If you have ever worked in production, you’ve heard the phrase, “Oh, we’ll fix that in post (as in post-production).” From lighting issues and color changes to framing and audio issues, there’s always a desire to fix things later.
The problem with this line of thinking is that some things just don’t work in post-production (or farther down the signal). I have been tempted many times to just use the take and not try to fix it in the moment, and that has almost always resulted in more work. If the color of the video capture is wrong, it’s worth taking a minute to fix it. If there is an issue with line noise or hiss, it’s worth the 5 minutes to check cables and resolve before you capture a 30 minute conversation or message.
Recently I was at one of the campuses where I am currently working as the Technical Production Director, and I was in a proverbial battle with a snare drum sound. I was filling in for someone at the campus and was trying to get the snare to sound the way I like it in the mix, and I was…. Struggling. It was not doing what I wanted, and I was starting to get frustrated. My EQ changes were not working like they normally do, and the compressor was not helping. I was annoyed and started to wonder if I was actually just terrible at mixing and if I should pack it up and head home (ok, that was a little dramatic, but I was annoyed and confused). After rehearsal, I remembered my own principle that I need to FIX IT IN PRE. The eq section of the console is not the first place I should start when it comes to a snare drum. You need to start at the source.
So I walked up to the drum set and found the snare mic pointed 90 degrees down toward the floor. Here is a terrible sketch that I drew of what it looked like (no gen-AI here. Just terrible drawings)
In general, snare drum mics should not be pointed down 90 degrees toward the outside of the drum. I felt like the drum was hollow and had no life or definition, and that was literally because what I was capturing was a non-optimal image of the drum.
I did the most important move I made all day, and I just… moved the mic to the right position.
I was back to the races and took two minutes to clean up the snare and went along with the day.
I spent way too much time fighting with the snare sound during rehearsal and then fixed the problem in seconds. The real input was the problem the whole time. All my knowledge about the console, how EQ works, snare reverbs, compression, etc did not matter because the source tone was bad. Tech work can feel like magic, but most of the time it is just a bunch of small intelligent decisions made over time. When there is a breakdown in that system, you get issues that are amplified down the line.
No matter how far along you are in your journey, it is worth considering the “simple” things before you start using your big brain to solve problems. Is the mic pointed the right direction? Does the acoustic guitar have a fresh 9v battery? Is the guitar amp too loud? Do you have proper gain structure?
I could share numerous stories of forgetting this principle. The goal is not to be perfect; the goal is to return to the principle faster the next time. Waste less time chasing the problem and step back to see what might be going on.
The best part about this advice? It does not cost any money. You don’t need another piece of gear or an item to potentially solve massive issues in your workflow. If your drums sound bad, find someone to tune them, put the mics in a good place, and then move to taste. If your inputs sound bad on your live stream, try getting proper gain structure and clean signals. If your video feed looks bad, work on your lighting and color correction. Fixing it in post just creates future problems and rarely works out for the best.
Fix it before it gets amplified and watch your issues diminish.