Stereo Spread (How Is It Done Right?)

[Vlady]

Hello,

I use Logic and my stereo spreader plugin looks like that.

Can you guys give me some tips on what's good and what is wrong when widening a mix?

[Darmin Deflern]

One of the easiest ways to do a mix is think of how a band is set up.

Vocals and drums will usually be centre

Bass will usually be close to the drums just off centre

Guitar and keyboards will usually be on the left or right.

I always put the drums, bass and vocals near the centre then depending on the other tracks pan them left or right to give you a sound separation. If I have three rhythm guitars I pan one far left one far right and one close to centre but off centre.

Also important for sound separation is the EQ. So as well as spreading the tracks horizontally to get sound separation EQ helps to separate your sound vertically but in pitch rather than space.

A lot of it however is trial and error see what works if its muddy or muffled then you need to tweek the instruments either in EQ and/or in panning.

[Prometheus]

First of all, if a sound comes from a mono source, it should be mixed in mono, so it's far better to use panning than stereo enhancers to create the stereo field. Stereo enhancers are usually single band, so if used at the mastering stage they tend to widen the parts of the mix (low frequencies) that should actually be mono.

If you want a wide guitar sound, record the guitar part twice or double mic it with the two mics equidistant from the amp then pan one track to the left and one to the right. It's a mistake to do a panning hardover (panning all the way to eight o'clock and four o'clock) on both tracks since the field becomes too wide and leaves a "hole" in the centre of the mix. The trick is to pan out a little to the left and right until the spread sounds good. If there are going to be more double tracks, they can then be panned incrementally further and further out so they have their own space.

The kick drum and bass guitar (or any basso instrument) should be in the centre. Bass frequencies are omni-directional, which is to say that human beings are terrible at assigning direction to them. This is because the waves are bigger than the width of the human head and can therefore hit the timpanic membranes in both ears simultaneously.

Another thing to consider is that basso sounds have more energy than treble sounds, as is evidenced by the fact that woofers are much bigger, stiffer and more powerful than tweeters. This means that taking a basso sound off centre is going to seriously unbalance a mix. This used to actually wreck cutting needles in the old days of vinyl when mastering actually was as critical and difficult as mastering engineers still pretend it is.

Lead vocals should always be in the centre and backing vox double tracks can be panned using the method detailed above of starting near the centre and working to the outside.

Always listen to the mono sum of the mix as well to check if there are going to be problems with people playing the track over ghetto blasters or PC speakers or car stereos that are not really capable of generating an accurate stereo field.

As Darmin says, EQ is ususally the most effective way of achieving separation in a mix, not wide panning.

[Vlady]

Thanks guys. Can I post a mix here when I try your advice in practice?

[Prometheus]

Thanks guys. Can I post a mix here when I try your advice in practice?

Sure thing.

[LayneGreene]

Awesome post Prometheus!

[Prometheus]

Awesome post Prometheus!

Thank you Layne... It's the stuff I love. I could talk about it all night and all day.

[Vlady]

Here's a try

https://soundcloud.com/misterpercy/firends-18/s-Xa2KD

What do you think?

[Prometheus]

The stereo spread sounds fine to me... I found the drum sound slightly fatiguing though. They sound very over-processed. Apart from that one point, I think it's a really good track.

[Gangleri]

This was a great post and something I've been thinking a lot about recently. Been trying to stay focused on keep a good stereo and frequency balance in my latest mixes.

I used Logic Pro and have occasionally broken out that stereo spreader plug-in but not really known exactly how it works on a technical level and therefore not how best to use it.

Can anyone explain what the graph and the sliders there are actually indicating and how to understand what moving them around does to the signal?

Thanks!

[TapperMike]

What's odd is that I've been watching Anime (no not porn) for the music. They put on an extremely wide stereo mix and then send the vocals in the center. Some surround sound is the serious beyond Action movie surround sound mixes. I've always wanted to mix in surround sound send lexicon reverb to the back and keep the front as clean as possible.