Many of the artists I mix and master are home producers and songwriters who record outside of a studio without a professional engineer. Some of these musicians get really great results. Others have a long way to go. Sometimes I’ll get beautiful stems to work with and sometimes I’ll get audio that is less than ideal which makes it very difficult to get the song up to my mixing standards. I’m going to go over some of the most common mistakes that happen in the production phase before a musician hands their song over for professional mixing.

Bad performances

There’s nothing worse than a rushed recording session. The beauty of being a home-produced artist is that you’ll be able to take as much time as you need to get a great take. Sometimes I’ll receive songs with performance mistakes like pitchy vocals, instruments that aren’t totally on the proper groove, bad guitar playing, etc.

Obviously a performance doesn’t need to be absolutely perfect to be beautiful. Flaws and imperfections are part of a great song. But if something seems off to you and is bothersome, fix it in the production phase because that’s when it’s easiest to deal with. Mix engineers have plenty of tricks to help out with various problems but there’s nothing better than having a great take from the start.

Listen to your instinct when something is slightly bothering you. Re-record it till you actually love it. You want to commit to takes that you are fully happy with. Don’t expect it to be fixed once the song is mixed and mastered. Many things can’t be fixed in later phases and can cause a compromise in overall quality.

Badly recorded audio

The problem could be your cheap gear, an ugly-sounding room, or just a bad recording technique. Sometimes bad sounds good. But sometimes bad is just bad. There’s a difference between the two and it takes a good ear with good musical taste to know the difference.

Invest in gear. If you’re on a low budget, invest in one good mic preamp and a cheap, but quality mic like a Shure SM57. Many albums have been made with mostly SM57s. A decent affordable preamp like the Focusrite ISA or a good audio interface with built-in microphone preamps will go a long way.

You’ll still need to deal with many other aspects. Make your room a little nicer to record in by hanging cheap packing blankets on the walls or buying some affordable studio foam. These investments can help reduce abrasive, subtle echos and make a vibe that is warmer and tighter.

Basic recording techniques must also be learned. There’s a lot of info online. I have many informational articles on this site. There’s also plenty out there on Youtube, Gearspace, and Tape Op. Check out these resources. You just need to understand the basics. There’s a lot of overly-complex information on the internet that can confuse a beginner. Keep it simple and get a good sound from the get go.

Sample choices

A lot of music that I mix isn’t technically recorded at all but built entirely in the computer. Electronic music, hip hop, and a lot of other genres these days rely entirely on drum samples, synthesizers, and virtual instruments.

Use your ears. Use your instinct. Make sure you are using sounds and samples that you actually love. If something is bothering you then change it. Always make sure you’re fixing the problem at the source instead of waiting for your mix engineer to do something with it. You’ll end up with a final product that is much closer to what you expected.

Find great quality drum samples and high quality virtual instruments. Splice can be a great place to start to find a small group of great drum samples that match the style you’re aiming for. Start with quality sounds if you want a quality song.

Unedited takes

Similar to a bad performance, a bad edit or no editing can be the difference between a really great take and one that needs extra love. The most common tracks I receive from my clients that need editing are vocals. Check your work. If a word is slightly off, move it on beat. If it is too quiet or too loud, fix it. Learn how to use the audio editor in your DAW. Learn how to cut out a word or syllable and slide it on beat. Learn how to adjust clip gain.

One of the biggest issues happens when background vocals or harmonies are not exactly lined up with the lead vocal. This causes a rhythmic smear that lacks impact. The solution is to first get your lead vocal take edited exactly how you like it. Then go through each background vocal track and line up the syllables to the lead vocal track. This will create a tight, cohesive vocal take.

Obviously if the off beat vocals are part of your unique style, feel free to lean into that. The point is to check each audio track for potential issues that can be fixed with editing. Make the changes until there isn’t anything bothering you anymore. This can definitely take a trained ear so learn to listen critically.

Lack of layering and doubling

You can add a lot of production value by doubling certain instrument performances. I don’t mean duplicating the actual track. I mean recording a second take over the first take. Doubling takes is most common with lead and background vocals. When done correctly, it creates a powerful thickness that sounds much more professional and expensive than a single take on it’s own.

