I’m totally inexperienced in this, but I’d like to learn how to reduce the noise in my concert recordings and make them sound better. Trial and error is getting me nowhere (except supremely frustrated). Can anyone suggest some things that might help clean this up?
You are witnessing the overload of the microphones in whatever you used to capture the performance. There is no recovery. Once the microphones stop following the performance, you’re gone.
It’s rare to get a good recording from the audience. The sound pressure level of rock concerts is enough to peel paint and few consumer microphones will handle that.
I’d be using one or two dynamic (moving coil) microphones into attenuators and then on to the regular microphone system and recorder.
https://www.amazon.com/2UW2103-Technology-Input-Attenuator-XLR3F/dp/B000K67U52
Dynamic microphones are very robust and hard to overload, but they can produce electrical signals that make recorders bleed. So place that attenuator between the two and keep reducing the volume until the recorder overload lights go out. Some news-gathering microphone systems have a similar attenuator built into the recorder.
Desperation method is wrap a heavy towel around the microphone/recorder. As long as the recorder doesn’t overload, I think we could recover from that.
Koz