The plugins mentioned here are excellent, I'd like to add bx_stereomaker to that list, but more importantly:

Michael White, you're the fucking best :>

 

Mono spread vs Stereo spread (hehe)

 

I think if the seperate parts in your mix are well laid out and spread out already, there is no need to add extra widening on the mix or master bus.

For widening material like vocals or tonal instruments in general I like to use MStereoSpread.
It's a type of multi-band pan but with precise control of the amount of bands (2-100) and other parameters.
Fully mono-compatible too since boosts in one channel are equivalent cuts in the other.
It does have a very specific sonic effect though, that might not suit all material. For guitars double tracking is still preferred for example.

 

Closely related - in a different thread
https://audiosex.pro/threads/moving-samples-around-freely.57976/#post-540185
https://audiosex.pro/threads/moving-samples-around-freely.57976/#post-540528

After posting in that thread I explored a bit more and found all of the following to be worth exploring
(for one reason or another)...
Listed here in no particular order, some old, some new, some very tiny, some very elaborate, some are just great utilities, some are very good for educational purposes.

• Parallax Virtual Sound Stage
• Dear Reality (dearVR)
• Wave Arts Panorama
• Mathew Lane DrMS (Dr MidSide) Spatial Processor
• eaReckon eaReverb
• Klevgrand Pana
• Betabugs Moneo
• Auburn Sounds Panagement
• Boom Library ReCenter
• Prosoniq Ambisone

 

a bunch of them are very good.

 

The No.1 'HAAS Effect' Trick To Make Everything Sound Wide

 

Although I don't care anymore about width techniques (I just mix better overall) this is ptobably the most convoluted I know of

https://masteringtuition.com/tutorial/ultra-depth/

 

Waves Jack Joseph Puig Signature Series Vocal "Space"

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jan 6, 2022

This, I don't use stereo spreaders.
I would also add certain flavors of delay, Ping-pong or left or right phase flipped in the left or right channel.
and maybe an auto-panner on high hats occasionally.

But mostly double tracking.

 

btw. https://www.sonicacademy.com/courses/progressive-trance-2019-with-protoculture has a very nice soundscape / massive plugin list ... but at least almost sounds like

commercial products, mainly miss only the final mastering from it, so worth checking

( I'm using Andy Moor's tracks usually as reference tracks

)

 

Last edited: Jan 6, 2022

a little off-topic, but man i just love the music that kush uses in their videos.

 

I use brainworx digital eq v3 with tiny bit stereo expand and waves metaflanger with %2-4 wet with kinda sauce and left right modulation (with no feedback and low depth more like a veeeeery slow modulation tool). Rarely using ozone imager, always trying simple solution first, that is creating 3d image with pan and fx like delay and reverb. If it's not enough, i will throw some plugin.

 

Q: Methods?
A: Plug-ins.

 

I wouldnt call it a stereo spread method, but the trick I do to get more control over the sides or just more control over a track is to just bus the track to different tracks and remove the stereo out. 1 bus controls the dry and 1 bus controls the fx and the add as many busses as you want for whatever else

 

https://www.pspaudioware.com/products/psp-stereopack
https://plugins4free.com/plugin/2877/

 

Last edited: Jan 6, 2022

looks like ozone imager + s1

 

Amazing thread. Let me add this, from dev from ursa dsp, how to use boost for widening:

• adding stereo image that ducks when mids hit - to widen a mix without robbing energy from center elements (Fill From The Sides preset)

 

Wider by Infected Mushroom. I use it on every mix with a compressor on a parallel back bus. It's mono compatible.

 

It's threads and certain posts within them that I wish I had the feature to save them so I could revert back to them at my own convenience.

Sometimes someone just drops such a useful comment that I can only take a screen shot of or drag into a folder on my pc but it would be nice to save them.

 

do your parallel with two aux sends and no stereo out, you'll have much more control