{ "schemaVersion": "v1", "slug": "when-subtraction-is-addition", "title": "When Subtraction Is Addition", "kind": "solo", "listenUrl": "https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lovemusicmore/episodes/When-Subtraction-Is-Addition-e3cc30n", "contentStartSec": 65.48, "publishedAt": "2026-10-14", "source": { "provider": "whisper", "model": "faster-whisper:base", "normalizedSchema": "v1", "transcribedAt": "2026-06-09T11:05:35.316Z" }, "paragraphs": [ { "startSec": 65.48, "endSec": 93.04, "text": "What's good?Everybody, Scoobert Doobert here.Welcome back to the podcast.Today I want to talk about addition through subtraction.I think the number one thing I wish I learned earlier.Is that a lot of times when you're disappointed in a mix, you're actually disappointed in thearrangement.And one of the best things to do in arrangement is to overdo it a little bit to, you know,throw in all your ideas.Go for it.Record." }, { "startSec": 93.04, "endSec": 123.04, "text": "We don't have tape to worry about.Just throw all the stuff in.But then you need to find the space inside your heart and your soul to throw out ideas,or to throw out ideas strategically in certain places.So a great example is how low end information typically dictates the size of a recording,like how big it feels.It's easy to get trapped in, like it's big because it has a lot of reverb." }, { "startSec": 123.04, "endSec": 147.24, "text": "And sure, like that can help, that can make you think that you're an stadium.But ultimately, if it punches you in the chest, so I'm talking like low mids all theway down to subs, that is what's going to make it be like, oh man, this is built likea monster truck.It's part of the reason why a modern recording sound bigger than an old recording, so it'sjust more low end information.It's a big part of it." }, { "startSec": 147.24, "endSec": 169.16, "text": "And the old recordings that have, like quote unquote, too much low end from back then soundmore modern.And that's part of it.But I say all that to say, that's one of your best and most striking levers that you canpull if you want to have contrast.And it's as simple as the bassist doesn't play for a little bit.But especially when you're like a solo producer or you're doing everything in the box," }, { "startSec": 169.16, "endSec": 197.84, "text": "everything on your computer, it's easy to forget, like the things that just, I think likeplaying in a band and stuff naturally happens.But those moments of pause, same thing with like a drummer, when they decide to stop playingthe kick drum.Huge.And so a lot of times I'll hear people, like when I'm mixing and they'll be like, yeah,I just want the chorus to be bigger, but everything's relative in a mix." }, { "startSec": 197.84, "endSec": 221.33, "text": "The best way to make the chorus feel bigger is to make the stuff before and after itsounds smaller.And I heard a really good example of it.Artists that I really like, mini trees, mini trees, it's playing a song called ShapeShifterby her and the pre-chorus, the bass drops out.So when the chorus hits, boom, bigger, contrast." }, { "startSec": 221.33, "endSec": 250.21, "text": "Same thing with like a lot of EDM kind of drops or whatever, they'll start to scoop outsome of those low end frequencies.So when the drop hits, boom, they're all back.But you can apply that same thinking to anything.One of my favorites is subdivisions.So depending on if you've got like a tambourine, that's like a thing, right?That might be really adding in the frenetic sense of the song." }, { "startSec": 250.21, "endSec": 275.5, "text": "Like it's really moving forward.You just mute it for a second and you're going to watch as the energy of the song justdisappears.And that's good.Sometimes you want the energy to disappear.Or the difference between playing or unintentional swing.But the choices of how you're subdividing the notes, how many notes you're fitting inbetween the notes." }, { "startSec": 275.5, "endSec": 301.74, "text": "As in you've got a quarter note or an eighth note or a sixteenth note or a thirty secondnote.So subdivisions add energy.And so changing the subdivisions or changing the ways that you're deciding how many notesyou're kind of playing, be that a rhythm or a like a fredded instrument or whatever.Since all of those help the listener, they don't even understand what's going on a lotof the times.But you just feel it." }, { "startSec": 301.74, "endSec": 326.94, "text": "It's another like lever.It's a paint in your palette, tools in your toolkits.But all of those things really matter.And they really are great, especially when you apply them in small doses or in key moments,where you want a lot of momentum going into the chorus, but maybe it's a false turn intothe chorus.Like you're trying to have the element of surprise, where typically they would go to a chorus" }, { "startSec": 326.94, "endSec": 347.82, "text": "you're instead going to a bridge.So you have that tambourine that's playing all the subdivisions and you've got all thelow end, all that cool information.And then you hit that bridge and the tambourine disappears, the low end disappears and you'rein this very warm synth.You instead have a moment of pause.But like those left turns can be amplified by what you're doing in terms of like the" }, { "startSec": 347.82, "endSec": 369.18, "text": "percussive energy, where you're doing in terms of like the frequency spectrum.I do this a lot with high end information too.Same thing with like the low end, you scoop it on