How are live recordings achieved now?

[By-Tor]

I have recently purchased the recording of a live show by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit from Bandcamp. It was one of almost 30 recordings. I have seen similar from other artists I like - Springsteen, Tori Amos, Pearl Jam etc.

I have been struck by how natural these recordings have sounded, almost seem to have been missing the ‘production’ that traditional ‘live albums’ had. Also how many shows are recorded!

My question is, how are these more recent recordings made?

“In the old days” you would sometimes see a large mobile recording truck outside the venue (possibly Lake Geneva DP fans!), recording one show and hoping to get it right. I wonder if the more recent recordings are routinely recorded in a digital format, possibly as part of the sound desk set up. Anyone know how this is done now and therefore why the recordings seem so clear?

[AndyR]

No direct experience of actually doing it but, unless an artist or engineer has a specific need to do otherwise, I’d be surprised if all the available channels weren’t recorded direct to disk and mixed later - in almost all cases it’s going to be a digital mixer with almost unlimited routing flexibility. The released recording mix will not be the same as the ‘front of house’ mix sent to the pa.