What am I missing?

[bigwillz24]

I sat down listened to my work today next to a "commercial" cd...

I looked at the commercial cd's waveform in sound forge and noticed it was squashed to death "literally".

The peaks were cut off of every wave form.

Yet this cd still sounded "better" (not just louder) to me than any one of my own mixes.

Which made me question some things.

1. Am I just lacking in experience?

2. Am I lacking because I don't have more exspensive equipment?

3. Your mixes are fine but that so called mastering you did sucks!

4. My sound is better than the cd that I used for a reference and I don't know it. (I doubt this one)

5. 1,2, & 3 but not 4.


OK I'm ready for the abuse that comes with asking questions like these fire away.

 

[Massive Master]

I'd have to say most likely it's 5...

There's a lot of time, a team of professionals and swarms of top-flight gear that goes into most pro recordings. Every instrument, every drum, every detail - It's all about stacking pennies to make dollars.

That being said, I have my own reservations about the clipped waveforms - Mastering is getting out of hand. Think of how much better that recording COULD have sounded if it didn't "need" to be squashed to death...

 

[wesley tanner]

performance is an issue that's never reguarded highly enough when it comes down to "how does my mix sound" things... if you don't take the time to have a professional PRODUCE your stuff, and really make the arrangement and performance stunning, the mix will never sound awesome... also take the time to make sure your takes are awesome, not just down and then fuck with them... it's all about the big freakin' picture...

and the gear and experience and team of professionals.

 

[bigwillz24]

My song...
Left Channel Right Channel
Cursor position (Measures & Beats) 1:1.0 1:1.0

Sample value at cursor (dB) -42.780 -42.781

Minimum sample position (Measures & Beats) 43:4.1 38:2.3

Minimum sample value (dB) -0.500 -0.500

Maximum sample position (Measures & Beats) 72:2.2 72:4.2

Maximum sample value (dB) -0.500 -0.500

RMS level (dB) -12.677 -14.150

Average value (dB) -89.705 -88.457

Zero crossings (Hz) 1,058.66 1,245.37

Referenced Song...

Left Channel Right Channel
Cursor position (Measures & Beats) 1:1.0 1:1.0

Sample value at cursor (dB) -11.228 -8.195

Minimum sample position (Measures & Beats) 28:1.3 33:1.0

Minimum sample value (dB) -0.009 -0.009

Maximum sample position (Measures & Beats) 1:1.2 1:3.0

Maximum sample value (dB) -0.009 -0.009

RMS level (dB) -7.018 -7.709

Average value (dB) -88.218 -Inf.

Zero crossings (Hz) 945.98 980.21

 

[Massive Master]

That's ridiculously loud - Is that the average measurement over the whole tune?

Although, RMS level certainly isn't any way to judge sound quality - The fact that the song held together (IF it held together) at that insane volume is definitely a testament to everything that was done from start-to-finish. Don't think that they didn't have a final volume in mind before they started - It's VERY likely that extensive pre-production dictated the sounds and recording/mixing/mastering styles that needed to be used to attain it.

Also keep in mind that many people are comparing recordings made on a $10,000 home setup with recordings that have $30,000 budgets just for pre-production, $200,000 for recording and $20,000 for mastering in studios that may be stocked with millions of dollars in top-quality gear with every last single detail being painstakingly addressed by seasoned professionals.

Bit of a run-on sentence there... Sorry...

And of course, great sounding recordings can be made on modest rigs, but there is no substitute for that same attention to detail. And one could argue that it takes an even better engineer to get comparable results out of lesser equipment. Quality mastering *might* get you the volume, but the recording needs to have the potential to attain that volume.

The point is to do the best you can with what you've got, learning as much as you can along the way.

 

[bigwillz24]

That's ridiculously loud - Is that the average measurement over the whole tune?

Yep!

I hear you with the the cost of pre-production on most albums is more than my entire studio.

It also says alot about some of the people in the clinic.

I think some of the stuff (although most are not the genre I'm normally mixing) in there is quite good, even better than my stuff with less equipment than I currently have.

I can definatley hear myself getting better but I guess I still have a little ways to go.