Try a few positions to see what works best. However, not too close that the sound is distorted.
Summing your mix to mono will reveal any phase incoherence or cancellation, allowing you to judge the negative effects of any stereo processing you’re adding. Like any advanced technique, though, it’s easy to go too far, so watch out – like with most mixing tricks, one perfect application will be better than throwing umpteen stereo plugins across everything in your mix!īefore we go any further, recognise how important it is to regularly check your stereo output’s mono compatibility using any capable utility or ‘monoising’ plugin. So as long as your track still sounds powerful and consistent in mono, and it’s not destined to be pressed to wax, there’s a fair bit of wiggle room when it comes to bass spatialisation. By walking that stereo tightrope in controlled but creative ways, you can give your kicks and basses an extra few percent of perceived power, density and assertiveness when heard on stereo systems such as earphones, car stereos, home hi-fis and the like. Well, although you should (almost) always keep all frequencies below around 100Hz – approximately considered to be the ‘sub bass’ frequency range – in mono, there’s nothing stopping you from widening signals above 100-150Hz. For example, keep a bass fairly mono for a chorus, then ramp up the sound’s stereo content when the chorus hits home. Use bass spatialisation as a psychoacoustic feature in an arrangement. For example, you can use it to mono a bassline’s frequencies below 100Hz, then widen the low-mids a bit, then heavily spread the upper frequencies – you get the idea.Ĥ. If you’re serious about your stereo widening, get to know iZotope Ozone’s Imager module, which lets you narrow or widen up to four independent frequency bands. Want a particular bass sound to jump to the forefront of the mix and pop right out of the speakers? Then apply as much high-passed Haas widening or short stereo reverb as you can get away with before any negative phase side effects start to occur.ģ. This will allow you to adjust the volume of a signal’s mono (mid) and stereo (side) components separately.Ģ. When you’re working with stereo signals, a basic mono/stereo balancing plugin is essential.