No condenser mic? No mixing board? No trouble!
Stores have minimum requirements for audio quality on releases and will reject releases that they consider to be poorly recorded. Our partners do understand that not every release will be perfectly recorded; if a release is a live recording of a punk gig, for example, the audio quality isn’t going to be as good as a studio recording of classical music. In general, however, try and avoid the following:
Recording issues
- Clipped/peaking audio
- Unclear/muffled/muddy recordings
- Excess hum/buzz/hiss
- Noticeable echoes from the recording space
Encoding and mastering issues
- Heavily compressed audio
- Audio that is too quiet to be heard properly, or too loud to be comfortable
- Audio that skips
- Tracks that have more than eight seconds of silence at the start or end
We know not everybody has a soundproofed recording studio and a condenser mic, but improving your recording quality not only makes it less likely that your release will be rejected, it also means your release will be a better product.
If it’s something you’re struggling with, there’s lots of resources available online for helping you improve this part of your music. Here are some RouteNote blog posts that might help –
How to fix audio clipping
How to export high quality audio on FL Studio
The best audio compressor plugin for mastering – and it’s FREE
The best audio gear for mixing music
Looking for high quality samples? Check out our sample subscription platform RouteNote Create!
Check out the full RouteNote Style Guide here!
If you have any further queries, feel free to get in touch with us!
See also:
What if I accidentally upload the same release twice?
Can I upload an excerpt?
What is not accepted when formatting my titles?