Hello everyone,

can you recommend plugins (Win+Mac compatible) which can make mono sound "wide" (on sides)?
so far I like fairly simple AIR Music StereoWidth and couldn't find something similar (for ex. Waves Center Stereo does something very different)

thx in advance

 

Brainwoorx make a free one. BX Solo.

 

Waves Center is a Mid-Side plugin, used to either boost the Mono or Stereo channel's volume separately.

Air StereoWidth could work if you like how it sounds, most stereo enhancers seem to add their own characteristic.

I found some Open Source (free) plugins named 'mda' which has a Stereo enhancer in it (best one i've ever used)
It makes use of Comb filtering and the Haas effect
http://mda.smartelectronix.com/effects.htm (their x32bit though)

 

Melda Production MStereoGenerator. If someone else is offering other solutions, please test it on a mono signal, apply the effect then toggle on/off a mono maker to check if the pseudo stereo signal still sounds good in mono after processing.

BX Solo can enhance a stereo image but on mono signals does nothing as there is nothing in the sides to process.

 

If you want to do that right you need the Nugen plugins...Stereorizer will get you there, no problem.

 

Stereo chorus, reverb, delay, Haas... ;)

 

Haas is Win+Mac compatible?

 

Use An M/S Eq.
Then , Seperate Mid Freq With A Hard LowCut , And Boost Your Sides A Few Db.
It's Best Trick If You Know What Freq. Area Is Your Target.
Note: In This Senario , Keep An Eye On Harshness And Phase Issues.
"Excuse My English "
Cheers

 

And your logic: he has a mono signal, there is nothing in the sides

 

Ha Ha .
So it's Simple , Just Use Haas Trick

 

Haas Effect in its simple form is a natural phenomenon (HRTF is the more complex formula), not "win or mac compatible":
Sounds reach the ears at different times, depending on where the sound source is. If you add a delay to either side of a mono source signal (~2-40ms), the ear (brain) decipher that as a sound that is coming off-axis and not straight in front of you.

When the two sounds (original + delayed) are summed to mono there will be comb filtering.

 

I was joking
On a serious and practical note, I found out that instead of inserting a sample delay right on the track (in order to produce the Haas effect), it's better to send the mono signal to a return track, place the sample delay there, insert a MSED after and mute the MID so the output of the return track is only the SIDE.
This way, when the track is listened in mono, the innitial mono signal is always uneffected and the pseudo-stereo signal will be entirely cancelled when listening mono.

 

Plugin Alliance Brainworx bx_stereomaker.

 

Ah, ok! ;) You never know if it's a joke or serious on the internet, as it's just text.

That doesn't work. The Haas Effect is delaying one side (left or right), so it's inevitable that comb filtering will occur when mono-summed.

If you are talking about Blumelein mic'ing, then yes - the sides (figure 8) gets cancelled out when summed to mono. Edit: I mean M/S mic'ing.

 

Last edited: Sep 28, 2016

No, I have no idea what this type of mic is to be honest.

I was merely stating that one can minimize the downsides of this technique by using a parallel approach rather than the usual inline processing. I always use this technique this way.

When using the delay as an insert, a mono toggle on the master bus will result in changes in sound (the original mono source will suffer a lot from the comb filtering). When using the parallel approach, the same mono toggle will only supress the side (so basically the entire parallel bus' signal), leaving the mono source exactly as it is. Also a hipass filter can be used after the MSED (on the parallel bus) as we don't want (pseudo-)stereo low frequencies anyway.

 

I'm super confused. There is only one way to get The Haas Effect. Duplicate the mono track, so you have two mono tracks. Hard-counterpan them (hard left and hard right). Delay on one of the channels (2-30ms). That is The Haas Effect.
I don't see how you can get away from the combing. It's actually the combing that contributes to the stereo imaging and the brain's calculation of the orientation of the source sound.
Please enlighten me if you can.

 

Last edited: Sep 28, 2016

Just want to add my two and a half cents: don't overdo it, especially if you're making music for the club/dance music in general.
It happened to me before: "oh this sounds soo thin, let's increase the stereo image" and then, what happened, was that the track in mono was missing AT LEAST 2 instruments

 

Yeah, the "mids and sides mix-knob". Balance is needed.

 

Izotope Imager, bx_stereomaker

 

Vengeance also created a lovely plugin