It’s also interesting to make multiple takes of the same instrument and pan them in different areas for extra width or a wall-of-sound effect. This doesn’t have to be reserved just for vocals. Guitars and synths can benefit from this as well.

I don’t recommend too much doubling for songs that are really busy. But if you feel like the song is lacking weight then it might be a good idea to try this out. Start with vocals and your main instruments. Sometimes just one extra layer can change the whole sound in a pleasing way.

Overproducing and overwriting

Sometimes you’ll want to keep writing and layering new parts on a song. This maximal approach can work for some genres and be a detriment to others. Of course this is a matter of taste. Know your core instruments. The core sounds are the ones that create the body and the lead rhythms and melodies of the song. These are usually drums, bass, vocals and the main rhythmic instrument like a synth or guitar. Of course these can be different depending on the style of music.

When you start to feel like you might be writing too many new parts or crowding the song. Mute some of the non-essential instruments for just one small section. You might find that the new layers work great at some points but not others. Having a lot of extra parts isn’t inherently a bad thing but knowing exactly when to use them effectively is really important.

Knowing when to stop writing is also important. Sometimes as musicians we are insecure with the basic components of the song. Many listeners connect with more simple arrangements. You might have just been listening to your own song too long to really know how strong it is at it’s most basic. This is a good time to take a break or start muting the busy parts at strategic points in the song.

Just be aware when you’re doing too much. Trusting your original arrangement is always a good rule. But if something seems too simple, trust yourself and follow through with more writing to make it fit your vision. If a song seems too complicated, it might be.

Obsessing and zooming in too far

So far I’ve mentioned a lot about paying attention to the details and being a good critical listener. But you can go too far with it. I’ve had clients that spent a lot of effort trying to remove a tiny little sound that no regular listener would ever notice. It’s great to fix issues that are bothering you but if you’ve been working on a song too long, you might be hearing it differently than other people. You might be looking too closely.

The best remedy for this is to take a week off or more from listening to it. If you don’t have that much time just take as long of a break as you can. Another remedy is to listen at an appropriate volume. Listening to overly loud music will change how your ears perceive it and you’ll start to detect artifacts that are really just part of the normal song texture. A good listening volume is just above a conversational speaking level.

Not using reference tracks or using them wrong

Reference tracks can be very valuable. When used correctly they can inform you of deficiencies in your own music. If you’re not a detail-oriented audio nerd that’s fine. The point is to at least get your song in context with the songs you admire.

Some key points to get the most of a reference track:

Put the reference track in the production software (DAW) that you’re working in. Make sure it is routed to the speaker outputs directly and not through your current master channel. The master channel is part of your current song, you want the reference to skip that and go directly to your ears so it is just the pure sound of the music.

Make sure your reference track is turned down to match the volume of your current song. Loud songs will seem different than quieter ones. They will often sound “better” subconsciously. Make sure the volumes match since your reference track has most likely already been mastered.

And finally, don’t try to copy the song. There are a thousand different choices made in an individual recording that change how it sounds. Own your own unique sound and choices. Listen for the sonic and style qualities in the reference that you enjoy. Listen to the overall color of the song. Do you have enough bass in yours? Is your kick drum too loud? Are your vocals loud enough and do they have too much reverb?

Listen for general rules to help you get your song in the same neighborhood as your reference but don’t try to make an exact copy, you’ll lose your mind.

Overcompression!

This is the single biggest issue I deal with when mixing home-produced artists. My advice is to not worry about compression at all unless you know exactly how it works. Compression cannot be undone in a pleasing or effective way. If you do want to use compression please use high quality plug-ins and aim for very subtle, light compression. A little goes a long way. Using heavy compression on each instrument adds up over the course of a song. It can create a claustrophobic, abrasive environment. It might sound good to the novice producer but you’ve really just choked all the life out of the sound. If you’re not an expert, keep compression minimal. If you don’t know what it’s doing, don’t use it! You’ll end up with a much better song in the end.

