How important is production quality for you?

C

Ceiiu

New member
I have been trying to master some tracks I made on Live with iZotope 5. I have watched a bunch of tutorials and tips and have myself spend genuinely long hours figuring out what each aspect of the mastering chains do (dynamics, eq, maximizer, etc.) I have reached a certain stage where the production quality sounds OK but still really doesn't satisfy me. I try to be meticulous with mixing as well since I know that is also crucial to mastering. But even after having mixed and mastered for a couple of hours I don't seem to be satisfied with the end result. Some tracks I really want to put on my SoundCloud or Bandcamp. But with that mediocre production quality some part of me still doesn't want to let go without that good production quality.

So with these issues plaguing my mind I was reading an issue of Beat Magazine that I bought from Berlin where an article talks about production quality in the new age. To summarize, the article argues that nowadays producers only care about production quality and not actual musical quality. Music becomes a product, something to consume, without really being moved, people only use it to consume. The Internet raises musical output but also diminishes musical diversity. When every track has the same sound/production quality they just all sound the same - almost uniform. In contrast, the article argues, some really low production quality records (there was mention of Cure for instance) were artistically unique because of their muddy or distorted quality. The article even mentions of Interstellar and how its soundtrack was meant to overshadow the sound of dialogue in the film. Nolan wanted to convey the chaos and complexity in space with such a daring step on sound quality.

This makes me conflicted. I really do care more about musical/artistic quality than just sound quality but I also want my music to be like I envision it to be. I guess I am just frustrated that I can't master and mix well so I am trying to convince myself that it's OK to release something of low sound quality.

Do you think that's wrong? I am just really confused and would like to know what the FP community thinks on this.
 
Haha true, it's just hard to make up one's mind sometimes. By the way I checked out your Soundcloud. I really love those Cowboy Bebop remixes!
 
the problem with the article is that composer/performer and producer have become conflated into a single entity when in the past they were likely to be separate yet equal entities in the process:

hardly anyone plays an instrument in some genres so there is no understanding of the need to be as good as you can be before you press the record button

add to that that quantisation is overused (still - it was overused 30 years ago and is still heavily overused) and you get robotic, moronic clichés being passed off as music (again, this was true 30 years ago as well)

production quality should never be the primary objective in a recording project, artistic quality should be with production quality as good as it can be running a close second in my opinion
 
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When I first started out, I focused heavily on production quality. Getting my mixing ability as good as I could and learning the ropes with my daw. Of course to this day, I'm still learning something new every day.

But as I got a little more experience under me, I started to focus on how I could improve my musical structures, notes, rhythms, etc. I guess I'm a little backwards in the sense that I'm focusing more on music theory stuff now than I have in the past.

I believe that production quality has a limit when determining how great your music will sound. As the old saying goes, you can't polish a turd. Artistic quality is the unique trait that makes everybody's music different and the more you hone in on it, the better your end result will be. But if you're making music 100% on your own, you need both.
 
Finding a good mix is kind of a psychological thing, it may never be good enough for you. But, I believe you can have a decent mix by focusing on sound quality/selection, EQ(cutting) and panning. I say decent because if you're a beatmaker (not sure if you are just a beatmaker) you don't have to have a great mix. Most people when they listen to beats don't even notice the mix, I play beats for a lot of people right off my daw without any mixing and they still dig it. Just make it sound good enough for people to enjoy. Mixing takes years to perfect so don't let it stress you out. If an artist wants to do anything serious with your production they would get an engineer to mix everything down. I wouldn't worry about it much.
 
Finding a good mix is kind of a psychological thing, it may never be good enough for you. But, I believe you can have a decent mix by focusing on sound quality/selection, EQ(cutting) and panning. I say decent because if you're a beatmaker (not sure if you are just a beatmaker) you don't have to have a great mix. Most people when they listen to beats don't even notice the mix, I play beats for a lot of people right off my daw without any mixing and they still dig it. Just make it sound good enough for people to enjoy. Mixing takes years to perfect so don't let it stress you out. If an artist wants to do anything serious with your production they would get an engineer to mix everything down. I wouldn't worry about it much.
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Alright thanks that does make more sense you're right. I play guitar so I try to incorporate that into most of my tracks too. Those tracks with guitar are hard to mix. As you mentioned, when I just produce beats I don't really have to do that much mixing.
 
