How to Separate Foreground and Background in Music Production

A common problem the amateur engineer faces, many times without recognizing it, is making the background and foreground of a song distinguishable. Like many problems in music, this has many solutions. First, it's important to know why exactly we're doing this. The foreground of a song, the melody, is what is supposed to stand out to the listener. However, if the background isn't properly mixed or written then the melody cannot stand above the rest as the focal point for attention. So below are just a few solutions for this extremely common conundrum.

1) First, be aware of what your background is. For instance, if your background isn't straight chords and is itself a melody or a series of arpeggios then you need to be aware that you will have to do extra work to force it into the background. This shouldn't prevent you from using arpeggios and melodies as background audio, but you should be aware of it.

2) Whether your background is straight chords or arpeggios, you must give it's own sonic space. EQ is at the very core essence of this. Trimming the treble by even just a little can make a world's difference. If you want immaculate results, it's best to go in there and use specific frequency ranges to accent both the melody and background. For instance, dipping the 2.5k frequency area in the background while boosting that same frequency area in the foreground will really separate them both. You can find good frequency ranges to start with in many places, but I suggest you simply use your ear at first and then see what the professionals usually do. Compare and see if you really do stand by what you perceive to be as ''better''.

3) Panning is also extremely important. Obviously, if the melody and chords are directly on top of each other in the mix they will probably blend together no matter what you do. Instead, you'll probably want to slide the melody towards the left and slide the background chords slightly towards the right. This is the most common arrangement, and the one I like best. Feel free to experiment, but right off the bat you should notice the melody sticks out much more.

4) Widening. Stereo widening is an art, but when used correctly it makes a mix really complete. Be sure to really tighten your bass, don't go too crazy with spreading the mids, and be sure to really spread out the exceptionally high treble. It will make a world of difference.

That concludes our tutorial of how to separate foreground and background in music. Remember to give your ears a break every now and then so you can hear the difference in the mixing with fresh ears. Good luck!