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hey all, just interested in your take on this, we've all been there - created a great 16 bar loop, that's really full, and fat, and then come time to arrange it, when you inevitably try and strip stuff down early on / at the end, it tends to feel weak and empty... do you tend to write in extra parts? or just EQ certain elements differently at different parts of the song, depending on how much other stuff is in?

You don't need to keep the spectrum full through out your track. You just want to make a balanced mix, with the aesthetic qualities you are after.

For example If you want your bassline to smack you in the face on the drop, you would not want any bass in the intro, so when it comes in the bass really makes its self stand out, and twat you in the face.

I don't write like that so can't really comment :\

Personally don't feel very confident when it comes to EQing and filling out a mix. Always seems to be a toss up between a muddy, fuller sounding track or a thin, tidier affair.
I'd try avoid everything sounding overly "dry" though, and colour any thin part with some delayed percussion hits placed low in the mix to create a space (going on an idea that if you've NOT created any space to fill, there won't BE any feel of space/texture, etc... in the first place)

I tend to put too much in my tracks because of this. I tend to take the midi clips from my drops, whack em in the breakdown sections and route them to different sounds, fuck about with the melody a bit so its not too boring. A lot of sounds will obviously only sound good when combined with others so you may find when you strip stuff back it can sound a bit PWNY..

Leaving space for mastering IS important though, grab a sub focus track and have a look at it through a spectrum analyzer.. its pretty eye oppening how his seemingly sparse build ups/intros are still as full as the drop.

Its all about balance really. Try and get the individual parts of your mix nice sounding on their own, filtering out everything that you don't need without compromising the intended sound (i.e. the warmth of an acoustic guitar) and then just tweak while listening to the whole mix and see what fits where.
A well balanced, clean sounding mix is not all about eq though, make sure stuff fits properly in the stereo field.
:bobafett :strooper :vader