Who Fights Where: See Which Instruments Mask Each Other
Masking is two instruments putting similar energy in the same frequencies at the same moment. From your stems, MixMaster Pro shows which pairs collide, in which range and for how much of the song.
Overview
MixMaster Pro is the living Mix Intelligence platform for producers. Analyses stay in your Mix Library, revisions compare on the same mix, references save to your account, and Maya on Pro+ coaches from your bound report - connected workflows instead of one-time uploads. The same account also runs Audio Tools and Workflow Builder: AI mastering, stem splitting, karaoke, a capella, guitar chords and lyrics, Sound FX, song generation, voice cleanup, and audio restoration.
A full mix alone can tell you that a range is crowded, not who is crowding it. Separated stems can: each instrument is measured on its own, then every pair is compared moment by moment.
What EQ > Masking shows with stems
- Each stem (vocals, drums, bass, guitar, piano, other) as its own average spectrum on one EQ graph.
- Who fights where: the pairs that collide, worst first, with the frequency range, where they collide most, and the share of the song.
- A level per pair: Strong overlap from 35% of the song, Some overlap from 20%, otherwise the closest pairs listed as Mild.
- Pick a pair to shade its zone on the graph.
How a collision is measured
- The song is split into short frames and 1/3-octave bands.
- Two stems collide in a band and frame when both play there, within 6 dB of each other, and together carry most of the band.
- The share is how much of the playing part of the song that happens in each band.
- Stems with very little signal (mostly separation bleed) are not named in a collision.
What to do with it
- Each pair gets a tip: a small cut (2-3 dB) on one of the two around the frequency where they collide most.
- The lead vocal keeps its space: the other part gives way.
- Bass and drums in the low end: decide which one owns the lowest notes (sidechain the bass to the kick, or cut a little of one where the other peaks).
- Panning apart is suggested only above the low mids and never for the bass.
Without stems
- EQ > Masking shows Crowding in the full mix: how busy the low end, low mids, presence and highs are. It shows where it is crowded, not which instruments.
- New analyses also show crowding over the song, so a crowded chorus is not hidden in one number.
- Generate stems starts a split for the mix; Who fights where appears once the stems are ready.
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