How to Get More Stereo WIDTH in Your Mixes

Getting a wide, immersive stereo soundscape is one of the key features of mixes that sound impressive and hi-fi. But how to do it?
Justin Colletti shares some key ideas on how to get your mixes to sound wider-with as much width and left to right spread as your favorite commercial releases.
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[@alp740]

9,482 views? It's proof that most people want ready-made formulas instead of talking deeply about audio. Thank you always, master!

[@Octwavian]

Some hidden gems in here

[@DMDvideo10]

When I mix the stereo field is one of my main objectives. A lot of engineers I know don't really do this. The idea of certain instruments and vocals placed on one side and trailing FX to the opposite side or wrapping background vox around a lead vocal is essential to a big sound. Using the "hands of the clock" approach allows to to carve out space for everything!

[@Silver6003]

The 5 points are great . I did the first thing a few hours ago . Mixing whilst not mixing …not so much notepad more . Notes in my iPad .

[@maxuno8524]

Some useful tips. That acoustic mono tip is a gem. It really help my mixes translate better.

[@izakboom8487]

Thanks for sharing Justin, like to listen to your very useful mix and master reflections!

[@deadmaydie]

Great vid, as always. Thanks!

[@mikaanttila9251]

The most useful panning video I have seen - Thanks!

[@Adam-hs1ft]

Great video as always, Justin. I do a lot of my track-by-track widening by sending to stereo delays set to take advantage of the Haas Effect, and then blending them in underneath. It is incredibly useful to EQ your sends before they reach the delay so you only widen what you want.

[@BillyWrightLive]

Thanks Justin! This was great!

[@mickimarbhmusic]

Fantastic episode cheers for that 👏

[@MaticBeats]

This is gold. Thank you

[@GeorgeAmodei21]

Thank you for all you do for us. George

[@lincolnroadrecordingstudio2438]

Great video. Thanks

[@Anders01]

Great tips. I haven't used multiband widening yet and plan to try the Ozone widener and see what happens when as Justin said to widen the mids more than the highs.

[@akumusik3582]

Another Great Video🎼🕊️

[@DjBasscleft]

Hi justin i really learn alot of good stuff from your videos. Thanks for such an amazing channel. I have a question abt ozone maximizer. What is the use of output gain in the maximizer.

[@AlanSamuel]

Thanks for all these precious advices. I wonder what you would advise for mixing less commercial music like jazz , boss nova, etc, which is more my kind of music.

[@alejandropilijos]

Thanks for your Tips, are very usefull. Id like to known more about it. Could you make some video talking about mid size /st eq and the lp in compress the mix buss to enhance the center power and the clarity. Thanks in advance from Argentina.

[@wiggesobk]

Very helpful!

[@QuinnZoneStudios]

This is great! For me I think using two methods will be ideal. Acoustic mono for real world listening and also the sum to mono on my Apogee Duet for slightly more clinical mono listening.Thank you!

[@tristandeniet]

This is SUPER relevant to me right now. I've been noticing the difference between my mixes and ones that I'm liking are that they have super wide hyper realistic stereo fields. I think the biggest tip I got in this was trying contrasting rhythms in opposite sides. I haven't really thought of that before and I'm excited to try that out.

[@undercrownhiphop9422]

Can u do a podcast on reggae bass mixing and tracking ideas?And maybe approaches to mixing the instruments. Reference track is Damien and Kabaka “ Red, Gold and Green”. Love that sound.

[@MattyAmendola]

Nice!! 👊

[@bernardchartier3696]

Great ideas and experiences from Justin, as usual. The goal is to keep the listener attention of course. For the composer, to learn et experiment new tricks, playing with panned different frequencies, rythms, textures etc. I recently "played" with panned guitars, sending just a bit of reverb of each one on the opposite side. It gave me a feeling of widening, or at least, that theses guitars were in a more huge room than my "bedroom home-studio". Composing then listening several times a song must not bore myself nor give me a wrong satisfaction just because I did it myself. I try to listen as an unknown one person and ask me two questions: Is it technically correct ? Is the structure coherent ?

