Mute and solo

Instead of cutting out unwanted audio (like room spill from stems), why not try some live muting using your DAW’s mute and/or solo controls instead? This approach gives a similar sound to doing a live automation pass on a physical mixing desk, especially if you map the mute controls to a MIDI controller.

Using the mute/solo controls in your DAW is a good way to mimic the process of using a physical mixing console