![Recording Studio Avoid These Three Mistakes and Your Indie Record Will Come Out Much Better](https://api.sageaudio.com/storage/article/uploads/2014-02-indie-recording-300x200.png)
With the accessibility of recording technology, making an album on your own has never been easier. You can even promote, sell and distribute your music online from your laptop. However, there are still principles of producing professional sounding music that shouldn't be ignored.
Here are three common mistakes that indie recording artists make:
Quantize Everything
The days of having to perform your music perfectly to make a recording are long gone. Thanks to high-quality samples and MIDI programming software, you’re just one click away from having all of your notes play perfectly in time. However, unless you’re making EDM, this can sometimes be a liability.
No matter how well an instrumentalist can play, there are nuances and imperfections in every human performance that add character. Whether consciously or not, listeners can perceive this and generally prefer it to a perfect MIDI playback. The success of bands like Mumford & Sons, who have a more organic sound, are proof that listeners still want to hear a person–not a computer–playing an instrument.
Rather than quantizing everything, try practicing a little more and give your recording the extra touch of a human performance on at least some of your virtual instrument tracks.
Too Much Processing
Indie recording artists can sometimes get a little too happy with their plugins. Whether it’s overcompressed to the point of having no dynamic life or it’s too much reverb to the point of sounding hokey, laying off the plugins a bit can sometimes be your best bet.
Take the time when you're tracking to get the sound you want. Play with mics and positioning. Do multiple takes. Go with the one that captures you. Rather than using plugins as a way to fix a track, try to think of them as being there to highlight the magic of what’s already in the recording. Remember, less is more.
Do Your Own Mastering
There’s a reason that virtually all major recording artists hire someone outside to master their records. Mastering is a complex skill and working knowledge that requires high end audio equipment, monitors, an acoustically-treated space, natural talent and a lot of experience.
Mastering puts the finishing touches on your album and can often make the difference between a bright, lively sound one that falls flat on the floor. Time and again, we get projects from clients who tried to master their own music only to eventually decide to hire us.
With all of the time and hard work you've put into recording and mixing your own music to get it to 80%, you can’t afford to not hire someone to master your record and add that final 20%.
If you record your own music, you’ll likely save yourself some time and end up with a better sounding mix by avoiding these three common mistakes. And if you do decide to hire someone to do your mastering, don’t hesitate to give us a ring!
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
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3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
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5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
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7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
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