Must read for ALL Producers and Artist!

OK class, your assignment for today is to put your 2 favorite commercial CDs in the CD player along with your CD you have made. Now take out a sheet of paper and write down the differences you hear between a polished commercial track and yours. If you are a beginner to the craft this is an easy assignment--there may be so many differences that you might not know where to start. For the advanced home producer/engineer you may already be very close. Now it's time to take it the final mile. Here's my list of issues with my audio (see I get to participate in this too).

My list of issues:

Issues Novices Typically Face

Excessive bass at times, some inconsistency Not as smooth as commercial Mixes, especially in the mid range Not as punchy as commercial music Inconsistent imaging between different songs and sometimes in the same song Doesn't sound as good in the car as it does on studio monitors Vocals not as clear or sweet Mid range is harsher, more grainy Image is neither as wide or as 3 dimensional as some commercial mixes

Not as loud as commercial tracks even though it was compressed Track is noisy, harsh, hurts ears at high volumes Weak Bass, weak kick, disappearing kick, or it's too boomy and it drowns the rest out. Drums can't drive the track unless they are too loud One dimensional, flat sound, even though instruments were panned Everything runs together into a mushy, indistinct, sound Unintelligible, buried vocals Sounds "way different" on the car, boomy bass, no presence, muffled Balance between channels if off and it changes throughout the song

Must go to event