What are the best practices for monitoring and evaluating audio production quality and impact?

As an audio editor, my quality criteria include accuracy, clarity and compliance. My impact criteria focus on enhancing communication, emotional engagement, audience relevance, user experience, and meeting project objectives. I deliver exceptional audio content that leaves a lasting impression.

Effective audio recording necessitates meticulous gain staging. This practice starts with precise fader metering on the mixing console and metering plugins. Additionally, considering the proximity effect's impact on gain staging decisions is crucial. The proximity effect, influenced by microphone distance from the sound source, introduces sound pressure level variations. These factors are pivotal in determining suitable dB levels for optimal audio recording. By adhering to these professional gain staging practices, you can establish an ideal audio recording setup that balances sound source nuances and headroom for post-processing and mixing.

Trust your ears, making certain that the bass resonates the chest of the intended audience. This cannot be achieved with headphones, so some wattage applied to a nice room should demonstrate the intended effect, or what you need to add/detract from the EQ. A spectrum analyzer is crucial for testing areas of the room, allowing wider effect, providing visual reference throughout the rooms' "dead spots".

Without getting into the nerdy production specifics that we audio producers and sound engineers pay excessive attention to, I would advise a podcast launcher or anyone entering the audio space to consider content they already love and listen to. You probably already have some idea of how you would like yours to sound. Some references. Budget as much as you can afford to bring a professional audio producer/engineer onboard. A restauranteur achieves their vision by hiring the best chef within budget. If you desire to be in the business of audio, find someone who understands how to cook your audio to perfect taste.

Before you start working in any audio file, you must think these 3 things: - How does it sound raw? - what’s missing? - how can you improve it? This 3 elements are important to any audio since we have to have in consideration how; when and who recorded this. Capturing the best possible will always be the greatest teacher. Many times while doing mixing or editing I realized how many things and time I could’ve saved if recorded properly. When it comes to the missing step, is about the feeling and how the emotion cuts into you. Does It has the desired sound and emotion? That’s important. Improvement is always part of the editing and quality. We all have different ways to approach things!

I find that monitoring audio quality throughout the production process is essential for ensuring a high-quality final product. This involves equipment inspection and room optimization in pre-production, sound checks and continuous level monitoring during recording, and comprehensive editing, mixing, and mastering in post-production. Quality control measures include A/B testing, frequency analysis, and phase/stereo imaging checks. Multiple listening tests and a final team review are crucial. Storing files in lossless formats and testing playback compatibility during distribution are also important. Continuous feedback from listeners and team members is encouraged to drive ongoing improvements in audio quality for future productions.

Knowing what the various defects sound like is an important skill to develop by training the ears however post-production can also help negate some of the defects that is missed while in the pre-production phase.

It is also essential to check your mixes on multiple playback systems. This means you must reference your mix not only on your studio monitors but also on earbuds, headphones, home stereo, Sonos speakers, car speakers, etc. Doing so gives you more confidence that the mix will translate well in different listening environments.

Prior to publishing, I make sure to perform meticulous sound checks, checking the optimization of recording settings, and real-time audio level monitoring. For me, quality control encompasses the use of reference tracks and audio analysis tools. After publishing, I like to conduct playback tests across a range of devices, actively seeking feedback from listeners, employing audio analysis software, and verifying audio integrity on distribution platforms. This approach guarantees that audio maintains its excellence throughout the entire production and distribution lifecycle.

I like to spot test my audio with random people who share feedback on the quality. For example, I've played audio tracks to people who gave me feedback that the recording was too soft (or too loud), or X, Y, or Z issues, so getting strangers' gut reactions can be helpful because they are not emotionally invested in your success and tend to give more unbiased feedback (which is good!)

What really worked for me was getting the room treated to get the sound I needed. A sound room will allow you to hear the music sonically correct.