Balance and Masking

Generated parts fight over the same register first, so fix register and density before reaching for EQ.

Related

EqualizerRegisterMix Bus

The problem

The usual fault in an AI arrangement is not bad tone but crowded parts. Pad, guitar, vocal and synth all sit between 200 Hz and 4 kHz, each asking to be heard, so none is clear. The first instinct is to open an EQ and cut every track. The mix gets thinner, the problem stays, only its address changes.

How it works

Masking happens where register and timing overlap, not only in the frequency response. When two parts share a range and start on the same beat, the weaker one disappears. Generated arrangements stack material by style statistics, so layers accumulate in the same register and no gaps are left. EQ can redistribute energy that exists; it cannot restore space the arrangement never had. Solve overlap with octaves, deleted layers and offset attacks before touching EQ.

Practice

Write a part map first, listing the register each instrument occupies and the sections where it plays. If more than three parts sit in the midrange at once, move one up or down an octave, or delete it. Offset the attacks next, letting the pad enter a few milliseconds after the vocal, or shortening chord notes to leave gaps between words. Do the level balance here, since faders solve most masking. Use EQ only for narrow cuts, 2 to 3 dB out of a 200 to 500 Hz pile-up, and hand the 2 to 4 kHz presence range to the vocal. For stronger separation, sidechain the pad down 1 to 2 dB while the voice is in. Check the result in mono.

What to listen for

In the slow movement of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 15, hear how viola and cello yield to each other in the same register; that balance is composed. In Violette's Trio for Clarinet, Bassoon and Piano, hear two winds shadow each other across one midrange band. In Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1, hear how much space a sparse texture leaves. Comparing the three tells you whether the fix belongs in the arrangement or the EQ.

Sources

• 遮蔽与音区重叠的判断，依配器与混音通识核对，未抄文本
• Register overlap and masking, based on orchestration and mixing practice, no text copied

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.