Welcome to sage audio. Today we’re talking about How to Stereo Expand Your Master
But first If you have a mix that you need
mastered send it to us at sage audio . Com to receive a free mastered sample of it.
Avoid Stereo Imagers
Stereo imagers are the easiest way to expand your stereo image and make your recordings sound
wider - however, they also introduce the most phase cancellation. Using a dedicated stereo
image plugin may be okay on an instrument but it’s best to avoid it when mastering a full mix.
Stereo imagers introduce various forms of phase cancellation to expand the image. Occasionally,
the left track and right track are blended together in a way that causes cancellation
and subsequent stereo expansion.
More often though, some form of delay is used to cause this phase cancellation.
When using delay-based stereo expansion, the signal can quickly become unfocused
and washed out sounding, resulting in a mix that has lost most of its impact.
Using Upward Compression on the Side Image
Although upward compression isn’t too common of an effect, it can used in combination with
mid-side processing to greatly impact the width of your stereo image in a beneficial way. One
plugin that offers both upward compression and mid-side processing is Boost by Ursa DSP.
If you switch the plugin to mid-side mode in the top right,
you are now affecting the signal as mid and side instead of left and right.
If we increase the focus function, and alter the priority slider to the side, we’ve caused upward
compression to occur on the side image. In turn, the details of the side image will be brought
forward and made louder. This amplifies the side image, in turn expanding the overall stereo image.
How to Use Mid-side Equalization
If you’re new to mid-side imaging, mid-side equalization is the best way to get started - with
it you can expand your stereo image by increasing the side image’s amplitude, or decreasing the mid
image’s amplitude. Mid-side equalization also allows for frequency-specific stereo expansion.
For example, say I want 1kHz to be a little wider. I could create a bell filter at 1kHz and then
boost this frequency. The same thing goes for the high frequencies, where I could make a shelf and
expand the air of the master - this is personally one of my favorite things to do to a master.
Similarly, if I was to reduce a part of the mid image,
I’d make that frequency louder comparatively on the side image.
How to Use Mid-side Saturation
Mid-side saturation isn’t super-common, but will probably become a more commonplace processor
in the near future - it offers an incredibly useful way to simultaneously cause expansion
and saturation. This results in a complex sound that’s a lot more unique
than a lot of typical stereo imagers.
The only processor I’ve used that allows for this is the FabFilter Saturn and Saturn 2,
but if you know of more with this capability let me know about it.
Similar to mid-side equalization or upward compression, adding saturation or distortion
to the side image increases its amplitude, in turn making a master wider.
Using multiple bands, you can make this expansion frequency-specific - and even
dynamic using the program-dependent functionality.
Using Mid-side Compression or Limiting
Mid-side compression creates a dynamic relationship between your mid
and side image, in turn causing natural-sounding stereo expansion.
Whenever the mid-channel gets compressed, the side channel will have a louder amplitude in
comparison - resulting in a signal that’s wider during compression.
Whereas mid-side equalization lets you control the frequency range of your stereo expansion,
mid-side compression or limiting lets you control the timing of your stereo expansion.
The longer your release time, the longer the mid-channel will be compressed,
and the longer the side image will be louder in comparison to the mid-channel.
A shorter release time will result in more dynamic stereo expansion,
a longer one in more consistent stereo expansion.
Expand Your Side Image
Expansion is another way to add a dynamic element to your stereo imaging - depending
on the processor that you use, you can make your expansion both frequency-specific
and dynamic or time-specific. A multi-band expander
is probably the best choice, but a dynamic equalizer will work well.
Using the FabFilter Multi-band plugin, we can create bands and alter the settings
from compression to expansion, determine the range, and set the correct threshold.
Then we can make these bands occur on the mid or side images.
By adjusting the attack and release times, we can make this expansion have a timing
aspect to it, and either have the expansion last for a longer or shorter amount of time.
Tape Machine Stereo Expansion
Tape machine stereo expansion is really unique and interesting,
in that the majority of the ways stereo expansion occurs is caused by some unwanted effect
or technical error. If your tape machine has asperity and crosstalk functionality,
you can create this unique form of analog stereo expansion.
Asperity refers to imperfections in the surface of the tape
that results in a very high-frequency distortion. Since this noise is stereo,
it can have a mild stereo imaging effect - but use it sparingly though to avoid a noisy master.
Crosstalk occurs when the left and right channels bleed into one another - this
glues the sound together but also causes mild phase cancellation and expansion.
More crosstalk doesn’t necessarily mean greater expansion so listen closely for the right spot.
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