When you're working on a mix, sometimes we want a little bit more low or high end of one instrument or voice. It's our natural inclination to go straight to the EQ and boost some frequency or other in order to get "more of that sound." What may surprise you is that you can probably get what you're looking for by actually cutting those frequencies on another track. And in the process you'll be cleaning up your mix and giving it a lot more definition and clarity.

Every sound is made up of a combination of frequencies (except for a sine wave of course). So it's not surprise that the frequency range of different tracks in your mix will overlap. But very often a lot of frequency content in some tracks is not necessary in order for the listener to identify it and for it to fit well in the mix. For example, a guitar track may have a lot of low end to it. But the bassist is actually covering that area. The two tracks are now actually competing and possibly muddying up your mix. THrow a high pass filter on your guitar track set to anywhere from 200-250 Hz. You may hear that the sound of the guitar didn't change all that much but your mix sounds a little cleaner. That's because the low frequency content while part of the sound of the guitar by itself, was not essential within the context of the mix. Now the bass will sound more defined and you didn't even touch it!

Try doing the same thing when you want a vocal to stand out more. It may not need any more compression or EQing. Sometimes cutting out 2.5-3.5 kHz on somethingt else that's sitting right in the center along with vocal will open it right up.

GIve it a shot. You never know what results you may end up with!

Harmony Studios, Danny S.