The art of turning a concert into a film is secret

A Sound Mixer’s Perspective on the Performance of an Artist’s Live Performance Using Impulse Response Filtering in a Live Performance

The room’s tone is applied to what is recorded on stage by the artist. This filter, known as impulse response, takes readings from actual physical places, then “synthetically reproduces the sound of a real space like a club or stadium,” said Jake Davis, the lead mix engineer at SeisMic Sound, an audio facility in Nashville that specializes in concert films.

Of course, part of the appeal of a live show, even on film, is the impression of reality, and a sense of truth is critical. Jake Davis said the mix’s goal was to boost the energy of the performance as it went down. It’s important to keep some aspect of rawness while taking out the things that distract, such as the nuances of a wrong note.

Although sound mixers record the crowd with a bevy of microphones hidden around the arena, it’s possible — and indeed, common — to exaggerate the sound of that audience, to artificially give the cheering fans some extra kick. “It’s kind of a dirty secret,” Davis said. “But the sound of the real audience is weak. It’s not enough. You are pumping it up. It is like a sitcom and a laugh track when other humans are having a good time. Jake Davis said that the ideal balance is to “start with the real reaction” and then simply “make it bigger and more obvious.”