Mike Davidson - What's Wrong with Your Recordings
 
 
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Now that the task of making a great recording is in your hands, it's important to understand the role of the engineer and how it relates to the sonic quality of your music. How important is a good recording? Well, without one, you can forget radio play, record sales and a record deal, at the very least. Below are the most common problems found with music recorded at home and/or without a professional engineer.

  • Unbalanced Frequency Range

    The most common sympton of unbalanced frequency range is too much bass. Without a proper listening environment, it's nearly impossible to tell how your music will fair once brought out into the real world and listened to in different scenarios. Novice engineers will commonly mix on headphones or small consumer speakers that undercut bass response, so when the mix is listened to in a car or home stereo, low frequencies overpower the other elements of the tune. Without a treated room and good monitors, your mixes won’t reach their full potential.

  • Poor Levels

    Poor levels can result from many other issues: bad sounds, bad performances, improper use of effects, and so on. Some common problems include: buried vocals, lack of focus (the listener doesn’t know what to listen to), murky midrange, and masking elements. When a song isn’t mixed well, it’s incredibly distracting to the listener.

  • Clashing Instruments

    In the world of pro audio, we call this “masking,” and it occurs when two instruments of similar frequency content compete with one another in the same mix. Poor arrangements can increase the amount of masking elements in your mix, which is a tell tale sign of a bad, amateur recording. By arranging your songs ahead of time, you can reduce this issue. Too late? Knowing how to effectively EQ your instruments and pan your tracks across the stereo field can drammatically reduce masking and increase the clarity of your mix.

  • Muddy Vocals

    Without a nice condenser microphone, you’re less likely to capture the detail necessary for most vocal performances. Proximity effect, plosives, sibilances, and improper EQ can all ruin a vocal performance, making it either too muddy or too harsh. Vocals will make or break your mix and determine whether the listener gets past the 30 second mark or not.

  • Fake Instruments

    Drum samples meant to sound like real drums and synths meant to sound like stringed instruments suggest a cheap recording. Productions with money will not attempt to imitate the real thing because they can afford the real thing. It’s best to work with what you have as opposed to pretending you have something more. Most recording studios have many instruments available at little or no extra cost, allowing your recordings to flourish under much more nurturing circumstances. Note: fake instruments can sometimes be aesthetically appropriate, although in which case, they are not being used to sound real, they are being used for their unique character.

  • Subpar Performances

    Most unprofessional sounding recordings feature out of tune vocals and guitars and unsteady tempos. Autotune and Beat Detective aside (not to undervalue their power, if used when appropriately), knowing how to capture the right performance is most important to any recording. Most bands in the professional world have a helping hand translating their music to the recorded medium. In this new industry model, musicians benefit from the guidance a skilled and seasoned, objective ear, to aid in decision making.

  • Unexciting Sounds

    Without a real studio and real gear, your music will always lack that sound you hear in all your favorite records. Even without expensive gear, microphone selection and placement will always play a roll.

  • Cheap Effects

    Reverb is possibly the most important effect in any mix. Inexpensive plug ins will never produce real and pleasant sounding reverb. Often, you end up with a harsh, unrealistic top end. Without good plug ins or a reverb unit, your recording will lack realistic depth. Good reverb can also help with many of the above listed problems like masking, levels and vocal placement within the mix.

  • Digital Errors

    Cheap digital systems, like your laptop and consumer level DAWs (i.e., Cakewalk, Sonar, Logic Express, Acid Pro, and even Pro Tools LE) will cause problems with the quality of your recording. Issues with sync, jitter, and aliasing all come into play, degrading the sound of your music. Computers with at least 2 GB of memory and quad-core processors don’t have these some of these issues if configured properly, although they also cost a hefty dollar.

 
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