How to record sound at a live gig

One of the biggest problems in filming live gigs is recording good quality sound. If it's a really loud rock band that you are videoing it's likely that, much like your ears, the inbuilt microphone on your camera is not going to emerge unscathed. Video mics aren't really built to withstand this kind of assault. This may cause distortion resulting in a kind of "white noise" that will be nothing like the original. One way to combat the problem is to place yourself as far away from the speakers as you can - which would be fine, except that your rock gods will now look minuscule on screen.

Alternatively, when you buy your camera, make sure that there is a facility within the camera to adjust the level at which you can record sound. To check if the level is correct, use your earphones to listen for distortion and adjust your sound level within the menu accordingly.

However, using the inbuilt mic has its limitations because it is omnidirectional (ie, it records from all directions). This means that the crowd noise and even the people talking behind you may end up being recorded at the same level as the music. This can be problematic with quieter forms of music such as classical and jazz. To combat this, use an external directional mic and point it at the band. Better still - if your camera's menu allows you to split the channels - put the directional mic on one channel and the inbuilt mic on the other (to pick up atmospheric crowd sounds). You can then split these in the edit, giving you the choice of using just one, or both.

Of course, there's always the professional way of recording live gigs, which is to take an XLR lead from the sound engineers on the band's mixing desk at the gig and plug it into the camera. This will be recorded on to one channel, and the atmospheric sound from an additional external mic is recorded on the other channel. Levels are adjusted on both channels manually with an external sound mixer.

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