Do you ever have any problem with your Mixes sounding strong ?
after listening to a commercial Cd ?
Welcome to Recording for Beginners Series 6: Giving your recordings a produced sound.
Why is it that some perfectly well-recorded songs sound like demos, while others sound like top commercial tracks? Paul White investigates the mystery of the ‘produced’ sound.
One of the questions we hear most from Sound On Sound readers is “Why doesn’t my music sound as ‘produced’ as the music I hear on commercial CDs?” I’m sure you won’t be too surprised when I tell you that there isn’t a single, simple answer. Some people assume that the superior equipment used in pro studios is the key, but although competent gear is required to do the job properly, you don’t actually need anything esoteric. Even when it comes to recording vocals you don’t have to use expensive high-end tube capacitor mics — artists such as Phil Collins and Mick Jagger often use relatively inexpensive dynamic models because that’s what works best for them. A few years ago, the drum sound was what gave away most demos, but now we have good drum machines, drum samples and sample loops, as well as real drums, to choose from.
The secret of a produced sound starts with the source material. It doesn’t matter what you do to your recording afterwards if this isn’t up to scratch. It almost goes without saying that good timing and good tuning are essential, but the choice of sounds and the way in which acoustic instruments and voices are recorded has a huge bearing on the perceived quality of the end result.
Vox Clever
If you record vocals in a small, untreated room, the chances are that the resulting sound will be boxy, so place your mic somewhere near the centre (but not exactly in the centre) of a larger room and put up improvised screens (sleeping bags, duvets, blankets and so on) where necessary to kill the reflections. Used in this way, virtually any respectable mic will give you good results providing you use a pop shield. You can also record acoustic guitars in the same environment.
Vocals invariably need compression, but what kind and how much? Listen to what you’ve recorded and try to establish how much variation there is in the vocal level. If you hear a lot of fluctuation it might be better to use a model of compressor that can pin down the level without changing the sound too much. The compressors that come as standard in Yamaha digital mixers are good for this, as you can really pile on the gain reduction without changing the sound too radically; there are also analogue models that can do the same. On the other hand, you may feel the vocals need thickening as well as levelling, in which case a compressor with a character of its own might be better suited to the job. Tube and ‘opto’ compressors generally produce the fattest sounds, and of course there are software plug-ins that emulate just about anything you can buy in a rackmount box.
The goal is to get the vocal sitting nicely with the backing track so that you don’t feel the urge to turn it up or down in different parts of the song. Professional engineers may also spend some time fine-tuning vocal levels with their mixer automation systems, and if you use either a digital mixer or a computer-based recording system you can do the same.
For more info go to recording for Intermediate series 6.
Stay Tuned for Recording for Beginners 7 .. Enjoy the musical process!
Producer Phil
Sound Marketing Recording and Mastering Studios
Vancouver / Surrey BC
When you are ready to master or would like some re-mixing on your tracks, come and see me here at the studio!
You may also want to consider recording or laying down your drums or vocal tracks here.
I offer a one-on-one instructional recording engineer course here in my studio or at yours.
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