[@vishalchunara1670]

Dhanyawad🙏

[@oskeet4067]

Can you cover low tuned distorted guitars getting to cut through and cleaning them up to sound less muddy?

[@ClydeneBalkeMusic]

Thank you so much for all your videos. I am taking audio production classes at a local community college and was introduced to your channel through the mixing class. I am recording an a capella gospel album where I sing all the parts myself. I have the melody in the center and have recorded 3 tracks for the 2 harmony parts. Right now I have the three tracks LCR for each voice part. So, Part 1a Left, Part 1b Center, Part 1c Right.... and the same for Part 1a, b, and c. What are your thoughts on how to get a wide mix with this setting?

[@hellcat5]

I use ozone 9 to check mono / phase. :) love izotope.

[@VinnieLeeStudio]

I think the filter plugin from PA has eliptical filter option.

[@cassboyyy7243]

I wanna know how to EQ speakers, I can't seem to find any tutorials/guides

[@eternalgospels]

My solution is to mix it analog on a board. The imperfections give me a natural width and clean stereo. The older the mixing board the better and greater the inconsistencies that give width.

[@SonicScoop]

Yes, this can help add some width. Even just having differing amounts of noise in left and right can help increase width perception. All that can help at the edges. But these changes are minor compared to the kinds of bigger picture mixing decisions discussed here. -Justin

[@derekmidgley]

Thanks for this one, it's so much food for thought. Quick question: when you speak of maybe throwing away one side (of a stereo instrument) and just hard panning it, any reason we couldn't just sum it to mono and then hard pan it, so as not to lose one "half" of it?

[@Octwavian]

I don't think it matters. Summing to mono would be almost the same thing, and you would not lose any information that way 👍

[@treymoon205]

Waves ‘vitamin’ sonic enhancer fits the multi band imager plug-in sector right?

[@matthewv789]

Haha here I am struggling to successfully widen a stereo mix (no access to any multitrack original if there ever was any, I think it was recorded straight to stereo), using the Ozone Imager, with the width increasing with frequency, and wondering if there is a better tool... The problem is the track is two classical instruments that were each panned almost hard to one side or the other in the stereo mix, which sounds great in terms of separation and stereo width but is not a natural balance to have one instrument in one ear and the other instrument in the other ear, and radically different from the other tracks on the album. I’m trying to figure out how to mix them both closer to the center while maintaining the separation and sense of width and stereo imaging, without adding any coloration or artificiality, which classical tracks are very sensitive too. (I find if I do barely anything, they get increasingly fatiguing to listen to.) After remixing in RX (I don’t even have a DAW, I’m just doing editing, noise reduction, and mastering in stereo) and widening in the Ozone imager, I also did a bit of subtle mid-side EQ. Scooping out the bass slightly in the middle for clarity and adding a slight high-mid-range boost in the sides seemed to accentuate it a bit. And I often listen through just my laptop or even iPhone speakers as a check, in addition to earbuds and headphones (and occasionally clicking the mono button in ozone). A car check is next. (My biggest annoyance with ozone: it makes the fan go crazy on my laptop which makes it hard to hear until I can check an export later... working on zero budget definitely has drawbacks...)

[@J-DUB-F1]

I like the "acoustic mono" idea......I may have an old sony boom box stashed away somewhere??? A fellow mixer friend suggested this to me......transfer mixes to your phone or other bluetooth capable device, and cast it to a bluetooth speaker. Those seem to be the most popular listening device these days. You can pick up a good one anywhere for $30.

[@hummarstraful]

It's a great idea. I have a JBL Extreme on my mixing desk. I render the track, drag it into Itunes, put it on my phone, then via Bluetooth immediately play it through my JBL. I know it to be a great consumer device for music. Someone had one at my job and I heard every type if music through it for a long time. Then bought one. If it sounds good on that is sounds good every where. CLA and Michael Brauar both keep boom boxes in their studios to check mixes on. And both have talked about this in their Mix With The Masters videos.

