I’m in the process of reviewing CDs for the Jazz Fest issue, and as is often the case with local recordings, I can hear choices made for economic reasons. Corners are cut, mixes are rushed. Far too many bands choose to record live because it’s cheaper (and it is if you’re okay with a bootleg-quality recording), and one artist in years gone by spoke of foregoing mastering because it only made the music louder.

One important thing artists need to remember: no one buys the CD and thinks, “They didn’t have much money to spend, so this is good enough.” They want it to sound good. Fortunately, many who buy New Orleans CDs already love the band live and listen forgivingly, mentally combining the artist they like, the shows they saw and the album they bought, judging the album kindly because they love two out of the three. If the performances are there, they can give a pass to the cardboard drum sound.

Poor-mouthing would be one thing if artists were simply trying to get their music into the world, where it will live as it will. But sweating the money while trying to produce something to sell off the bandstand or at Jazz Fest is also a shaky. Bands don’t want to spend the money necessary to make a good-sounding album, but they want people to spend money on the album anyway. When artists pro-rate the cost of their CDs to the cost of recording, I’ll be more understanding: “We knocked this off in the basement of a guy who’s learning to use his ProTools rig – $7.”

If bands don’t have the money to do a good job, they should wait until they do. Or, until they can find the people who can do a pro job at price they can afford. The question they need to ask themselves is, “Would I want this on my iPod?” Not would you want that performance, but would you want that sound? That mix?  Would those tracks sound good in your ear and next to the other recordings on your iPod, or would they sound unfinished or out of place? A number of musicians – and I’m not naming names – aren’t asking themselves those questions, and if they are, they’re not answering them honestly.