Can you share a time when you had to rescue a poorly recorded track? What steps did you take to improve its quality?

Rescuing poorly recorded tracks is something I have to do every day. It’s very important to be flexible with the solution you use to improve the material and sometimes, it can be a fun challenge to get creative. For instance, I really enjoy running guitar DIs through my actual tube amplifiers to get a better sound, especially if the client didn’t have the right room to record a proper amp. It’s also possible to add more life to drums by running them through my echo chamber to get a bigger sound when needed. These are only a couple of examples, but the possibilities are endless.

I have had many badly recorded songs that I have worked on it the 600 or so projects I have done. 2 ideas save me in these situations.

1 - If the initial track a buyer send you is very bad, (if their vocals or tracks they have recorded themselves are bad and they still expect you to use them) usually the buyer has enough sense to know that the end result will be affected by this. The important thing is to set their expectations right from the very start of the project. You have the right to say, "Your vocals are bad, the end result is going to be affected by this." I have had 1 buyer in all my history, whose mind was too narrow to comprehend that after I had done my work the song still sounded bad because his vocals unsalvageble and still blamed me. 

2 - You can trick the buyer with FX. If something is recorded badly, make it look like it was done that way on purpose. This track has saved me many times. The worst the song, the more creative you have to get with the effects you use.

I have a buyer who always records his track on his phone—and he even records his vocals without listening to the beat! So, you can imagine what I go through! But honestly, it’s helped me improve my techniques for aligning vocals to the beat. I often have to make precise cuts and splits to sync everything up, which has taught me a lot about patience.

To improve the overall quality, I also apply EQ, compression, saturation, limiting, and more to give the vocals a fuller sound despite the raw recording.

Here's a quick breakdown of my process:
 

• Aligning the vocals with the beat properly.
   
• Making multiple splits and cuts to ensure the timing is just right.
   
• Since it’s a phone recording, I use EQ, compression, saturation, and limiting to bring out the best in the vocals.

Once, I had to rescue a podcast episode recorded with heavy background noise and a muffled voice. I started by using noise reduction to isolate and minimize the background noise, then applied EQ to boost the vocal frequencies and bring clarity to the speaker's voice. Finally, I used gentle compression to balance out the volume and make the track sound more polished and consistent.

A couple of months ago I received tracks that were not recorded in the best quality or were out of time and usually or almost every time I try to fix it manually, that is to say in terms of timing I collect phrase by phrase and leave them on time and as for the noises I do a frequency cleaning process eliminating the unwanted frequencies and the unwanted noises and increasing those pleasant frequencies of the instrument or the voice and then from there I start the balance process.

I had this experience with a vocalist who recorded a song on his phone while away on holiday—pretty rough quality with background noise and distortion. I cleaned it up by using noise reduction to remove the background static and applied some EQ to balance out the frequencies and make his voice shine. After that, I remixed it, added some elements to really bring the track to life. Fast forward, and the track’s blown up with over half a million views on YouTube now. It’s wild to see what a little cleanup and creative remixing can do!

I’ve had my fair share of rescue missions with poorly recorded tracks! One time, I got this vocal track that sounded like it was recorded in a tin can—tons of background noise, harsh reflections, and barely any clarity. It was a mess.

Here’s what I did to salvage it:

Noise Reduction: First, I used iZotope RX to tackle the constant background hiss. I isolated a noise profile from the quiet sections and applied a gentle noise reduction. The trick was not to overdo it, so I kept it light to avoid making the vocals sound robotic.

De-reverb: The room reverb was awful, so I used the De-reverb module in RX to dial down the reflections. Again, subtlety was key—I reduced the room sound enough to clean it up, but left just enough to keep the vocal from sounding unnatural.

EQ: Next, I used an EQ to carve out some of the nasty frequencies. There was a lot of boxy low-mid mud, so I cut that out. I also brightened the highs a little to bring back clarity, but not so much that the harshness returned.

Multiband Compression: The vocal had some wild dynamics, so I used a multiband compressor to even things out. This helped control the rogue frequencies that were jumping out, especially in the high mids.

Saturation: To give the vocal a bit more warmth and character, I added a touch of analog-style saturation. This helped mask some of the remaining imperfections while giving the vocal a bit more presence.

Final Polish: After that, I applied a light touch of reverb (ironically) to make the vocal sit better in the mix. I wanted to replace that terrible room sound with something smoother and more controlled.

By the end, the vocal wasn’t perfect, but it was miles better—clean, balanced, and usable. Sometimes it’s all about small, incremental improvements to get the track in a better spot without overprocessing it.

I once had to fix a dialogue track recorded in a noisy environment with background hum and excessive reverb. Here’s how I improved it:

Assess the Issues: Identified the background noise, reverb, and artifacts in the track.

Noise Reduction: Used iZotope RX 11’s Spectral De-noise and De-hum modules to clean up the background noise while maintaining clarity.

Reverb Reduction: Applied RX 11’s De-reverb module to reduce the echo and focus the dialogue.

EQ and Compression: Enhanced clarity with EQ and used gentle compression to balance the volume.

Manual Touch-ups: Made manual adjustments and fades to smooth out problem areas.

The final result was a clear, professional-sounding track suitable for production.