Thoughts on Filming Live Music Show: Audio
Updated: Jun 21, 2020
USING STAGE MIC & CAMERA SOUND
Video: https://youtu.be/QHvTWIV9W58
The first thought is AUDIO.
Thinking about the audio may sound funny as this is about videography, but the audio quality is one of the key factors to make huge differences in your video particularly for musicians as it will be the primal focus point of musicians and their audience regardless of how good your video is.

The noise of people talking or the music itself can be too loud, and the camera sound or zoom mic may not be always the best option, as the camera mic and even the shotgun mic records the music and noise around the camera altogether.
So what do we do? Some live music venues have a sound mixer. If that’s the case, there is a sound engineer.
What you can get from it is the direct sound from the stage mic.


You can talk to a sound guy about it, and I usually give them a USB stick and they will record it for you, or musicians may be able to have it recorded it for you. They may even want to master it and send it to you later on.

Examples of Camera Sound, Stage Mic & Combined Audio:

Camera sound attracts all the noise surrounding the camera even with a shotgun mic.
This also means that it can record audiences' reactions as well.
Please also note that the audio from the stage mic gives really clear vocal, but it tends to be weak on drums or bass as the audio that goes to the mixer is recorded from the microphone that they are singing into.
It is up to you how much you wanna combine these 2 types of audio, having options is the key I think.

Lastly, one of the useful ways to use camera sound is that you can use the movement and change of your position. As well as the audience’s reactions, that movement can give an intimate feeling of the live music to your video.
Audio Movement Example:
So, try to talk with them about it if you can!
For the next chapter, I will talk about preparation...infinite anxiety trip!
Until then, please take care and thanks for reading :)
