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Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 11:36 am
by legskeattch
What VST Can i use to make things stereo, currently i use Fl Studios "Stereo Enhancer", is this acceptable?
My next question is what needs to be in stereo? I no sub-bass should be mono, but what about everything else? Should each instrument/synth/drum/Voice hit have its own stereo setting, do they need there own stereo space?
I hope i put those question over okay, its pretty hard to explain what i mean.
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:42 pm
by darigan
Stereo enhancers tend to fuck things up more then they help in my opinion.
You want the meat of the track in the middle, Kick, Snare, Bass, but having said that if you want a really wide snare you can have one sample in the center of the stereo field, then another sample panned hard left and another one panned hard right. The best way to make your mixes sound wider is just to pan things, If you move your Hihats to the left and egg shakers to the right you'll here your mix open up, it also leaves more space in the middle of the mix for other things. Ya gotta think of the mix as a room, two sounds can't occupy the same space at the same time.
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:48 pm
by darigan
Just another note on that as well, theres plenty of other ways to make things sound wider.
If you've got a lead line you want to sound really wide you can make two copies of it pan one left and one right, but slightly change the frequency cutoff of one of the lead lines so its a very slightly different, together they will sound like just one big fat lead
Chorus, stereo delays, they're are some other techniques as well
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 1:04 pm
by legskeattch
While i have been here reading, my drum loops sound 20X better man, with out a doubt the best bit of advice i have received on here.
I used to stereo widen everything but the sub. now everything seems to fit better! Thanks man.
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 1:54 pm
by JFK
legskeattch wrote:
I used to stereo widen everything
Damn...... that must have sounded ugly.
Top advice Darigan. Big up.
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 2:14 pm
by darigan
glad to help
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 2:20 pm
by legskeattch
JFK wrote:legskeattch wrote:
I used to stereo widen everything
Damn...... that must have sounded ugly.
Top advice Darigan. Big up.
Mate it sounded awful.... this was the only thing i sucked at. I dont like asking for advice, im usual one for try, fail, try, fail, try, BINGO!
This was the only thing i couldnt work out.
Cheers For the help Darigan
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 2:32 pm
by FSTZ
I use a spatial enhancer on my master channel to widen my mix a bit
nothing gets degraded, no bass goes missing
everything in moderation...
stereo enhancers aren't all bad
perhaps the one in FL is shit..
I dunno but the one in Cubase sounds great when used properly
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 2:53 pm
by perplex
A cool plugin you should check out in Fl is the stereo shaper. use it on effects, pads, hits, risers ect... play with the delay and phase nobs and the left and right channel settings and you can make some sick effects. also try placing it in different parts of the signal chain, like after reverb or delay for example and automate it on and off. you can also use it on basses and leads, split ur bass/lead track, so one has lows and low mids (keep this centred) and the other has high mids and the rest. use the stereo shaper on the high mids one. can make your bass sound huge.
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 3:16 pm
by marshy
The biggest mistake when people learn about effective panning is to go overboard. I've heard tracks (mainly the youtube kids) where the actual bassline or even the sub is bouncing about from hard left to hard right!
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 3:21 pm
by FSTZ
FSTZ wrote:everything in moderation...
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 10:04 am
by Original Face
Whatever you do to try and widen your tunes, make sure they still work in mono. If you are doing more than panning, there is always a risk that you'll generate phase problems, which can result in key elements 'disappearing' when the Left and Right channels are summed. (Some club systems are mono so this is potentially an important issue.) Also, I've noticed that stereo effects can sometimes mislead you into thinking a sound sits better than it really does. Switching to mono helps reveal that a dab of EQ is needed.
Just my 10c.
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 11:20 am
by macc
Not all stereo enhancements work the same way - choose your weapons carefully. A number of
Either way, as the chap said above, panning stuff around rather than simply making everything wide is the best IMO. A little of that, a little widening, a little of various of things can add up for niceness.
Check Miles Davis album 'Nefertiti' (esp. 'Madness') - huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge amounts of space. No stereo widening in those days, just panning.
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 11:37 am
by JFK
macc wrote:
Check Miles Davis album 'Nefertiti' (esp. 'Madness') - huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge amounts of space. No stereo widening in those days, just panning.
Damn.... You like your Miles Davis dont you mate?
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 12:42 pm
by Karoshi
Not sure if this is what you're asking but heres something i tried and it worked pretty well (IMO)
i made two copies of the identical sound and pattern (some short stabby pads) panned one hard left, one hard right. then in the piano roll (fl studio) i turned snap off and dragged the whole of one pattern back ever so slightly and it sounded much 'fuller', almost like the 'dimention expander' effect in massive.
im still new to all this production stuff, so im sure someone will say that this is wrong somehow haha, just thought id share.
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 1:41 pm
by legskeattch
All this advice should go in the production bible!
Thats where i first searched yesterday and there was only a link to wikipedia, so +1 to production bible!
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 6:14 pm
by damagedgoods
Original Face wrote:Whatever you do to try and widen your tunes, make sure they still work in mono. If you are doing more than panning, there is always a risk that you'll generate phase problems, which can result in key elements 'disappearing' when the Left and Right channels are summed. (Some club systems are mono so this is potentially an important issue.) Also, I've noticed that stereo effects can sometimes mislead you into thinking a sound sits better than it really does. Switching to mono helps reveal that a dab of EQ is needed.
Just my 10c.
THIS. And not only should it "not completely suck in mono", but it should still actually sound good in mono. "Instruments not disappearing from the mix" isn't really good enough. In other words, using a widener/chorus/whatever to help something sit in the mix may work ok in stereo, but if it still sounds like a mess in mono, then you need to go back to the drawing board BEFORE you start trying to play with the stereo field.
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 9:30 pm
by mks
A little bit of careful panning can work wonders but def always check the mix in mono. If it's not happening in mono, then something's wrong.
I've heard that back in the 60's, it was the mono mix that they spent hours on and then they would just knock the stereo mix out quickly after that.
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 9:53 pm
by Bassmagnet
legskeattch wrote:What VST Can i use to make things stereo, currently i use Fl Studios "Stereo Enhancer", is this acceptable?
My next question is what needs to be in stereo? I no sub-bass should be mono, but what about everything else? Should each instrument/synth/drum/Voice hit have its own stereo setting, do they need there own stereo space?
I hope i put those question over okay, its pretty hard to explain what i mean.
I've been using PSP's Stereo Enhancer for my stereo imaging, works wonders
Re: Stereo Enhancement/Panning
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 10:41 pm
by macc
JFK wrote:macc wrote:
Check Miles Davis album 'Nefertiti' (esp. 'Madness') - huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge amounts of space. No stereo widening in those days, just panning.
Damn.... You like your Miles Davis dont you mate?
A bit
Mid-60's avant garde jazz is my bag. Davis helped lead the way in that field, along with numerous others of course.
You think I talk a lot of shit about production... don't get me started about Elvin Jones
