AKARSH SHEKHAR
Subtractive Mixing Do More With Less
In the world of digital mixing , you ONLY have an absolute fixed amount of headroom . When you hit 0dB Full Scale , you ’ re out . Failing to adhere to this set-in-stone precept will make or break your mix . So how do you manage subtractive mixing ? After all , every track in your project needs space . Every time you push a fader or boost a frequency on your EQ , you are eating into your headroom . So instead of pushing a fader up to make a track louder , pull others down to reveal that track . Instead of boosting desired frequencies with an EQ , cut undesirable frequencies to make the desired ones more apparent . And since every track is fighting to exhaust your mix ’ s headroom , prioritize each element of your arrangement .
What Is Headroom ?
Headroom means the difference between your track ’ s highest peak and 0dBFS ( dB Full Scale ). Exceeding 0dBFS means clipping , causing digital distortion .
Running Out of Headroom :
Inexperienced mix engineers want to make a track louder , but they run out of headroom . There ’ s no space left in their mix ! So what are your options ?
Well , there are two ways to make a track louder : you can either turn it up , or you can turn something else down . If you ’ re low on headroom , the first option gives an inferior mix . The second option , on the other hand , is an effective way to resolve battles between tracks that are competing for the same sonic space .
Decide the focus of your mix and take the other elements that occupy the same frequency and spatial bandwidth and move them out of the way , either by lowering their volume , panning them , or EQing them . But what you don ’ t want to do is increase the volume of the primary element .
Carving Out Space for Your Tracks :
EQing is an important part of mixing . But be careful — you can do a lot of damage with an equalizer ! It ’ s natural to want to boost a frequency in order to hear more of what you want . Kick drum not thumping ? Boost the lows . Right ? Wrong ! Thanks to a phenomenon called frequency masking , you may not need to boost anything at all . Rather , the same frequencies on other tracks may be concealing the frequencies on the track you ’ re trying to highlight . Cutting these frequencies on other instruments will make space and may be all you need to do to make your track pop out of the mix .
Lows and low-mids are common masking frequencies , they create mud . That ’ s when a high pass filter becomes your best friend . By cutting the ultra-low end ( 100Hz and below ) on everything except your kick and bass , you can open up a lot of space right from the get-go . As for the low-mids , grab an EQ plug-in like FabFilter Pro-Q . Instantiate it on any track that sounds dull or muddy , create a massive boost in the 250Hz – 500Hz area , and then sweep it around until you find the most offensive frequency . Turn the boost into a -2dB cut . Then slowly increase the cut as needed . You ’ ll be surprised at how much you can increase a track ’ s clarity by doing this — no boosting required !
Learn To Discard :
Not every song calls for an everything . Ask yourself : does your project really need 24 tracks of guitars ? Is the synth pad adding anything meaningful to the arrangement ? Are the song ’ s core elements being overshadowed by the 5-piece horn section ?
If you ’ re having difficulty making an element fit into your mix or think it ’ s concealing more important elements , ask yourself , “ Does this really need to be here ?” When you mute the track , does it sound like something is missing ? Does the mix sound better without it ?
The Score Magazine
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