[@J-DUB-F1]

@@hummarstraful oh yeah, I've heard those. A regular party staple 😉.....they sound great!, but a little more than I want to spend . I'm thinking something a bit smaller, maybe $30-50. I still do car checks, but the less CDs burnt and running out to the car the better😏

[@DEVUNK88]

not a sound engineer, but I can imagine I would like the kick, snare vocal in the center and everything else off to the side approach. I can almost hear how intense that could be

[@BryanScheinkopf]

Hey Justin, was wondering if you had the time to talk about recording and mixing non-narrative dialogue over music or musical instruments for KZbin videos - specifically stuff like gear reviews and instructional videos for let’s say recording a guitar amp or using a wah pedal

[@JPGProducciones]

12:20 The little "risk" about to pan different rhythms is, if the arrangement is not well done, kinda distracts the focus on the singer.....IMO. Nice video Justin!

[@Keroser1983]

Could please someone give more details for Acoustic Mono? I could not find a decent source online. How can I efficiently achieve that?

[@sleepisoptional]

the trick to wide mixes is to use mono sounds strategically. LCR works especially well with delays to fill in the space. be very careful about overlaying stereo on top of stereo… turns to mush. use echoboy rhythm mode and pay very close attention to tweak/width/panning of delay taps. save reverb for vocal/hook/snare mono is a line, stereo is a plane.

[@grsfhhytff]

I've always checked mono compatibility with my DAW and it usually does sound as weird as can be! Now I know why! Thanks! I had it down to phase issues but no matter how carefully I phase aligned (even using a phase meter) there would always be a volume drop in the panned elements! If I don't have a 'mono' button on my hardware would it work undoing, or lessening my panning before checking mono in my DAW, or would that still be counter productive and I'd be better listening from the opposite corner of the room? Cheers!

[@user-sd7eb6jq9y]

try pan law -4.5 dB . this means when you hard pan, the sound will be 4.5dB louder than it would be if it was centered (and all the inbetween values from 0db to 4.5fb for C and L/R respectively).

[@grsfhhytff]

@@user-sd7eb6jq9y Thanks for the advice! I'll give that a shot next time I'm on my DAW! Much appreciated!

[@hummarstraful]

I downloaded Brainworx Bx-solo the other day. Been playing with it on my mix bus. I notice that if guitars are already panned, Bx_solo will push them out even further, but then in mono (or in my car) the guitars are gone or have much less volume then I heard through my studio monitors. I do rock and usually do the thing you mentioned which is two rhythm tracks panned 100% right and left. Do you have a preferred method when using these widening plugins during mixing stage? I pan my guitars full L and R, yet still hear recordings where the guitars sounds much more apart then mine, even if they are just doubled parts. I've seen CLA use the Waves Stereo Imager to widen stereo guitar tracks. It just seems that there is a sweet spot when widening. It's got to work in mono, too. Does that make sense?

[@GroundBeef1]

You can try a bit of Haas panning

[@Hassan_Omer]

I m actually surprised that you said not to boost highs on the sides!! i thought that sides is where the highs should be !! i think you were talking about mid side mode right ?

[@legacysupplies3132]

Hey Justin, it's a bit off topic but I hear a lot of rock mixers mention having synths in their mixes but I'm yet to read or hear much detail about this and what they are using them for. I imagine these synths support the chord changes of a song or guitar solos. Are my assumptions correct and would you mind sharing your thoughts on when and how to use "hidden" synths?

[@hummarstraful]

I've seen them used a lot to support the bass parts in rock.

[@5adb0i]

I would recommend you listen to some metalcore like Asking Alexandria, Attack Attack, Bring Me The Horizon, etc. to get a feel. These bands use them more obviously, but it will get attuned what to listen for. More often than not, they're usually background supporting elements or a counter melody that is intentionally buried in the mix, so you don't notice it until you've heard the song for the 50th time and it adds something new to the listening experience.

[@Octwavian]

Atmospheric pads and fast arpeggiators are really common but subtile in modern rock.

[@changethings6121]

@@5adb0i thank you 👍 i've definitely heard heavy bands use them in an obvious way. It's the secret synths you don't necessarily hear that I've been wondering about. I'll check those tunes out though. Thanks again.

