Frequency Allocation
Decide who owns low, mid and high before anything gets crowded.
Related
Muddiness usually comes from several sources crowding one band, not from a missing plug-in. Frequency allocation decides upstream who owns low, mid and high.
The problem
When every instrument pushes in the midrange, EQ buys only temporary relief. Ask which layer should yield first.
Texture or frequency band
Four rough bands work: low for kick and bass roots, low-mid for chord roots and low positions, upper-mid for lead melody and voice, high for cymbals and air. Do not put two equally important sustained sources in one band.
Approach and judgement
Place bass and kick first, separating them in time rather than letting them fight for the same instant. If melody and pad share a register, lift the pad an octave or shorten its notes; this usually sounds more natural than EQ. In a crowded midrange, removing a layer is cleaner than carving both sides.
What to listen for
Listen in mono or on one speaker and the conflict becomes obvious. If the melody disappears on a few notes, the cause is usually a sustained source in that band, not a quiet melody.
Common misunderstandings
More highs do not equal clarity, and more lows do not equal weight. Clarity comes from a hierarchy in each band, not from filling every band.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Sources
- The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry Orchestration（Oxford University Press），用于核对音区与频段分工
- David M. Howard and Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 4th ed.（Focal Press, 2013），用于核对频段与掩蔽的基本数据
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.