Editing: The Unsung Hero Of A Good Mix

When it comes to producing quality music in your home studio, most of our attention goes to the recording and mixing process. And for good reason. How you actually capture sound is (obviously) the most critical step to having a great final mix. And of course how you blend (or mix) those tracks together using tools like EQ, compression, and reverb is what truly brings those great recordings to life as a cohesive song. But the part of the process that tends to get overlooked or forgotten entirely, is editing.

Via Stephen Vob Flickr

Do My Tracks Need Editing?

You may be thinking, “If my tracks were recorded great then why should I need to edit anything?”. That’s a fair question. But let me explain why I think the editing phase is the crucial unsung hero of getting a great final mix and then you can decide for yourself whether or not it might help your songs.

When I edit a song I’m looking to accomplish three specific things: correct timing/tuning, composite performances of mulitple takes, and clean up unwanted sounds. Let’s look at those very briefly.

Correcting Timing and Tuning

No matter who good the performance was in the studio, most projects I work on need a little TLC when it comes to tightening up the timing and pitch of a recording. I usually work on the drums to make sure the groove is solid and follows the tempo of the click nicely. I’ll adjust the timing of fills as well in case they were rushed or too slow. Even the slightest tweaking here can go a long way to making your mix sound solid and consistent.

The same is true for timing of bass guitar (making sure it hits with the kick drum) and some guitar or piano parts. I’m mostly looking for notes that are out of time enough that they are distracting. A good mix shouldn’t be plagued with stray notes that take you away from the vibe. And really that last sentence is the reason why I take the time to pitch correct as necessary. I don’t mind notes not being perfect (that’s how people sing anyway), but I don’t want a note to be so flat or sharp that it takes the listener out of the song and back to reality. I’ve already dived into the debate of whether pitch correction is cheating or not so you can read that later if you like.

Comping Takes Together

One of the great beauties (and dangers) of digital recording is the ability and freedom to record as many takes as you need of a performance (say a lead vocal) only to edit them together in the end for the perfect take. If in the recording process you laid down many takes on virtual tracks or playlists you’ll have to take some time to at best sift through them in order to pick the best one for a given section or at worst comp them together to get the desirable performance. You want to do this in the editing phase so that come time to mix  you aren’t searching through audio trying to find the right parts and instead you are making those “right parts” play nice together.

Overall Clean Up

If you pay attention to professional recordings, one thing you’ll notice (although to varying degrees) is how there are no unwanted noises or sounds. For example you don’t hear overly distracting breaths or microphone bleed, or even audible fade ins and outs by guitar parts. What I’m saying is that all the parts come in and out flawlessly just as you would imagine them doing, but that means someone edited out the “real life” of punching in and and recording in general.

Your goal in editing is to clean up these sounds, place appropriate fades, and adjust parts to enter and exit without a trace. Now of course how much you do this is subjective, but you get the idea. It takes behind the scenes work to prepare your tracks for the mixing phase.

Do Yourself A Favor

No matter how simple your recording may be, do yourself a favor and still edit your tracks before mixing. What I’m saying is, create an editing phase that lies between recording and mixing and give it the time it needs. Before you fire open any plugins or do any automation, listen through your song and think about the above three areas. Is there anything sticking out like a sore thumb? Is this the correct take you want for a given part? Is anything out of time or tune that is catching my attention every time?

Editing is truly the unsung hero behind every great mix. It’s time to start treating with a little respect!