Broadcast quality - How to meet the criteria

[ElMiguel]

Hello,

My apologies if this has been discussed before, but still haven't quite figured out this term
broadcast quality and why my submissions do not meet this criteria.

I watched a YouTube video from Taxi, though not specifically sure what I'm lacking in my track
in order to meet the criteria of broadcast quality. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_EJa_4Xt8s

The following track was returned not meeting broadcast quality criteria
WAV https://www.dropbox.com/s/7nqyeacct3aft ... s.wav?dl=0
MP3 https://www.dropbox.com/s/e8u7qvvpdl442 ... s.mp3?dl=0

I checked LUFS volume levels and to my knowledge this was within the broadcasting criteria.
The person from the video mentioned cleanly recorded, well balanced mix and balance between instrument & vocal
as key points in a broadcast quality mix. Not sure what I should do in order to get my songs
to that level... What should I be looking to improve?

This was the listing: https://www.taxi.com/listings/S220303PC

[cassmcentee]

Ignore LUFs...
Make the track as loud as possible without distorting it.
Editors will set it to their desired LUFs on their own if it gets used...

[Casey H]

Ignore LUFs...
Make the track as loud as possible without distorting it.
Editors will set it to their desired LUFs on their own if it gets used...

Hey Cass
I've had libraries be very specific at times regarding this and kick back tracks if not in the right range and had to have adjustments made. I'm a non-producer who barely knows what a LUF is, but thought I'd mention that it shouldn't just be totally ignored. Also if it's very loud, bordering on distortion, it could sound bad on different players used for streaming, screening, etc.

Others who know way more than I do about this, could chime in here.

Best,
Casey

[DouglasKnight]

Hey there,

One of the issues with the track you posted may have been the large amount of reverb, on the drums especially, that really washes everything out. You've got a lot of elements going on, which is cool and keeps things interesting, but can make it really challenging to mix. Some things seem can pop out too much, while others can seem buried making it hard for the listener to know what to focus on. Maybe strip out all of the reverbs, get a nice balance and then add the reverbs in little by little. Hope that helps a little anyway. Good luck on this! Doug

[Telefunkin]

Hi, to me the term 'broadcast quality' simply means suitable for broadcast. It doesn't necessarily mean pristine commercial quality, but of sufficient quality to be suitable for TV people to use and acceptable for the audience to hear. That's still pretty nebulous, but by instinct you'd expect everything to be well recorded, well balanced and mixed, and mastered to a reasonable level. The TV editors will have a bucket load of tracks to choose from when spotting them into a show, so your track should sit comfortably with the rest of the pack, not stand out because there are problems with any aspect of it.

Just a few things I noticed when checking out your track..
- the WAV and mp3 versions look different on the display, not sure why but perhaps the drum levels are even higher in the mp3
- from the mp3 display in particular it looks and sounds like there are identical sections that repeat
- 5m:23s is very long for an instrumental cue, 2m to 2m:30s is more typical
- to me the drums totally dominate the mix (perhaps more so in the mp3 version), pushing the horns into the background
- as Doug has already said, the reverb on those drums is washing over everything and diminishing the clarity

My suggestions would include re-balancing the mix to put the drums back in place and using less (or more appropriate levels of) reverb on them, trimming the mix so its shorter and all sections provide something different, and including at least one edit point.

I hope some of that helps, but if you search these forums there's probably many more comments on 'broadcast quality'.

[cosmicdolphin]

To me " Broadcast Quality " means the track is well written, performed , mixed & mastered - so it's a bit of a catch all that lets you know whether your track sounds professional enough to be used on TV or not.

Mark

[ElMiguel]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I'll see if I can apply some of your feedback to our mixing process.