Hey, one of my friends gave me a CD he recorded of a local big band, on some wide spaced NT-5s and said CAN YOU MAKE THIS SOUND BETTER? He's not a brilliant engineer, and the mic placement and room were pretty bad as well. Now, I know bad in = bad out, but for a purely academic exercise, i wondered, what can i do? I thought maybe some compression and limiting to crank the loudness (not over the top to commercial standards, obviously!). Anything i can do to make it sound more... present? Closer? Any thoughts?
Mastering... Sort of...
- Thread starter Moley1390
- Start date
pandamonk
Well-known member
Normal compression/limiting will only emphasize the band room/mic placement. It makes the louder (closer) parts quieter. The best thing to do is re-record. If this isn't an option, a bit of EQ or multi-band compression MIGHT help.
pandamonk
Well-known member
Well mastering is like the icing on the cake. It is mainly to add that wee sparkle to each track and balance the levels on an album, etc. Your right though, shit in = shit out. Not much you can do about it. Just treat it like you would treat any individual track and try and make it sound as good as you can.
SouthSIDE Glen
independentrecording.net
The most accurate and most honest answer is that it's impossible for any of us to say what it needs. Picture this (pun intended):
My friend gave me a photograph of a local big band and said CAN YOU MAKE THIS LOOK BETTER? He's not a brilliant photographer, and the camera placement and room lighting were pretty bad as well...what can I do?
How could anybody answer that question without actually seeing the photograph?
It's the same thing here, all you can do is listen to it, figure out what's wrong with what you're hearing, decide based upon that what steps you can take to try and correct or improve that, and then decide based upon that plan of action which tools you'll need to achieve those results.
If you don't yet have the experience to make that kind of analysis, the the best you can do is to answer his question honestly with, "I'll be happy to take a swipe at it, but I can't promise you anything," and use it as an opportunity to get your experiential hands dirty.
If you want more specific help than that at that point, try posting the file in the MP3 clinic, explaining that re-tracking is not an option, and perhaps some more experienced ears can provide some direction.
G.
dodgeaspen
New member
You might be able to make it sound better but if you don't start with a good sound chances are you won't end up with a good sound either. Some might disagree but it's my opinion.