How and why you should record your next Lady Gaga show!

[ChicaSkas 22,283]

Hi from your resident Lady Gaga media queen!  

 

 Are you planning on going to see Gaga live....?

You know how epic that can be!

 

click here to listen to the entire The Chromatica Ball, Los Angeles, September 10th, 2022, by ChicaSkas

 

 

 

Did you know, that each time you see Gaga perform live, it's a totally unique, never the same, always iconic historic experience?

Did you know that you can help preserve musical history for the fans like you all over the world? By simply pressing REC on your Voice Notes app? Or as hardcore as shooting it in 4K on your Iphone? 

I am here to offer you suggestions to record and preserve the history of our Queen in her live shows. These ideas and guidelines are 100% optional, and you don't have to do them to have a good time, but if you choose to do so, you will help bring the joy and history of her performance to fans who couldn't be there themselves.

Firstly, before you do anything, decide on your personal priorities and goals for attending the show.

Are you planning on remaining in the moment to watch everything, or sing along with friends, or maybe drink and eat during the show? It may be that recording it on Voice Notes or live broadcasting it on Facebook Live might not be a good fit for what you want your experience to be. In which case, disregard the following suggestions, you don't need to record history for others if your main plan is to enjoy yourself in those ways. It's your show, and your money that got you there, so you get to hold the ultimate decision on whether or not to record it.

So, once you decide you want to record it, ask yourself, "do I want to record my own memories?" Put yourself first in this. If you want to shoot some discreet phone shots, or just video your favorite songs for yourself, by all means --- do it for yourself first.

If you want to try to recording it for the rest of GagaDaily or other little monsters in your life, I can offer you many words of advice and tips to achieve this safely. As you can see in the example link I've posted above, I've done this for nearly every single Lady Gaga show I've ever attended -- to fantastic success and enjoyment of fans here, there and everywhere on the web. 

1. Plan ahead: Decide what device you will use to tape your show! The easiest for most people is to use their cell phone. You can also use a professional sound recording device, like a TEAC machine or a Sony PCM M10. Those devices are small enough to fit in a pocket or purse and bundle up discreetly with your cell phone / or accessories. If you have access to black rubber electrical tape, you can use that to black out indicator lights on your audio recorder. 

2. Make sure you've emptied your phone of photos, video, audio, or extra apps before you leave the house. You want to make sure you have enough space for your recording that you end up taking, whether you plan on shooting video footage, or just letting Voice Notes roll for 2 hours and capture everything as sound. Recording a Gaga show, or any concert for that matter, is space intensive, and can be several gigs worth if you start from the beginning of the show and don't stop till the end. 

3. Once you've emptied your phone / backed up your phone to your computer or cloud, make sure you bring along an external phone charging brick or bank to take with you. This way, you won't lose power at a critical moment or important song.

4. Charge your power bank and phone the night before you go. Test the cords beforehand as well, nothing worse than arriving to find out that something wasn't charged or a cord is the wrong one or frayed. 

5. If you are using a handheld audio recorder, be sure to back up previous recordings to your computer before you leave the house, and make sure if it uses batteries they are fresh. A Sony PCM 10 can last you 6.5 hours on 2 AA batteries, just make sure it's empty each time. (Sauce: I recorded a little over 5.5 hours of The Eras Tour last summer, this included both hour long openers and Taylor's massive 3.75 hour set)

6. Make sure to consider discreetness. It is best to take a small zippered bag to put your phone, charger cables, charging brick, and essentials in. Some venues may do a bag check or require a clear bag policy. In my experience, if you wrap your power brick and your audio recorder with your phone charger cable and put that little bundle of electronics into your bag, no one should bother you at all. 

Someone gives you trouble? Just say, "oh, sorry! I use that for school."  Then go back your car, turn around, and go in a different entrance / different security guard like a bad ass

7. Once in the venue, make sure to set up your audio recorder or phone so that it's optimized to your surroundings. If you are very close to the stage, the reverb and bass from the speakers can overwhelm your recorder and make the sound unlistenable, make sure to learn your recorder and adjust the settings. If you are using your cell phone ,it should be able to do that automatically.

8. *ADVANCED TIP* (You don't have to do this unless you are very ballsy like me and you don't give a damn about showing it) It may help to carry small bills with you to pay off drunks and other loud people to be quiet. There is nothing worse than having some drunk main character human screamsinging all over your recording for history, it's like fingernails down a blackboard.

Try the nice way first: Gently confront them and say something super respectful first: "Hi, how are you! I have a huge favor to ask, I wonder if you can help me. I'm actually gonna be recording this show for some friends who couldn't make it here tonight, is there any way you can do me a favor, and if Gaga is singing or talking softly, can you not sing or talk over her? I want to make sure I get the whole thing clean and clear. "

Usually, if they are decent, they will go along with this. It doesn't have to escalate beyond that request. But if they are being Karens or still giving you trouble, try this:

"I know you are totally within your rights to scream and sing as much as you want, I don't want to offend or impinge on your rights at all. But would you like a little money for a drink on me, for later, if you can promise me to stay silent during the show?" At this point, press the $$ into their hands. Nothing like a $10 or a $20 bill to get folks to pay attention. 

9. Now that the folks around you are subdued and quiet, just settle back in your seat and have one hand on the recorder. If you are shooting video this is harder, you'll need a steady hand or a railing in front of you to balance the phone and keep the recording steady. If you shoot video, it's best to shoot in horizontal letterbox rectangle mode with the phone on its side,  rather than the phone straight up and down which limits your range. Horizontal Letterbox mode also looks better on Youtube for later.

