What's the meaning of ...

[Beech]

What does "live-to- track" mean in a mobile recording sense? It would appear to be an American term which I'm not familiar with. I suspect it could mean live mix, forget the multitrack .

[LTA]

Originally posted by Beech
What does "live-to- track" mean in a mobile recording sense? It would appear to be an American term which I'm not familiar with. I suspect it could mean live mix, forget the multitrack .

One iteration of this is "live to 2 track" It just means you pop up some form of stereo mic or array, plug each mic straight into the preamp, and hit record. You can get some great recordings doing this with a rig you can fit in your backpack (or back pocket), but it takes some experience and skill to pull it off. This approach is also used by covert concert "tapers," but works well in many situations including capturing environmental soundscapes. Nothing out there like getting a good thunderstorm on tape from beginning to end

Now, you can also go live to multitrack. It just means there is no mixing involved during the recording. I don't think anybody would actually call it this, as it is a pretty standard approach.

Then, to round it off, there is mix-to-2-track. This would be like using a FOH board mix. This imho is the hardest method of recording. Its good practice though. At the least, the method is good for building cue mixes, and alternative board mixes for recording off a FOH console. Its also the best/only way to get a good audio feed to the video cameras.

[Beech]

Thanks LTA, that's what I would have assumed too. However, I've just discovered it means a live vocal to a prerecorded track. We actually call that a backing track!

[LTA]

Originally posted by Beech
Thanks LTA, that's what I would have assumed too. However, I've just discovered it means a live vocal to a prerecorded track. We actually call that a backing track!

Isn't that karaoke? I never thought there would be a market for actually taping that sort of thing. Learn something new every day

Then again, you asked what "live-to-track" was, and that is a phrase i hadn't heard stated in that way. Never thought it pertained to overdubbing. Sorry

[Beech]

I believe it was a person more involved in vision rather then audio who may have used the term. tutt
Anyway, what they meant was that the artist mixes their song in the studio, then mutes the main vocal, and brings that mix along to the tv stations where he sings along with the track. Saves having to setup the whole band in the tv studio.

Cheers,
DW

[fifthcircle]

Basically what LTA said... I'll just add that I usually describe all of my mixes as being live to * track. Live to 2 is usually a multi-mic job that is mixed straight to stereo, often like I'd do for broadcast gigs. Live to 8 tracks is usually mixing stems that I can re-balance if needed in post. Multitrack is exactly that... I record each mic to its own track so I can do a full mix later.

Live to 2 isn't such a big deal if you are used to it. I usually run a multi-track on all of my gigs and either record stems or individual tracks. The majority of the time, I don't touch the tracks in post, though- set everything at unity and print the sucker.

--Ben

[Remoteness]

What Ben said.