Initial Car Test

Armed with six of my compositions loaded into the trusty iPod, I took the wheel of my Honda Element and headed down the highway. My buddy Peter, a fine musician and sound technician, advised me to do so every now and again to gain perspective on how the music sounds in consumer speakers.

Good advice. What is full and resonant in Studio Redline comes across as thin and whiny in the car. I compared my work to the mp3 files from a few favorite artists; their music is a quilt of balanced sound that fills every corner of the vehicle with their artwork.

How do they do that?

Admittedly, I am recording on subpar hobby gear. Add to that a complete lack of mixing knowledge and no clue how to master recordings, and you have a fair assessment of my capabilities. If I desire the result of the Redline Project to sound halfway decent when I finish with it, some outside help is definitely needed.

My goal for the week is to find a talented, local recordist and schedule a consultation or two. Bonus points if said recordist offers their time on the cheap. While a maneuver of this sort may blow my intended budget, it would be much worse to leave every aspect of the work to my shaky, unskilled hands.