Jazz live recordings – how they are made

1. You arrive at the venue 2 hours before the concert. The stage is dark, but you can roll out your cables, set up the mic stands and run your equipment once you have found the outlet for housekeeping.
2. One hour later, the musicians come in. Within 5 minutes there is a big mess on stage. Instruments lay around, boxes and bags are scattered and some crumpled shoe boxes turn out to be loudspeakers. With some luck, you find out who is going to play where – no liability however. You stumble on the stage, trying to place your mics and running your cables carefully.
3. The PA is going to be prepared. Some place under a seat, there is a mixer with worn tags attached. Everybody now tries to find a socket where his instrument or mic fits. The mess of cables has become a real disaster. The first member of the band starts counting into his mic “One, two, three”. It is too low and he turns one of the mixers knobs. It's the one of his neighbor. This continues with every band member until no one knows any more where he had twiddled or should have to. I do not mention the setting of the equalizers – this is simply a night mare. The last musician comes late, only 5 minutes before the concert and sets everything upside down.
4. The concert starts without any complete sound check as regarding volume and balance. Of course, you cannot hear the piano, but the brass almost blows the speakers diaphragms out of the boxes (that is why they have ceramic tweeters), and the clarinet is very thin. The audience is patient.
5. (This part does not apply to Britain, as it would be rated as very impolite !) During the first interval, you sneak to the musicians telling them the problem. You are stared at as if you came from the moon. Eventually, one of them leaves his beer and tries to adjust the mixer. With some luck it is going to be OK.

In between I have become familiar with this situation and some times get reasonable recordings despite this weird environment.