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When I first started out, I focused heavily on production quality. Getting my mixing ability as good as I could and learning the ropes with my daw. Of course to this day, I'm still learning something new every day.

But as I got a little more experience under me, I started to focus on how I could improve my musical structures, notes, rhythms, etc. I guess I'm a little backwards in the sense that I'm focusing more on music theory stuff now than I have in the past.

I believe that production quality has a limit when determining how great your music will sound. As the old saying goes, you can't polish a turd. Artistic quality is the unique trait that makes everybody's music different and the more you hone in on it, the better your end result will be. But if you're making music 100% on your own, you need both.
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Haha yeah I started with music theory first because I have been playing guitar for 6 years. And I have also learned lots about musical scales, movements in classical music and such so I am tired of that. Music theory is good only to a certain point I feel like. After that point I don't really think about the theory as much. It just becomes very intuitive.
 
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the problem with the article is that composer/performer and producer have become conflated into a single entity when in the past they were likely to be separate yet equal entities in the process:

hardly anyone plays an instrument in some genres so there is no understanding of the need to be as good as you can be before you press the record button

add to that that quantisation is overused (still - it was overused 30 years ago and is till heavily overused) and you get robotic, moronic clichés being passed off as music (again, this was true 30 years ago as well)

production quality should never be the primary objective in a recording project, artistic quality should be with production quality as good as it can be running a close second in my opinion
Click to expand...

Definitely you're right. I play guitar so I use that in most of my tracks. And as you mention; when you play an instrument you try to perfect it. I retake a recording when I feel like the rythm was off or I played a wrong chord. So an instrument does really boost the musicianship in the song as you say.
 
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It totally depends for me. Some tracks I work on I just want to get out on my SC so I can listen to them and don't really care much about the quality. Others I get super into and have to perfect them as best I can (still not very good as of now, but hey!)
 
If you have good monitoring you can mix good enough however you want. But mastering is the very important part many people miss. Finding good mastering engineer could be hard, but when you find one he/she can really teach you how to mix better, mastering-friendly, and you can have much better final result. That was what I did couple years ago... now my mixes are much better. Well, I mix for clients only, but still.
 
@Ceiiu - don't be to hard on yourself. I am pretty sure every producer here and in the rest of the world has been through this stage of their production at some point. At the end of the day, music will never be perfect. There will always be room for improvement. So you have to draw a line and make a decision on whether or not what your mixing, master, or both is worth spending a lot of time on. You don't want to ever get in the habit of putting in all the hours and never releasing anything because you will put yourself in a position that will discourage you all together. So create, make some edits, mix, master if needed…and move on to the next project. You will get better at it as you go. Honestly, if you have some extra cash, just hire out a mastering engineer. So you can just focus on creating your music and let a engineer that solely masters handle that. Have you ever heard of sage audio? Google them and check out their site. They have professional industry quality at a fair price. But if you don't want to go that route, try referencing your tracks to top 5 music artist's tracks of your liking, when mixing and mastering your music. You won't get the exact same frequency sound quality as them because, lets be real here…9 times out of ten…they are use top notch pro gear. Unless you have the same setup it's not going to happen. So don't over work yourself. But if your in the ball park of where their quality is then hey…your good to go. Stay encouraged and keep creating music.
 
@Knoqx.com Thanks a lot for the advice! For now I will just try to create songs/tracks as engaging as possible and try to do my best with the mastering. I need to focus on my musical style and quality for now. You're right I shouldn't be to perfectionist in that sense. It would just put me off. I will definitely check out sage audio thanks a lot for that tip as well.
 
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