

In a dense rock mix, introduce contrast between panned guitar doubles and quadruples with distortion, amp emulations, or EQ. Executed well, this can create a “call-and-response” interaction between the tracks that makes the stereo field exciting. Hard pan two rhythmically opposed tracks-like percussion or guitars-to avoid weighing down one side. Your wide element can be a vocal double, modulated guitar, or drums. To enhance the power of a chorus, keep the verse narrow and widen just one or two elements as the song reaches its emotional peak, repeating this pattern throughout. You’re better off widening mix elements based on a principle of contrast. In fact, if every track is stretched to its limits, your mix will sound pretty weird and hollow. Without any narrow signals, the listener has no point of reference for width. Just as you need a mix of dry and wet sounds to achieve mix depth and a combination of loud and soft elements for apparent dynamic range, you need a balance of narrow and wide signals for a mix to appear wide. Don’t widen all the time, widen with contrast in mind But like all things in music production and mixing, stereo imaging can be overdone, which leads us to the next point… 4. You will quickly discover that most signals (at least, in solo) sound better a little puffed up.

By keeping the bass frequencies narrow and widening just the top-end, you’ll give the illusion of a wide mix without comprising the song’s ability to translate. If you widen the entire signal of a square wave synth, the bass might be phasey and even drop out when summed to mono (more on that later). The four EQ bands on the right side of Ozone’s Imager offer flexibility when widening frequency-rich instruments.
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Get tips for panning in the video below using the free Visual Mixer plug-in: Otherwise, investing in a pair of neutral monitors will serve you well for panning and much more. If you don’t find the lack of crossfeed a nuisance and can achieve impressive mix width on headphones, more power to you. What sounded wide, but cohesive on monitors an hour ago is now tugging at the back of your ears! In search of relief, you may undo all the great panning work you did and move sounds back toward the center, resulting in a narrow mix. This makes it a greater challenge to judge panning decisions and identify phase issues with headphones. The left and right channel are fully separated and hard-panned sounds only occur on one side of the mix. Put some headphones on and you’ll find that crossfeed no longer exists. Thanks to an acoustic process called crossfeed, sounds that come out of the left speaker in a stereo setup are heard by our right ear and vice-versa. Pan on monitors to impact the stereo image No matter the reason, when you know why you are doing what you’re doing, it becomes easier to make decisions. And sometimes, you just want to create a cool effect that wows listeners. Instrument type is another-some sounds, like bass, simply do a better job in the center. Genre is one-by tradition, many styles of rock use LCR panning to bring size and definition to walls of guitars. There are a number of factors that influence how we approach stereo imaging. Should the doubled vocal surround the listener in the chorus? What about the synth track? Or does it make more sense for the double-tracked guitars to take over? Should the snare stay in the center for punch? Or is it better suited slightly off to the side so the kick drum is the main focus?

Consider why you’re making changes to the stereo imageīefore you pan and “stereoize” every track in your mix for the sake of it, think about why you’re making these moves first. Try these tips yourself with our free imaging plug-in- Ozone Imager. That's why we're offering up six stereo imaging tips, with consideration for genre, song structure, and mono compatibility. Worse yet, when you fold your mix into mono it shrinks down even further. Just when you think you’ve achieved wonderous mix width, you pull up a reference track and find that your music seems narrow in comparison. Getting stereo imaging right is no easy task.
