When a recording is made of a performance in the hall and the sound waves strike the microphone diaphragm 2 bits of data are saved.
1: what is the exact air pressure
2: what is the exact moment in time (for that air pressure reading)
This assumes 2 channel optimum mic placement.
This allows you to triangulate the location of every instrument on stage.
That's it - nothing more nothing less. If you do this correctly you have a piece of acoustic history captured.
Can we agree on that?
Is there anyone reading this post that thinks otherwise?
It's a well known fact that the Grateful Dead were pioneers in great sound. Their live recordings sound far better than any other bands recorded material. As to their mics, this is an excerpt from wikipedia:
The Wall of Sound acted as its own monitor system, and it was therefore assembled behind the band so the members could hear exactly what their audience was hearing. Because of this, Stanley and Alembic designed a special microphone system to prevent feedback. This placed matched pairs of condenser microphones spaced 60 mm apart and run out of phase. The vocalist sang into the top microphone, and the lower mic picked up whatever other sound was present in the stage environment. The signals were added together using a differential summing amp so that the sound common to both mics (the sound from the Wall) was canceled, and only the vocals were amplified.