Audio Recording

I received an email from a client about recording quality:

Hi Emerson,
How good do the recordings have to be in order for you to work with? I’ve been trying to get a good recording of the vocals and beatboxing. Do you have any idea, why when I tried to stack of the vocals, the static increases. Is it the software I’m using? I notice that when I just do the beatboxing by itself, there’s no static. Weird? Please help.

I get several emails similar to this and it would be nice to write up a post so that all interested readers might know how to deal with this recording quality issue.

First, the reader asked this question: How good do the recordings have to be in order for you to work with?

The answer to that is technically simple:

a.) It should be recorded above 16 bits resolution. So if your recording software can record 24 bits, then use that. Higher bit depth offers greater dynamic range which mixers will be comfortable working with. It also translates to great overall recording quality after studio mastering.

b.) The sampling rate at recording should be at minimum 44.1 KHz. Again, if your recording software can record at 44.1 KHz, then use that. If hard disk space is NOT an issue, then you can even use 96 KHz.

c.) It should be recorded in mono. This results to lower file size and better quality. A mixer will be working with mono recordings in order to create a stereo mix down. Read this tutorial on the advantages of recording in mono vs stereo.

Almost all recording software support recording in mono. Therefore following the suggestions in a, b and c above; the technical requirement for recorded wave is at least 24bit/44.1Khz/mono OR 24 bit/96Khz/mono.

d.) It should be the artist best performance and noise-free. Noise-free means you will not hear any hiss, annoying hums, static etc in the recording performance. If the recording contains noise, you should fix the system (maybe it is gear related) that is contributing noise and redo the recording. It is also not advisable to employ extensive noise reduction for the recorded wave as this can also degrade the quality. Noise cannot be 100% eliminated but the key is to make it as minimum as possible compared to the signal level.

e.) If you are not mixing the recordings, you should adjust all recordings to “track to zero” so that all arrangements (which are done by you) will be faithfully reproduced in the mixers software.

Read this post on exporting a mixing session on how to do this.

f.) Do NOT yet apply effects to your recording. This means you won’t be applying any EQ, Compression, panning, delay, etc to the sound wave AFTER recording. Leave it to the sound mixing engineer.

The last inquiry: Do you have any idea, why when I tried to stack of the vocals, the static increases. Is it the software I’m using? I notice that when I just do the beatboxing by itself, there’s no static. Weird?

This is related to the noise-free requirement above. If what you mean by static is noise then try to see if there is noise in your vocal recordings. So if there are 5 vocal takes and each one of these takes has some noise in it, then it will definitely add up when it’s played together.

If you need to learn more about noise reduction, then this post might be helpful: “How to remove noise in digital recordings?”

One way you can solve this problem is to increase the signal to noise ratio as high as possible. To implement this in your recordings, try to:

a.) Minimize the noise contributed by your recording hardware (check for faulty cables, connectors, upgrade less noisy components or gears, etc).
b.) Check if you are not clipping your recordings.
c.) Record at a much decent recording volume (not very low because it will be drowned in noise – results to poor signal to noise ratio).