[@changethings6121]

@@Octwavian this is what I'd like to know more about 👍👍👍

[@CLdwyer]

So, for a mastering engineer, I can understand the use of having a way to “mono” the bass but in the mixing aspect, you can’t fix a low end that’s missing definition. High passing other elements, arrangement, phase compatibility of bass & kick. If I’m mono-ing the bass at the master level it’s to attempt to make a frequency range above it sound more wide and I’d make sure to check level, phase/sum/difference and the mono level. These widener plug-ins can negatively affect the power of a mix.

[@TRaddcliff]

So my question is: I listen to ref tracks I have. They have hard panned elements. Nothing coming from the opposite side. And it sounds amazing as a whole. But when I pan some of my elements it’s so apparent and feels unbalanced. 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@meis18mofo77]

hardpanning sounds like a bee that snuck into your ear is playing it when you wear headphones, maybe don't without at least some strong crossfeeding element like a ping pong delay or stereo reverb. I personally prefer panning around 80% and then using a hass delay and lowpass on the less loud side, perceptively pushes it that extra bit to the side and since the delayed signal is so much less loud then the main one and lowpassed the combfiltering is relatively subtle in mono.

[@apriljoy6177]

Can I pan the pan

[@leonid998]

but what you hard pan can disappear in mono : D

[@cruzyrecordstv1041]

I’d like to add a tip, I usually get some synth chords and duplicate them I’ll have the main one mono and the duplicate one with haas effect. That way it translate well in Mono

[@hummarstraful]

I've been experimenting in a similar way with Brainworx Bx_solo ( a widener plugin.) I put the plugin on an aux channel and experimented with sending the drum room or a stereo pair of already panned guitars. When I bring the aux fader up it widens those tracks but with out the loss of the mono down the middle. But when I put the BX_solo on the individual tracks, the middle can really disappear very easily.

[@cruzyrecordstv1041]

@@hummarstraful interesting, imma give that a try. Thanks

[@Adam-hs1ft]

@@hummarstraful I really like bx_solo. One of the better sounding width plugins I've used, and awesome for checking Mono compatibility in your DAW.

[@JohnFraserFindlay]

I think FM radio might have done some widening along with limiting

[@SonicScoop]

To my understanding, the act of FM transmission creates enough crosstalk that some stereo separation is lost when transmitting. To make up for this, a lot of FM stations would do some widening. But depending on how powerful their signal was and how close you are to the station, whether or not the resulting sound came up on your system sounding wider or narrower than the original is anyone’s guess! In any event, that widening processing almost certainly had some effect on the tone-whether or not it ended up sounding wider on your system in the end. -Justin

[@JohnFraserFindlay]

@@SonicScoop great reply tx..the widening on FM when I was a kid in the 70s kind of hyped my ear for that affect..but on the other hand our stereo systemplaying records etc..was fairly standard L/R

[@Brpwndood]

Might help to add compression to this video vocal track, sounds muddy fr

[@SonicScoop]

There was a month where Adobe Premiere disabled all the EQ, compression and other mic processing on our video exports, and we had no idea. This is one of those videos 🤷 Unfortunately, YouTUbe doesn't let you replace or fix videos, so here it is. Congratulations! I think you're the first person to complain on this one 🤣 Sometimes Premiere glitches when you update it, and it's super annoying. I believe the audio only version on Apple Podcasts and the like should have all the proper audio processing applied. -Justin

[@carloscabrera2027]

also practical examples, please.

[@Durnsx]

I'm no flutist but I am pan-sexual

[@anatol1204]

2%listen to classical music in America ? Tragedy..

[@SantaAnaCreations]

Why are people so limiting why are yall scared of panning? I hate this about surround sound mixing for films they have 6 + speakers and they place everything in LCR its pathetic. Also protools is ruining your panning cuz their pan pots are stupid they dont work like a normal pan pot, i also never get why people record things in stereo thats just idiotic smh

[@rockinrobby19]

It was 3 minutes before you said "let's get in to it." What exactly were you attempting to accomplish for 3 minutes before people who clicked wanted to hear about widening mixes? I don't know, and I didn't listen to the rest as it seems you are "redacted..."