punchline studio / Recording Studio / Mixing for Concert Recordings

Live Recording Mixing – Live Album & Concert Mixing

Concert recordings people
want to listen to.

Professional mixing and mastering for live concert recordings – for bands, choirs, orchestras and theatre productions. Remote, worldwide.

Plenty of concerts get recorded – and then nothing happens. The tracks sit on a hard drive because nobody is quite sure how to turn them into something you can release.

How we mix concert recordings

That's exactly where we come in. We've been mixing live recordings for over ten years – club shows, church and choir concerts, festivals in front of several thousand people. You send us the multitracks, we send back a finished mix.

Start a project Listen
Also worked with Zweierpasch · Dominik Büchele · John Home · TRIAZ · FATCAT
5.0 from 15 reviews

“Seriously creative and reliable! Lightning fast and right on point. I’d recommend them to anyone who wants to do anything with film and/or sound!”

— Gert Endres, Musician · Music video, concert film, mixing & mastering

“Since I live and work in Italy, we worked together entirely online. That worked perfectly, thanks to the team’s friendly, professional expertise.”

— Marco Siniscalco, Guitarist · Remote mixing
References

Mixed by punchline studio.

Every video below is a real concert recording that we mixed and mastered. Best listened to on headphones.

Live concert recording mixed and mastered by punchline studio
Band concert recording mixed and mastered by punchline studio
Multitrack live recording mixed and mastered by punchline studio
Live concert audio mixed and mastered by punchline studio
Concert film with live audio mixed and mastered by punchline studio
Live recording in front of an audience, mixed and mastered by punchline studio
The discipline

Why a live mix doesn't work like a studio mix.

In the studio each instrument is recorded on its own. On stage every mic is open at once and picks up the others: the drums are in the vocal mic, and the room mics hear everything plus the audience.

Add level shifts between songs, feedback, talking and applause. Bleed and room can’t be removed, only shaped – and you can’t flatten the dynamics, because that’s what a concert lives on.

Many studios take on live work and only realise halfway through how different it is from a studio production. For us, it's our main focus.

Bleed between microphones We use targeted gating and phase correction rather than cutting the tracks back wholesale.
Room sound and reverb tails The room stays audible, but it's EQ'd and used to create depth in the mix.
Level jumps between songs and takes We match each song individually, without losing the dynamics of the concert.
Weak or missing drums Drum tracks can be reinforced or replaced. Done tastefully, you won't hear it at all.
Who we work with

Who sends us their live recordings.

The process is always the same: you send us the tracks, we mix. What changes is what matters most in each kind of music.

Bands & artists

A live album, a live EP, a single for streaming, or the recording of a release show. We mix rock, pop, folk, jazz, hip-hop and funk.

With a band it almost always comes down to the same question: how do you make the mix as punchy as a studio production without losing the energy of the concert? That's where most live mixes fall down. They end up sounding either like a bootleg or like a sterile studio recording.

Choirs, orchestras & classical

Choir concerts, chamber concerts, orchestral performances and church music. Usually the recording is for the archive, a CD for members, or a record of the performance for funders and sponsors.

We treat classical recordings differently from band material: less processing, more care with room, balance and dynamics. The challenge here is rarely loudness. It's keeping individual voices and sections audible without the ensemble losing its cohesion.

Theatre, dance & festivals

Theatre productions, dance performances, festival recordings and livestreams. Here the client is usually the venue or the production company rather than the artists themselves.

In stage productions, speech intelligibility trumps everything else. Radio mics, lavs, hall reverb and audience noise all work against it. On request we deliver to EBU R128 for broadcast and on-demand platforms.

In detail

What happens to your material.

Live Recording Mixing

Input: multitrack recording from the desk or interface

  • Material review and an honest assessment before we quote
  • Session setup, gain staging, phase correction
  • Bleed control
  • Room sound shaping and EQ
  • Noise reduction, feedback removal and de-clicking (iZotope RX)
  • Level and tonal matching between songs and takes
  • Drum enhancement and replacement as needed
  • Vocal editing and light pitch correction
  • EQ, compression and saturation per track
  • Stereo field, depth, automation
  • Applause, stage announcements and transitions as agreed
  • 2 rounds of revisions included

Mastering & delivery

Input: a mix from us or a finished stereo mixdown

  • Analogue and digital signal chain
  • Consistency across the whole concert
  • Gapless transitions for live albums
  • Loudness for streaming: −14 LUFS (Spotify), −16 LUFS (Apple)
  • Broadcast: EBU R128 / −23 LUFS on request
  • True peak limiting (−1 dBTP)
  • Stem mastering on request
  • DDP and CD masters on request
  • ISRC embedding on request
  • WAV (24–32 bit / 44.1–192 kHz) + MP3 320 kbps
  • Separate masters for video and streaming
  • 2 rounds of revisions included
When there's video involved

For concert films and livestreams we deliver the audio synced to the picture – including a separate master for the platform the film runs on. Our own concert film series, WeLive, shows what that looks like when sound and picture are both handled in-house.

