How can you use audio post-production to fix audio issues at live events?

There is still editing involved live as a director switches from one camera to camera. Recorded footage of a live event will need to be edited and cleaned up before releasing the final product.

Strictly in a live environment: using tools like Izotope RX or Waves Clarity VX to remove 60 cycle hum from noisy power sources is a quick and easy fix. A simple gate or expander is nice but added noise cancellation can really improve the experience for the audience. Latency should not be an issue.

I’ve found it helpful to edit recoded live events to eliminate any unneeded audio. You may need to replay the event at louder volumes and there may be lots of unwanted background noise at times

I think it depends on what sort of live event you're capturing: Single-presenter talking-head type event? If you set up your compression and EQ on the front end well, you generally don't have to do much here aside from editing. Theatrical capture with many headsets? Post is imperative for minimizing phase issues as actors move across the stage, and for fixing things like crosstalk/bleed. Band gigs or variety shows? Well you're never going to get the best possible product without a proper Melodyne pass and a solid edit/mix. In both theatre and band situations - you can also refine automation in post to surgically dial-in your mix, and transitions, to achieve something a lot closer to artistic vision than you can in a truly live mix.

There's a *lot* you can get away with in post while still retaining the immersive feel of a live event. If you have the benefit of multiple takes/shows, it is often useful to cut/paste content from one performance into another to smooth over blemishes. Other times you might want some pitch correction on a vocalist who got *mostly* there. I would highly, highly recommend Melodyne if you want it to be transparent. In either case you'll want to be cognizant of room mics: room mics really make a live capture feel complete; BUT if you pitch correct a mic, you might need to also do some polyphonic correction on the room mic; and if you copy from one performance to another, be prepared to also automate or copy room to compensate.

If you're going to the trouble to capture a live event in 2024, it's hard to imagine why you wouldn't want to distribute that content through a variety of digital mechanisms. A *good* post mix can make all the difference in how folks engage with both your brand, and the content you produce. To that end, I highly recommend keeping this in mind during the planning stages. For example, if you have capacity to record multitrack audio? ...do it! Disk space is cheap, and it's a lot easier to create broadcast-quality product from a multitrack capture than it is a stereo board-mix. IE it affords you an opportunity to address issues like bad pitch, crosstalk, and other issues that are generally "features," in live-mixed 2-track audio captures.

This is a great example of recording live events where there may be lots of noise or crowd presence and poor audio quality from the actual speaker

Audio post-production techniques are typically used to enhance or correct audio recordings after an event has occurred. However, there are ways in which these techniques can be applied to live events to address audio issues, although the approach is a bit different. One thing that I found helpful is to do Sound Check and Pre-Event Adjustments. For example, Before the event, conduct a thorough sound check. Use this opportunity to identify and fix issues like microphone placements, levels, and feedback potential. This is similar to pre-emptive “post-production” work.

Audio post-production should not be relied upon to "fix it in post". The ideal workflow is to identify and address audio issues during the pre-production phase. Too often non-audio folks in the chain gloss over audio issues in the recording process and assume they can be "fixed" after the fact. That being said, there are some incredible tools and techniques that can be used to improve audio in post, but there needs to be a mental shift, that allows for the time and budget to get the best audio you can BEFORE the problems arise.

While it's true that Post Production sound techniques can be used to fix "audio issues" like feedback, buzz, mic placement, etc., It seems to me that many artists use Post techniques to fix PERFORMANCE issues (re-doing vocals, using auto-tune)...or adding/embellishing instruments and/or crowd applause in order to get a fuller sound. I have mixed feeling about the latter ??.

For live broadcast there are two primary examples of post production processes. 1) backing tracks for musical acts and 2) Waves plugins with low latency Glenn

Fixes, I’d guess. No matter what Audio discipline you are working in, when something goes wrong, the fix is the same. Trace back the source.