10. Relax and enjoy the show! In my experience, as long as I keep one hand gripping my phone or recorder, I am free for the rest of the night with my body to dance in place and silently mouthe the lyrics. Personally I keep whooping and screaming to a bare minimum as no one wants to hear that on my recording. Periodically, make sure it's still going, and make sure that you have battery life left, if not, plug into your external powerbank and keep going.  From time to time, if I can  have an aisle seat or end seat, Ill move more to the aisle, to get me and my recorder even further away from people and extra sound that isn't the performer. 

11. Remember, it's not over till the house lights come on. No matter how many people may get up and leave before the encore, don't be a fake fan like they are, stay in your seat or area and keep recording till the finale and the house lights come on. At that point, you can click STOP on your phone recording or your audio recorder and tuck it safely back into your purse or bag. 

12. Congratulate yourself. You have brought history to the masses. You have captured an experience out of thin air, as it happened, and you have made the ephemeral passage of time stop in it's tracks and stay with you. I am so proud of you! Now, you can take that recording, and do what I do, which is, listen to it like a freaking bad ass on the entire drive home

 You can also share it with people who weren't lucky enough to afford tickets to the show, and with your pals on GagaDaily!

 

And you might even get comments these when you do:

 

 

 

 

So, get out there and tape some music history for us!

Here is a link to everything you will need:

Sony PCM M10 Audio Dictation Machine, Handheld (this is the gold standard, but there are other cheaper models you can try!)

Portable Power Bank with cables

Clear bags for concerts

 

Have fun! You can listen to my recording of the last Gaga concert I bootlegged here!

 

 

Edited March 20 by ChicaSkas

[danbekim 2,975]

YESSS!!! Thank you for this really informative and important thread. 

[HelloHangoverz 15,542]

6 minutes ago, ChicaSkas said:

It may help to carry small bills with you to pay off drunks and other loud people to be quiet

Chica, you are actually amazing. omfg. the BALLS that takes....i could never

Edited March 20 by HelloHangoverz

[M i K E Y 7,289]

You are iconic  thank you so much 

[theARTVampire 3,551]

Super-Advanced-Bonus Tip: You will be the hero of the fanbase if you can manage to record the livefeed with an IEM Receiver / Matrix Recorder. The result will be close to a professional audio taping.

[ChicaSkas 22,283]

11 minutes ago, theARTVampire said:

Super-Advanced-Bonus Tip: You will be the hero of the fanbase if you can manage to record the livefeed with an IEM Receiver / Matrix Recorder. The result will be close to a professional audio taping.

OOOOOHHHH now i need to google that

edit: can you recommend a good model?

Reading this news article from 24 years ago is absolutely feeding my soul right now and I wanna try it:https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=116363&page=1

 

Edited March 20 by ChicaSkas

[ChicaSkas 22,283]

22 minutes ago, HelloHangoverz said:

Chica, you are actually amazing. omfg. the BALLS that takes....i could never

I fear no drunk. History matters more

[Catnikko 13,694]

i haven't managed to record one good video at a show in my life but i have so much appreciation for those that do  I always ruin mine dancing and singing

luckily no one near me is ever properly filming but if anyone ever was than the best way to get rid of me is to send me to the bar so that's a tip i can relate to on the opposite side of this advice  

[HelloHangoverz 15,542]

1 minute ago, ChicaSkas said:

I fear no drunk. History matters more

-Thucydides

[theARTVampire 3,551]

13 minutes ago, ChicaSkas said:

edit: can you recommend a good model?

Unfortunately I don't have any experience yet, but I can ask my buddies from the rock music forums  

[Schizophonic 7,015]

How much you have to pay 45 000 drunk people to shut up for 3 hours? 
 

on the next tour we all should put money together and sell out one whole tourdate just to record it quietly in full hq …. Imagine a stadium with let’s say 50 fans, absolutely quiet professionally record and nobody else there…. 😂😂😂

[Schizophonic 7,015]

How did people in Japan came to the inear recordings?

Edited March 20 by Schizophonic

[theARTVampire 3,551]

14 minutes ago, Schizophonic said:

How did people in Japan came to the inear recordings?

True! For some reason these recordings always seem to come from Japan. These are beeing recorded using a IEM reciever. I don't know, maybe they use different frequencies in Japan arenas that are easier to record.

[ChicaSkas 22,283]

26 minutes ago, HelloHangoverz said:

-Thucydides

fck YES

[ChicaSkas 22,283]

18 minutes ago, Schizophonic said:

How much you have to pay 45 000 drunk people to shut up for 3 hours? 
 

on the next tour we all should put money together and sell out one whole tourdate just to record it quietly in full hq …. Imagine a stadium with let’s say 50 fans, absolutely quiet professionally record and nobody else there…. 😂😂😂

My cousin used to do that for Led Zepplin and the Rolling Stones in the late 1970s. He would buy 3 rows of seats front and back behind the row he was in and wheel in his best friend who was in a wheelchair. Back then, the wheelchair hid a complex taping system underneath the seat. He and his friend would sit in the middle row, with no noise obstruction. Being "disabled" , they would arrive early and get entry early, and then he and his "assistant" would carefully fix the foam covered mics to prepare for the show. Once the lights went out, they'd carefully start the system. They did this for years. I hope someday to hear those shows!