I was having an interesting discussion with a music producer/engineer recently regarding mixing and we got talking about the commonly used method of carving out space in mixes.
His opinion was that it was unnecessary and was used by mix engineers to make up for poorly arranged and recorded sessions.
Many of us will use filters to deal with unnecessary low and hi end, anyone who's tracked using a quality console will know how invaluable HP and LP filters are, but this is not what we were talking about. This discussion was about the idea that EQ should be used to scoop out certain frequencies so that instruments and vocals would sit better in a mix.
It got me thinking, I've heard the argument made both for and against this mix philosophy and I've done my fair share of 'making space' in mixes, although less so these days since I returned to the method of recording the sound I want as I track.
What do you think, is the regularly used method of carving space when mixing necessary or not?
Discuss