Hear and Identify

Hear and Identify

Finding faults within the track called ‘Bad version’ comparing it to the ‘goodish version’, and giving feedback on ways to improve it and prevent this from happening in the future. I will also be commenting critically on whether the mistakes would affect the tracks success or not

Faults

• In the recording there is a Cough at 0:03.This can be fixed by cropping it out whilst using logic by slicing the area of the audio file you want gone and deleting it, this will remove the cough. Another way you can remove this is to re-record the recording again and this time restrain from coughing as the artist would be warned that the recording is starting because of the 3 metronome beeps. The cough will affect the overall success of the track as it seems unprofessional and will not be taken seriously as the artist did not seem that bothered about a mistake at the bottom.

• In the ‘bad version’ the Bass Velocity levels are lower than in the ‘goodish version’. The bass in the bad version was being overpowered by the other instruments and was not coming through as heavy as it should have. This can be fixed by opening up Piano roll on logic by pressing ‘P’ and then pressing ‘Esc’ to bring up the toolbox, Once the toolbox is opened you selecting the velocity tool and drag it up individually or you can go to ‘transform’ and select ‘fixed velocity’ to make all the MIDI data in the pattern a certain velocity. This would affect the overall success of the track because the instrumental is not mixed properly so when played on professional sound systems it will lack substance and all be distorted. This can be fixed by mixing and mastering the recording properly.

• In the ‘bad version’ there is Popping at 0:19. This can be fixed by buying a pop shield or by lowering the microphones sensitivity to the vocals. This will make the recording clearer and remove other sounds as well as the popping. The popping of the vocals makes it seem unprofessional as the proper equipment is not used and therefore it is hard to listen and the track would not be deemed successful.

• In the ‘bad version’ there is an Out of rhythm segment at 0:22. This can be fixed by re-recording the vocals. Compared to the ‘goodish version’ the vocal is out of rhythm and sounds dodgy it just doesn't fit right and whenever that error is playing it is noticeable and makes the whole production seem unprofessional.

• In the ‘bad version’ the Panning is done wrong and the song comes through my predominantly on the right side this can be fixed by changing the mastering output panning to ‘0’ this will mean that the song will be distributed equally from both headphone sides. This will make the track unsuccessful as it would not get any attention as proper attention was not paid to the final product and it lacks professionalism.

• In the ‘bad version’ the Ending is not cut properly, This means that the vocal just suddenly cuts off meaning that no fade out was created and this can result in clipping if a speaker goes from sound to nothing. To prevent this fade ins and fade outs should be used at every new vocal file to make sure that the whole piece comes together and the final product is of a good standard.

• In the ‘bad version’ there is a Static noise at 0:44 this could have been caused by wires being removed while the file is being bounced to a wav. Or mp3. This would result in a surge being passed through the interface affecting the output sound. Or it could be caused by a mobile phone passing signals by the microphone and being picked up this can be fixed by removing the audio by slicing it and deleting it. This was not an obvious mistake it took me several listens to find the mistake, but if it was listening to on a professional system the mistake would be very obvious so it would not be professional to leave the static sound.

• In the ‘bad version’ the track is Unmixed (muffled voice, Vocals not standing out) this can be fixed by mixing down the track and EQing the vocals so that they stand out and the whole track comes together this is because without it the track sounds unprofessional. With the track being cleared it will be easier for the listener and make it more of a smoother listen rather than having to distinguish what each word is. So for the track to be considered successful the track would have to be mixed down properly.  

• In the ‘bad version’ the Breathing between vocals is not cut out this could be successful if it was an acoustic version or something live but because this is meant to be a studio recorded track it would have to be removed. This could be fixed by removing the breathing individually by selecting the area of the audio file where the breathing is present and deleting it. It is a time consuming bit of work but for a studio sound this would have to be done to sound as professional as possible. The breathing wouldn't affect the success of the track because it is a minor mistake and shouldn't affect the overall quality of it.

• In the ‘bad version’ the backing vocals are too high and are not backing vocals there are probably the same decibels as the main vocals. This can be fixed by turning down the overall volume of the track. As the backing vocals do not sound like backing vocals it sounds unprofessional and this mistake would affect the overall success of the track because a successful track would have a set volume for backing vocals and main vocals.

• In the ‘bad version’ the instrumental ended early and abruptly which was a shock to listen to as the instrumental carries on in most popular and successful songs. Compared to the ‘goodish version’ it ends early and possibly before the vocals end, this can be fixed by added on more of the instrumental in logic by dragging the MIDI data over or if it is not a MIDI Data then it can be played again until it fits nicely over the vocals and plays for a short time after the vocals actually finish.

• In the ‘bad version’ there is background noise at 0:02 this is because the audio file has not been cut to the start of the singing. This will affect the success of the track because this is a mistake that makes the whole product sound unprofessional. The background noise can be removed by slicing and removing the point at which the noise is heard and then the noise will not be heard and the track will seem professional.