The position of your monitoring speakers also matter, as they will sound different depending on where they are in the room. Record at 24 bits instead of 16 Now that we have 24 bits, it doesn’t really make sense to record at 16 bits anymore, unless your computer is really slow. It gives you more range of possible volumes in your files and you won’t have to worry about recording into the red.
Plus, if you really need it to be 16 bits, you can always convert it to 16 from 24. If you are already doing all of these things yet the audio tracks you record still sound bad, then the problem is probably your monitoring speakers. Not all studio speakers can do the job right.