Stereo widening the kick drum

Illumin · Post by **Illumin** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 2:11 am

what's a good method, technique, fx, etc. for doing this?

thx

bensuthers · Post by **bensuthers** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 2:37 am

two microphones.

Illumin · Post by **Illumin** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 2:44 am

sorry....more specific....just doing drums in drum sampler...for instance in impulse...not miking live drums.....

i'm just trying to decentralize the kick

longjohns · Post by **longjohns** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 2:51 am

I think many people would recommend not doing that, fwiw

Johnisfaster · Post by **Johnisfaster** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 2:56 am

longjohns wrote:I think many people would recommend not doing that, fwiw

true true, but if he really needs to he could always use the stereo widening on the utility plug.

but like longjohns says most people would tell you it's not recommended.

leisuremuffin · Post by **leisuremuffin** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:03 am

i wouldn't use the utility plug to do it, you'll end up with no bass.

i would use several layered samples, some that were only the mid and high freq part of the kick. Those ones i would mess around with widening, maybe just hard pan and detune, or perhaps apply some sort of stereo effect of your choice.

what i wouldn't do is fuck around with the low frequency parts of the kick. you'll likely end up with a bunch of phase problems or just mud.

.lm.

Illumin · Post by **Illumin** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:14 am

yea i know its not the common or best advised thing to widen the kick...
i produce primarily trance...don't hate please!!! along with experimental...and what I've noticed in a lot of the current tracks out these days is the kick has been widened just a little, giving it the definitely stereo effect, but it still retains great bottom end (that thump)

actually I totally forgot about the utility trick, and that just may do the trick, just a little tho cuz i know it will totally kill the bottom end.

stjohn · Post by **stjohn** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:14 am

yea what he said.. if your'e topping off a kick with some top end only... you could try duplicates panned R and panned L... detune one, not the other.. or distort one and not the other... might be good practise also to have a clean dry kick in the very centre!!

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:18 am

I use a widener in my final mixdown or mastering process. There are plugs that center very low frequencies, but I don't think it's that big a deal. If in your mix, most of your really loq frequencies are not panned or have no stereo image, a widener applied over the whole mix doesn't hurt it. I tend to use the widener VERY sparingly, and only to really bring out the shine on the stereo image, and it works pretty well. Currently, I'm using the widener module in PSP Nitro, and it's working really well. Just mastered a couple of Vinkalmann's mixes using the widener, and I think they sound pretty good. Check the links off the News section of nebulae.com to listen.

Illumin · Post by **Illumin** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:18 am

definitely good points....

i know a prob that I've had when panning 2 sep samples hard lt and rt, is that it will sound identical to a single sample at dead center....but then again i was panning only 2 samples utilizing all the frequencies of each rather, than multi-samples and panning ones with the higher freq's only and leaving the lower ones in the center.

Illumin · Post by **Illumin** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:22 am

do u know a good widener for the mac?

when i tried widening the final mixdown on pieces i've done solely in reason, didn't really have much luck....but then again that was a while ago and i probably didn't really know how to use the widener well there then...and my kick samples kinda sucked too....i think I'm going to try again just for fun....

but for the most part, i'm trying to stick within live....haven't used reason for a bit

COSM · Post by **COSM** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:26 am

send the drum channel to a send, stick an EQ on the send and take out anything below 120hz, stick a filter delay after the EQ and take out the middle filter so you got L and R (make sure they are panned hard), then muck with the delay time (have them set very very short) of each delay and turn the feedback down to a very small increment. You can also play with the filter on the delays for added effects. This is pretty much how I broaden any of my sounds. A short re verb after can also add more oomph.

Illumin · Post by **Illumin** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:43 am

nebulae: yea the mixes sound good, i might give the demo a try....also saw the stereopack from psp, so i might give that a try too since it's pretty cheap anway...thx

cosm: that's sounds interesting so I'm gonna give it a try....will it give keep the the drums tight tho??? I guess I'll find out either way tho...so thx

stjohn: sorry didn't see ur post...simple...will try!

thx all for the help!

forge · Post by **forge** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:46 am

longjohns wrote:I think many people would recommend not doing that, fwiw

+1

bad idea

you could just do it to everything over 500Hz

bensuthers · Post by **bensuthers** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:49 am

you need an elliptical filter.

or two dissimilar kicks (not from the same source) panned left right.