Boosting instead of cutting

Boosting an EQ or a volume can be a very effective way to bring out a certain aspect of a mix. But cutting things to make room for something else is even more effective and can be a safer way to avoid clipping and abrasive, cheap sounding mixes.

Many amateur producers use boosting as their main EQ method. Boosting is just one half of the equation. Boosting too much can create spikes that don’t appeal to the ear. It can also create boominess or mud in the low end which can make a mix seem crowded.

Use a volume or EQ boost in a subtle, effective way and always do a dry/wet check by switching the plug-in on and off to effectively hear the difference in your changes. Learning to cut, or lower certain frequencies is a great method to create space in a mix.

Too much crap on the mix bus

The mix bus or master channel is the last channel that the whole song runs through before it hits the speakers. It’s best to know exactly what you’re doing when you add a plug-in to this channel.

I do mix with effects on my master channel but I’m very careful with about how I use them. Most of the issues I hear are from my mastering clients. They’ll send me a song they mixed themselves with common issues like:

The song is too loud. Maximizing your loudest peak to -6db is a great way to avoid clipping and give your mastering engineer plenty of room to work. Do this by selecting ALL the tracks in the mix and turning them down until your master meter hits around -6 (or even -12).

There’s too much compression on the master channel. You compressed it or limited it to make it feel awesome and loud but you really just killed any chance of having it mastered properly. Turn this junk off unless it’s just providing subtle glue.

Bad EQ choice. A master EQ can do some really good stuff but just make sure you know what you’re doing and you trust what you’re hearing. Engineers know their speakers and room very well and have an approach to balancing songs that has been tested and developed over many years or decades. It might be better to trust them on this. Loose the EQ if it’s doing too much. If it’s subtle and providing you with a sound you absolutely love, keep it on.

Distortion and tape simulation. This can sound really cool on the master channel especially in genres that rely on it for aesthetic purposes. Just make sure it lines up with your vision and isn’t adding ugly artifacts. Do the on/off test with each plug-in and make sure you are gaining something more than you’re losing something by keeping it on. When in doubt, keep it subtle or get rid of it altogether. You can always ask your mix or mastering engineer to provide high quality distortion or subtle harmonic warmth to your song.

Generally, my best advice is to keep effects subtle on the master bus. If you’re not sure what’s going on, I would leave the effects off.

Your monitors and headphones stink (sound-blindness)

Invest in some decent gear. You don’t have to spend a fortune but look for reviews of speakers and headphones that mention the word flat. Flat means you can trust them to not be hyped in specific frequencies. This means you’ll be able to trust your work to translate better on multiple systems. You’ll also be able to trust that what you’re hearing is closer to what is actually going on. Of course your room also plays a part, like I mentioned earlier but this is why we have headphones to double check with.

Listen to a lot of music on your speakers and headphones to learn what properly produced music sounds like. A song that was recorded and produced on bad speakers won’t sound too pleasing because the producer was making choices that were masked by the low quality of the gear. It’s like trying to paint a beautiful picture with really bad eyesight and no glasses.

You didn’t let anyone else listen to the song

One of the best things you can do is get other perspectives on your music. It can seem tough at first because we’re all vulnerable with our work. Find a group of trustworthy friends that have good music taste. Send them the music but don’t ask for advice unless you really trust them. A lot of people will naturally tell you if something seems off. Often time asking for advice can stress out a casual music listener and make them look for problems instead of just listening to the song as a whole.

Just the act of sending your song out will make YOU notice the vulnerable elements that might need strengthening. It’s also good to get advice from professional engineers. I do a free mix consultation for first-time clients and only charge a small fee after your first one. So feel free to get in touch if you need a fresh set of ears on your work before you finalize it.

Either way, get some people to hear it. You decide who.

I hope this article provided some ideas and advice on how to produce better music in your home studio. As always, I’m here to mix and master independent artists. Please get in touch if you’d like me to work on your stuff. I’ve got several reviews from former clients posted as well as examples of my work. Thank you.