wide tracks...advice?

blingstef · Post by **blingstef** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:57 am

hey wassup veteran livers it's me again... i am at a stage of my learning where paning is not enough for me to make my tracks wide. i am making tracks more clear now (those that will recognize my nickname, will know what i am talking about). I am starting to understand things like EQ and Compressor. Now i want to put my vsts not only left or right, but front and back, 32degres front left (well u get the point).... Is that equing still? or can you recommend me a good plugin?
In advance THX

michaellpenman · Post by **michaellpenman** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:13 am

for behind you need surround sound, or create the illusion of fake surround, through having like 5 channels of the audio panned different setting then delays added so no phase happens

e-theory · Post by **e-theory** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:38 am

The fake surround channels is the right way to approach this, but remember the the more off-axis a sound is, the more reverb and the more dull it sounds, along with already mentioned point of being more delayed, with respect to the original signal.

You could make a rack that adds delay, low pass filtering and reverb all at the same time proportionally. This could form the basis of a forward-backward "position" in 3d. The furthest forward has none of these, and the furthest back has the most delay, filtering and reverb. From there you can add some panning and "voila", instant spacial awesomeness.

laird · Post by **laird** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:21 pm

There are tons of stereo-widening plugins
go search www.kvraudio.com

also look for "stereo-chorus".

Sometimes it can be as easy as applying subtle pitch variations between channels, others will use alternate EQ settings between stereo channels.

or set up a Rack and experiment with Utility (width >100%), Delays (not 100% synced between L/R), Chorus, distortion, reverb.

Word to the wise: using a ton of these can hollow out a song/mix/etc...
using these widening FX on FX Sends can give you the best of both worlds.

siliconarc · Post by **siliconarc** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 2:13 pm

if you're planning on getting the music pressed up onto vinyl, make sure you don't do any stereo widening/effects on the bass end, or you could end up with phase cancellation, making the bass disappear when pressed. trust me - i learned the hard way

michaellpenman · Post by **michaellpenman** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 6:08 pm

to be honest there is no point of getting vinyl pressed it's a dying breed not many label use it now.

when i was meaning delay i'm talking about track delay not digital delay

siliconarc · Post by **siliconarc** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:05 pm

michaellpenman wrote:to be honest there is no point of getting vinyl pressed it's a dying breed not many label use it now.

snakedogman · Post by **snakedogman** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 2:04 pm

there's a couple of things to think about:

panning just place your sound at whatever position you want in the stereo field.

for widening sounds themselves you can use effects such as chorus or flangers or delays with different values for the left and right delay lines.

for moving sounds into the front or back you would generally use reverb. More reverb makes it sound like it further away, use less or no reverb on sounds that need to be "up front".

forge · Post by **forge** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 2:24 pm

this might be helpful: http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 462#503462

then maybe google mid/side EQ (Robert mentions it in that post)

but as gary said - make sure you keep everything below maybe 500Hz mono

cavern · Post by **cavern** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:39 pm

sonnox oxford inflator

laird · Post by **laird** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:58 pm

forge wrote:this might be helpful: http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 462#503462

then maybe google mid/side EQ (Robert mentions it in that post)

but as gary said - make sure you keep everything below maybe 500Hz mono

holy crap, EQ8 has a mid/side mode?!?!? rad!

forge · Post by **forge** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:08 pm

laird wrote:
forge wrote:this might be helpful: http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 462#503462

then maybe google mid/side EQ (Robert mentions it in that post)

but as gary said - make sure you keep everything below maybe 500Hz mono
holy crap, EQ8 has a mid/side mode?!?!? rad!

Yep. EQ8 has been a major improvement over EQ4 - with the new compressor as well I barely even touch my Waves plug-ins now