Pricing

What live mixing costs.

All prices include German VAT. For business clients with a valid EU VAT ID we invoice net under the reverse-charge procedure. Live material takes more work than a studio production, so the rates sit slightly above our standard mixing.

Mixing
Live Recording Mixing
from €450
net €378.15 + 19% VAT €71.85
per song · incl. VAT
  • Song up to approx. 6 minutes, up to 32 tracks
  • Bleed and room control
  • Noise reduction & restoration
  • Matching between takes
  • Drum enhancement
  • 2 revisions
Get in touch
Mastering
Live Mastering
from €95
net €79.83 + 19% VAT €15.17
per song · incl. VAT
  • Streaming-optimised
  • Consistency across the concert
  • Gapless transitions for live albums
  • Broadcast on request
  • 2 revisions
Get in touch
Popular
Complete package
Mixing & Mastering
from €515
net €432.77 + 19% VAT €82.23
per song · incl. VAT
  • Everything in mixing + mastering
  • Coordinated workflow
  • 4 revisions
  • All formats
  • Fastest turnaround
Get in touch
Complete package
Full concert
on request
Quoted by scope, not per song

We don’t bill whole concerts song by song: lots of short songs get up to 10 % off, classical, church and orchestral concerts are priced by total running time. Consistent sound across the concert, gapless transitions and applause handling are always included.

Request a quote

Album and concert packages: 5 % off from 5 songs · 10 % off from 10 songs. For long-form works – classical, orchestral, church concerts – we quote by total running time rather than per piece, because a symphony movement doesn't compare to a pop song. Send us two or three raw tracks first – then we'll tell you specifically what's possible and what it costs, before you commit.

How it works

The process.

It doesn't matter whether the concert was in Freiburg, Hamburg or Milan. The whole process runs remotely.

01
A short enquiryWhat kind of concert, how many songs, what it was recorded with. A sentence or two is enough to start.
02
Material checkSend us two or three raw tracks or one complete song. We'll listen and tell you what can be done with it before we quote. If the material isn't good enough, we'll say so.
03
Send the filesThe multitrack as WAV, via WeTransfer, Dropbox or Google Drive. How to get the tracks out of your desk is covered in the FAQ.
04
BriefingReferences, target format (streaming, CD, video, broadcast), and what should happen to applause and announcements.
05
First mixAs a private streaming link, no download needed. Within 3–5 working days for single songs; for whole concerts we agree a schedule up front.
06
RevisionsLeave notes right on the waveform, at the exact spot you mean – which track, what's bugging you. Two rounds are included.
07
DeliveryWAV, MP3, DDP, picture-synced audio for video – whatever you need.
Start a project
Maik Styrnol, mixing and mastering engineer for live recordings at punchline studio

Photo: Maik Styrnol · CC BY-SA 4.0

Who mixes

Maik Styrnol

I've been mixing music for over ten years – studio productions as much as live material, from the first demo to concert recordings in front of several thousand people. That's over a hundred live productions by now: bands, choirs, orchestras, theatre.

Together with my brother Pirmin I run punchline studio in Lahr in the Black Forest. Everything that comes in, I mix personally – no team in the background, no presets. And if I don't think a recording can be turned into something good, I'll tell you up front.

More about Maik · How a live album comes together, from recording to master

The proof

WeLive – our own concert film series.

With WeLive we produce our own concert films: recording, mix, master, picture. Every one of these films was captured in a single night and still sounds like a carefully produced studio record. We give our clients' recordings exactly the same treatment.

So this isn't just something we do for clients – we do it for ourselves too. That's why we know our way around live material. Read the case study → · WeLive-Festival.com → · YouTube · Concert film production

FAQ

Common questions about live mixing.

