severely compromised.
• Don’t forget to remind your audience to turn off their cell phones and other mobile devices. It is very difficult for your engineer to remove cell phone noise from recordings.
• Don’t forget to tell your engineer about the types of instrumentation to be used, and if any specific parts of your performance will be louder or softer than the rest. This will effect placement of microphones and settings on equipment.

Who should I hire to record my next performance?

Musical Horizon, LLC is a mobile recording studio that offers affordable, professional, and high quality live performance recordings. We record musicians of many genres, including classical, jazz, blues, and more. Our engineers can record large or small ensembles, including symphonies, choirs, quartets, and soloists.

For your free no-obligation consultation email

re*******@mu************.com











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Authored for Musical Horizon, LLC by: Abbey Finch, Scribe Space