Stereo Width Knob

[Octopusbird]

Do you guys change the stereo width of all your tracks? I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but wouldn't it make sense to decrease width on bass/kick tracks?

[MannequinRaces]

In my experience most kicks are centered already and don't contain much stereo information so changing the stereo width knob does nothing. It might help with some synth basses but I'd only do it if your sides are muddy, etc.. I think this is one of those things where you mileage will vary.

[reasonsuser88]

Not all tracks. I tend to use the width knobs on the mixer for drum sounds if I feel the need and I use plugins for synth sounds. Kick and bass can still have width in the upper frequencies but yeah the rule of thumb is to have the bottom end in mono.

[Octopusbird]

In my experience most kicks are centered already and don't contain much stereo information so changing the stereo width knob does nothing. It might help with some synth basses but I'd only do it if your sides are muddy, etc.. I think this is one of those things where you mileage will vary.

Do you wire your mono/bass tracks in mono (one wire in the back)?

[Marco Raaphorst]

yes will use it for many instruments when they are in stereo. love a narrow image for sounds

[mcatalao]

I reduce the width of most stuff that i pan. A hard left panned stereo piano with a stereo reverb on the patch will still bleed to the right with the width fully opened, so i'll reduce the width.

[strangers]

I reduce the width of most stuff that i pan. A hard left panned stereo piano with a stereo reverb on the patch will still bleed to the right with the width fully opened, so i'll reduce the width.

I use the width knob for the same reasons. I pretend like it's not even there if the instrument/effect in question doesn't require any panning.

[MannequinRaces]

In my experience most kicks are centered already and don't contain much stereo information so changing the stereo width knob does nothing. It might help with some synth basses but I'd only do it if your sides are muddy, etc.. I think this is one of those things where you mileage will vary.

Do you wire your mono/bass tracks in mono (one wire in the back)?

No. I haven’t done that before.

[Octopusbird]

I reduce the width of most stuff that i pan. A hard left panned stereo piano with a stereo reverb on the patch will still bleed to the right with the width fully opened, so i'll reduce the width.

Like when you say "reduce the width," do you mean fully? Or just a little?

I guess I'm trying to get a handle on this mono/stereo flavouring. I got it before, but I guess I didn't realize how dynamic it can really be.

[mcatalao]

Like when you say "reduce the width," do you mean fully? Or just a little?

I guess I'm trying to get a handle on this mono/stereo flavouring. I got it before, but I guess I didn't realize how dynamic it can really be.

I guess that always depends on the state of the track and what do you want do to to it and its context in the mix...

But I even use it on busses. For example I had a client's track where we had a very big stack of vocals (3 lines all doubled, separated bass, 2nd and 3rd voice, mains doubles in the chorus). Some places had 12 vocals plus the main. I usually use a lcr mixing technique and throw them to a bus, then use an mcdsp c670 to even them out and a final eq and some tape saturation from softube. But the lcr mixing here throws a lot of the vocals to the sides and my client didn't like it. With the width knob I was able to pull the sides in quite fast and I didnt do it completely. If I didn't have the width knob I'd have to pan in 12 channels.