ANSWERING THE QUESTION ABOUT HOME MUSIC RECORDING: Why do your recordings sound like ass?
It’s a big question – and an even bigger thread; it goes on for over 60 pages in the forum devoted to the Reaper digital audio workstation program. But whatever recording program you use, you will learn much reading it. I’m assuming the fellow who started it off and contributed the majority of the initial posts is an active or former professional engineer or mixer. In any case, he definitely knows his stuff. And this moment from him on page nine of the thread cracked me up:
“An explorer is deep in the jungle, being led by a native guide. They are hacking their way through dense tropical growth when suddenly drums start pounding in the distance. The explorer freezes. His guide reassures him: “no worry. drums good.” “The drums are good? No danger?” “Yes, drums good. Keep going.”
The explorer takes a deep breath and they trudge on. As the jungle gets thicker and denser, and dusk starts to fall, the drums continue, pounding louder, ever closer. The explorer asks again, “Are you sure those drums are okay… nothing to be afraid of? It sounds like they’re getting louder.”
“No. no worry. Drums good.” They continue on.
As night falls and they start to break camp, the drums become even louder, more intense. The explorer cannot shake a sense that they spell impending doom, but his guide continues to reassure him: “drums good.”
Then, just as darkness settles most completely over the jungle, the drums suddenly stop. The guide’s face goes ashen, a look of horror in his eyes! The explorer asks, “What? What’s the matter? The drums stopped– is that bad?”
The guide responds, “When drums stop, very bad! Bad thing coming! No good for anybody!”
“What!? What is it? What happens after the drums stop!?!”
The guide responds: “Bass solo.”
I’d say “read the whole thing,” but there’s a lot here to take in, from room acoustics to microphone selection to musical timing. (That riff above on bass solos led to a whole series of posts on the techniques professional studio bass players use to make a pop song work, for example, and why they differ from the way an average electric guitarist flails around on bass when he switches over*.) But if recording your own music at home is an interest of yours on any level – read the whole thing, or at least the first third before thread drift starts to slowly kick in.
* Yes, very much guilty as charged on too many occasions, alas.