Reverb will give you more room for every sound to breathe and settle into the mix. Reverb is a classic mixing tool for adding width, but also that all-important third dimension to your mix: depth.īy adding depth to your stereo image, you’re also expanding the stereo image as a whole. Use your reverbs for multi-dimensional sound
Hot Tip: For more info on EQing your mix read our full EQ guide. Head back to your bands and make adjustments!īy EQing your mix (in mono first, but again and again throughout the mixing process) you’ll give each instrument the space to shine and expand your stereo image into that beautiful wide space your ear loves.īut remember, width always starts with a clean presence zone-start there and work around it. If you’re hearing too much in the presence zone, you’re not done EQing yet. Check it regularly to see if you have too much information in that range. Keep an EQ with a spectrum analyzer (like TDR NOVA seen above) on your master channel. For a wide mix always avoid overdoing the presence zone! Use your precious presence zone to hook your listener to the best and boldest parts of your mix.īut be careful! When a mix has too much going on in the presence zone, you stereo image will get narrow and instruments will feel too close and crowded. But whatever element of your mix you want front and center should occupy some of the presence zone if possible. Making room in the presence zone for lead vocals is a classic choice. Any sounds within that range will be more easily heard by your ears, and sound closer to you. It’s what your listeners pick up on first and remember best. The “presence zone” is found in the frequency range of 2.5-5 kHz.Ģ.5-5 kHz is the frequency range the human ear is most sensitive to. Once your mix sounds good in mono-before you add any panning, reverb, or delays-It’ll be way easier to make it shine later on in stereo because the big picture of your mix is already rock solid.
Listening in mono will give you access to the most upfront version of your mix, where frequency balance and levels issues are easiest to hear and fix. It’s one of the most important concepts in mixing. Masking is a psychoacoustic phenomenon that causes louder sounds to hide (or mask) quieter ones in the same frequency range. Otherwise the mix will sound hollow, muddy, and cause listening fatigue.įrequency imbalances are extra problematic because they can create masking. Your mix needs balance across the frequency range. One of the biggest challenges for wide stereo images is frequency balance issues. It might seem bizarre, but mixing in mono is an excellent place to start for getting a wider mix. In this article, you’ll learn 7 quick and easy Tips that will widen your stereo images and bust your mixes outta’ the box. This article will focus on stereo image techniques during the mixing stage-specifically for getting that massive, extra-wide sound. You can’t think about one dimension without considering the others as well-they all interact to create the total stereo image.Ī massive stereo image is also dependent on good stereo mic’ing techniques. But you need to consider all the dimensions to create the widest possible stereo image. The depth of your mix depends on how you use time-based effects like reverb and delay to create a deep or shallow image. Width is achievable in many ways (more on this below), but one of the most important keys for width is panning. Width is how your sounds move from one side of the mix (or speakers) to the other. Height is achieved with the proper use of levels and EQs. The height of your mix refers to how high your mix sounds.
Just like the real 3D world, your stereo image has three dimensions: Height Stereo image is the perceived spatial locations of sound sources within an audio signal.įor example: When you’re listening to an amazing piece of music that paints a crystal clear picture of which instruments are playing and where they are in relation to you: that’s good stereo image. So use these 7 tips and go wide with your mix!īut before we start, a few basics… What is stereo image?
In this guide you’ll learn how to expand your mixes and build the acoustic space that makes good tracks great (and professional). So how do you add that extra dimension that takes your mix from 2D to 3D? In fact, your stereo image is so important we even named our company after it: L and R, LANDR… Get it? Learning how expand the dimensions of your stereo image and take it from 2D to 3D, is the only way to get that kind of mix. The qualities that transport your listener out of their seat and INTO your music. Without a strong stereo image, your mix will struggle to achieve the expansive and immersive qualities that mixing and mastering strive for. Let’s face it, most mixes don’t jump out of the speaker.