Hello! A professor of mine suggested this group for asking a sound
mixing problem. Thanks in advance for any help or hints offered!

I'm a student filmmaker and I'm editing (sound and picture) a student
short film. The film at one point has a scene in which a rock band
performs a song. We at first thought that we could use a song from the
band's demo, add some reverb, add some audience noise and we'd achieve
success. But no matter what effects I've tried, it always sounds like a
studio mix.

We can't reshoot or even record the band (they've all gone home for the
holidays, how rock n' roll is that?), and we don't have access to the
original pre-mixed tracks. All we have is this one studio song and I
feel tons of pressure from everybody, even though everybody knows I
signed on as "editor" and not "sound guru". Editors get blamed for
everything in the end. That's just the way it is.

The song, by the way, is pretty basic rock n' roll and the song sounds
good production-wise (as in, you could imagine it being on the radio).
The problem isn't fantastic studio wizardry that could never be
replicated live. The problem is that the song doesn't have the air or
life that one would expect from LIVE rock n' roll. The sync of the
track and the band looks good, by the way, so if the track actually
sounded live, the scene would totally work.

A friend of mine had the (perhaps brilliant?) idea of blasting the song
on a stereo and recording the song in an empty room. But before I start
shooting in the dark, praying and hoping, I was hoping to get some
input from you guys.

If you read all of this, thanks. If you have a thought or two to help
me, double thanks!