What does it cost to have a live recording mixed?
Live recording mixing starts at €450 per song, mastering at €95, both together at €515. A whole concert is quoted as one package: for sets with lots of short songs, the tiered discount of up to 10 % applies; for long-form works such as classical, orchestral and church concerts, we price by total running time and track count, because a symphony movement doesn't compare to a pop song. Live material sits above our studio rates because there is considerably more work behind it: bleed, room sound, level jumps between songs. All prices include German VAT; for business clients with a valid EU VAT ID we invoice under the reverse-charge procedure.
Is a stereo recording from the mixing desk enough?
We can almost always improve something – but the options are limited. In a finished stereo mix every decision has already been made: if the guitar is too loud, it stays too loud. What we can do: EQ, noise removal, loudness and a much better overall balance. What doesn't work is rebalancing individual instruments after the fact. For a real live album production we need the individual tracks. Send us the recording anyway – we'll tell you honestly what we can do with it.
How do I get the individual tracks out of my digital mixing desk?
Almost every modern digital desk can record multitrack to a USB stick or computer. On the Behringer X32 and Midas M32 this runs via the X-USB card or directly as a 32-track recording to USB. Allen & Heath SQ and Avantis record to SD card or over Dante, Yamaha QL and CL via Dante Virtual Soundcard or Nuendo Live, the Behringer Wing straight to SD, Presonus StudioLive through Capture. If you're not sure how it works on your desk, just ask – we know the common systems. The most important thing is to test it once before the concert, not after.
The recording sounds dull and the audience is too loud. Can it still be saved?
Usually yes. A dull sound often comes down to mic placement and a heavily damped room, and targeted EQ helps a lot. An audience that is too loud in the overheads and room mics is a classic live problem and can be tamed with the right mix of gating, balance and restoration. What stays difficult: heavily distorted tracks, completely missing instruments and severe clipping in the recording. Send us a sample and you'll get an honest assessment instead of a guess.
We have a concert video but the audio is bad. Can you do the sound only?
Yes, that's one of our most common jobs. You send the multitrack recording plus the video or a reference track, and we deliver the finished audio synced to the picture – as a stereo master or as separate stems, depending on what your video edit needs. A separate master is available on request for YouTube, broadcast or on-demand platforms.
Can several concert nights be combined into one album?
Yes, that's common practice for live albums. We match tone and level across all nights so the result plays as one continuous concert. The only requirement is that the recordings are technically comparable – same miking, same track layout. If the entire setup changed between nights, it gets more involved.
Can mistakes be fixed afterwards?
Small things, yes: an off-pitch vocal phrase, a missed entry, a wrong note. If you want to record overdubs afterwards yourself, that's possible too – we blend them in so the edit isn't audible. But it should stay the exception. Past a certain point you end up with a studio recording plus audience noise, and you can hear that.
What happens to applause and announcements?
That's your call. For streaming platforms we usually trim applause to a minimum, because individual songs stand on their own there. For a live album it stays in and is crossfaded seamlessly so the flow of the evening is preserved. Announcements can stay in full, be shortened or removed. Tell us up front what the recording is for and we'll work to that.
Do you work with choirs and classical concerts?
Yes. Choir concerts, chamber music, orchestras and church music are regular work for us. The approach differs from band material: less processing, more care with room, balance and the intelligibility of individual sections. On request we deliver a CD master including a DDP file for the pressing plant.
How long does a whole concert take?
For a single song, 3–5 working days to the first mix. A complete concert with ten to fifteen songs takes two to four weeks depending on the material and our workload. If there's a fixed date – an anniversary, a release, an annual meeting – tell us right away and we'll plan backwards from it.
Do you deliver broadcast-compliant masters?
Yes, to EBU R128 at −23 LUFS with the corresponding true peak requirements. On request, you'll also get a separate streaming master, because the requirements there are different.
What's the difference from ordinary studio mixing?
In a studio recording every track is recorded in isolation and everything is under control. In a live recording the microphones bleed into each other, the room is part of the recording, and level differences between songs are normal. That calls for different tools, a different order of work and considerably more time – which is why it's a separate category with its own price. For pure studio productions, everything is on our Mixing & Mastering page.
How does it work if I'm based outside Germany?
Exactly as it does within Germany: you send the files, we send the mix back. We work regularly with artists from Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the US. We communicate by email, video call or messaging app. For payment, a bank transfer by IBAN is the simplest, and PayPal works too. For business clients with a valid EU VAT ID we invoice under the reverse-charge procedure.
In depth

More on live recordings.

What we actually do in the studio, and why.

See all articles
Technical standards

What we work with.

Live Recording Mixing
  • Avid Pro Tools Ultimate
  • Multitrack recordings up to 64 tracks
  • Sample rates 44.1–192 kHz, 24 bit / 32 bit float
  • Bleed control, phase correction, room sound control
  • Drum enhancement and replacement
  • Experience: 100+ live productions
Restoration
  • iZotope RX (de-noise, de-click, de-hum, spectral repair)
  • Feedback and unwanted noise removal
  • Recovery of clipped passages where possible
Mastering & delivery
  • Analogue and digital signal chain
  • Streaming: −14 LUFS (Spotify), −16 LUFS (Apple)
  • Broadcast: EBU R128 / −23 LUFS
  • True peak limiting −1 dBTP
  • Gapless, DDP, CD master, ISRC
  • Picture-synced delivery for video
Monitoring & plugins
  • Genelec 8050, Yamaha MSP 5
  • Consumer playback check: Teufel, Denon, Harman Kardon
  • FabFilter, Pulsar Modular, Tokyo Dawn Labs
  • Waves, Soundtoys, Valhalla, UAD / Apollo
Ready?

Send us your concert.

Two or three raw tracks are enough to start. We'll listen and get back to you within 24 hours with an honest assessment and a price.

Get in touch Mixing & Mastering for studio recordings →

Not quite what you need? A studio take rather than a live recording? → Mixing & Mastering. A whole song from idea to finished track? → Music Production & Recording.