up for the high end, you can scoopit on down and making things sound a little bit more like this.It sounds vintage, it sounds interesting, it makes you lean in, at least to me.So I like doing it." }, { "startSec": 369.18, "endSec": 391.42, "text": "And also you can change the character of the frequencies.So there's a great plugin that pretty much everybody in my genre uses now called SketchCassette.I love it.Because you can put that on anything and it sounds a little bit more like you recordedon a cassette.But you have the flexibility of a plugin so you can make it more or less old." }, { "startSec": 391.42, "endSec": 417.18, "text": "You can change those settings by drawing it into the computer for exactly when you wantit to change.But it doesn't just necessarily have to be the filter that goes like this or the filterthat cuts out all the low end makes you a little bit higher like this.You can also do it where it changes kind of the harmonic distortion or the ways that theentire frequency spectrum is hitting you." }, { "startSec": 417.18, "endSec": 443.22, "text": "And that can be really powerful where it's not necessarily as strong or obliques a fullcarving out of something like a telephone effect.You can just change the slight sense of like what it was recorded into.And that alone can put you in a different head space.Same kind of idea like when people do voice note recordings like iPhone and then they'llhave like a bridge that's just recorded on the iPhone." }, { "startSec": 443.22, "endSec": 468.7, "text": "I really like that.I do that too.But that helps you kind of dive between demo land.Recording a quick sketch.Very honest too.I think the way that you perform into an iPhone microphone is very different than youperform into a microphone microphone.So that's part of it.But it can add, even if it's the same notes, same intensity, same everything, just as like" }, { "startSec": 468.7, "endSec": 490.62, "text": "a little bit more poorly recorded, it can add a vibe, add an energy and it can adda contrast.So covered like taking in and out instruments, but it's a fun thing to think about also likevoicings.So it's not necessarily that the synth just stops playing, but there's a sense of closed" }, { "startSec": 490.62, "endSec": 511.9, "text": "versus open, how spread out the notes are, and you can apply that to the entire instrumentation.So is everything kind of clustered together, or is everything really spread out?As in like the guitar is only living up high, the synth is only living down low, or isevery instrument kind of little pockets.So there's like a lot of air in between the notes." }, { "startSec": 511.9, "endSec": 535.98, "text": "Versus like everything is all clustered together, everybody's in the low frequencies, there'sa lot of notes that are physically closer together, so all of their frequencies are kindof like pushing against each other, oscillating in a way that creates, naturally createssome conflict.The lower and lower notes go.So like a bass guitar, often you don't hear the bass guitar playing notes, like chords," }, { "startSec": 535.98, "endSec": 555.46, "text": "you play single notes, obviously that's not always the case, but the reason why is thatthere's a lot of harmonic stuff that happens in terms of the harmonic series when you godown that low.And so it's you're not just really playing one note, especially when you're down low,your ear is hearing a whole bunch of extra notes that are coming from that one note." }, { "startSec": 555.46, "endSec": 577.38, "text": "It's almost like quasi chords, so within when you play chords, these become kind of complexchords because you have all of that harmonic series that's easier to perceive, especiallywhen you're down low, especially when it's saturated, what saturation brings out all ofthese harmonics.But what I'm trying to say is you can choose if the bass is playing chords, the bass isnot having an all bass is playing single notes." }, { "startSec": 577.38, "endSec": 597.34, "text": "It also where the bass is on the neck changes our harmonic series.All of these little micro decisions can have huge, huge impact in terms of like the emotionalpunch of a song.And more importantly, I actually think the emotional punch of the transition, the transitionfrom section to section, the journey that you're trying to take people on because musicis such a linear art." }, { "startSec": 597.34, "endSec": 617.46, "text": "I think more attention should be applied to those moments of transition and to the thingsthat keep people hooked and interested, just like dropping out the bass, just like droppingout a kick, but also like you could play the same, like essential notes, but you're goingto get different frequencies if you're playing them on different strings." }, { "startSec": 617.46, "endSec": 640.74, "text": "I'm going to play that to guitar or whatever, it's bizarre, but that's part of the funof stringed instruments is that where they are can be just hit different.And it's part of the reason why I really enjoy playing instruments at different timesin the recording process." }, { "startSec": 640.74, "endSec": 661.18, "text": "So it's really fun to play bass last because then you know exactly where all the space isand then you can try and fill those harmonic gaps.You can tell that's like the Paul McCartney thing.I really like it.It's really fun.Same thing with guitar.It's really fun to start on guitar.It depends on what the song is, but I usually will do one of those too because guitar ismy strongest