Thanks for the links. I'll try and give a listen this weekend.
Not a post production thing, and I’ve posted about this previously in other threads, but here's my thinking on balancing the instrumentation in terms of level, position and depth, by way of mic placement on stage, which I think bears repeating here.. maybe only because it is a slow day at work.
Even though the musicians are balancing themselves by what they hear, some instruments are simply louder and / or project differently than others so the sound balance the musicians hear may be significantly different than what is heard at the recording position. Guitar cabinets project significantly and are much louder and more up-front sounding on-axis than off-axis, especially down at floor level. Pianos and bass are more diffuse and omnidirectional and don't carry or project like that, drum kit radiation is complex- generally omnidirectional taken as a whole, yet each component of the kit is like a separate instrument, with closer drums shadowing the farther ones, the farther ones sounding both quieter and more diffuse (farther away), etc.
When I setup onstage for this kind of stuff I try to take all that into consideration, especially if I have freedom of mic placement. Simultaneously, I'm weighing those loudness and directivity aspects against which instruments I feel should sound more upfront and which can sound more diffuse and farther back. That upfront/back – direct/diffuse thing isn’t just a practical compromise issue but what makes for some of the magic mojo when balanced well, giving the recording a lush sense of depth and dimension which I rarely hear in modern commercial releases or PA recordings where everything is equally distant sounding, be that close or far. The third and more obvious consideration is left/right position of sources.
I ‘ll sometimes move off-center and angle the center axis of the mic array across the stage so it is physically closer to the bass, or sometimes piano, to pick up the more subtle details and direct sound from those instruments, and farther away but still sort of on-axis to a guitar amp over on the other side which carries more and is loud down on the floor where my mics often are, yet the stereo image is still balanced and the depth of things is appropriate.
I usually try to favor the snare side of the drums with a direct line-of-sight to the snare from my mic position, and don’t mind if the toms shadowed on the other side end up sounding more distant. Unless the drums are only playing a support roll, in which case they can be more distant and diffuse sounding like they are farther in back of the other instruments, I usually want clear transient detail from the drum kit and snare especially. It’s an instrument of transient snap which needs that clarity more than other tonally sustaining instruments that can be more diffuse sounding without suffering for it.. as long as it doesn’t become too loud. The other instruments still need to sound loud enough in comparison even if they may be farther back and more diffuse or sounding.
It’s an art to juggle it all by eye and past experience without a chance to listen to the mic feed, and often no chance to even listen with one’s head in the mic position before the set. But that’s all part of what makes it interesting, challenging and rewarding.