instrument." }, { "startSec": 661.18, "endSec": 681.18, "text": "And so either I want the entire song to be centered around it because it's like the thingI'm best at.So I either want everything to be centered around it or I want it to fill in the finalgaps.And guitar is such a flexible instrument in terms of all the effects that you can do.Again, like you can play the same note in a whole bunch of different places." }, { "startSec": 681.18, "endSec": 703.34, "text": "And you can decide a lot of things in terms of like foreground, background, if that makessense, like how much reverb is probably the easiest way to put it.But how much of window dressing do you want the guitar to be?Do you want the guitar to be really in your face?It can.It can be like a vocal.Or do you want the guitar to be almost imperceptible but the thing that glues the whole songtogether?" }, { "startSec": 703.34, "endSec": 726.5, "text": "Usually the answer is both for you to record multiple guitars.But I like sometimes boxing myself in as a guitarist where there's just not a lot of frequencyroom left.And from that, I ended up making it more difficult to play an arranger on guitar because I'mplaying towards that arrangement.And this gets me all the way back to my final point." }, { "startSec": 726.5, "endSec": 745.74, "text": "The thing I was talking about at the very beginning, arranging makes for good mixing.Everybody says that, but this is what I'm trying to drive home by that because this isthe conversation I wish I had with my future self.If you want a section to sound bigger and make the section before it sounds smaller," }, { "startSec": 745.74, "endSec": 770.72, "text": "if you want to really, really nail it, you got to really listen not just to the notesthat are being played and not just to whether or not it sounds cool, but the way that itall fits together as a frequency spectrum together as one unit.And that's one of my favorite things about modern music is that so much of it doesn'treally sound like discrete individual instruments." }, { "startSec": 770.72, "endSec": 794.44, "text": "It just sounds like a wall of sound or a bunch of instruments that are playing weird rolesthan those instruments would typically play.I like that because it helps you even when you go back to playing traditional kind ofsounding music, which I also love, of course.I think it's really great to apply that same energy of, I don't really care how showboady" }, { "startSec": 794.44, "endSec": 819.28, "text": "I am or if I'm playing at my highest level, I care more about how does this all fit togetherlike a tapestry and how do we help the listener go from point A to point B through whatevermeans necessary.How can I give the right energy, the right amount of subdivisions, the kinds of transientsdo I want to be playing with a pick or with my fingers or the tone knob rolled up, rolled" }, { "startSec": 819.28, "endSec": 837.8, "text": "down, what kind of effects, how foreground background do I want to be, playing all those thingsto whatever instrument you're playing, the more people that are doing that, the more satisfyingthe whole thing gets.And it's a hard skill because you're thinking like a music producer, you're not reallythinking like an instrumentalist, you're a music producer that's playing an instrument." }, { "startSec": 837.8, "endSec": 856.68, "text": "And when you think like that, especially as like a band, the mix is a lot easier.And I think that's part of the magic of having a producer who's easier to get to thatplace because when you've just spent so much time practicing your instrument or writingthe part that you find really interesting or you're like looking at it, like I've had" }, { "startSec": 856.68, "endSec": 879.2, "text": "this moment where it's, I'm going to go on tour playing this, I want it to be fun.And like that's, it's fine, that's okay motivation, but it's not great because it's notreally about that, it's supposed to be like how can I get this thing to be the most emotionallyimpactful and enjoyable thing for the audience rather than just for me, obviously you still" }, { "startSec": 879.2, "endSec": 900.16, "text": "want to have fun with it, but sometimes the best songs, sometimesjust don't need a guitar, you know, and you're the guitarist.If you can have the emotional capacity to be okay with that, the song's going to be better.And sometimes you don't need to be playing the whole time.Sometimes it's a lot cooler if you just show up at the bridge.So what are you going to be doing on stage?" }, { "startSec": 900.16, "endSec": 924.84, "text": "I don't know if I figured out or had another little instrument or a little percussion orsomething like that, but understanding your role and when your paint color is needed inthe arrangement makes the mix so much easier because then you're just rounding off edgesrather than carving out frequencies.If you enjoyed this, a lot more to come, some incredible, incredible guests can't believe" }, { "startSec": 924.84, "endSec": 946.12, "text": "pinch myself kind of guests across this whole thing.I mean, I've talked to some amazing people, so I definitely recommend checking those out.I like doing these solo buds, too, but those are the people that are cooler than I am.If you want to hear my music, you can go to scoobertdoobert.pizza.Please share this with your friends and yeah, five stars, subscribe the whole thing andI'll see you next week." } ], "correctionsApplied": [ { "id": "scubaord-url", "count": 1, "note": "Outro URL ASR typo" } ] }