An Indie Musician's Diary VOL. 1

Getting a Wider Sounding Mix

July 13th 

I  just got a day to mix while my husband is out sailing and our guests are in Copenhagen over night. So, what do I do? I didn't mix all that much...I studied Stereo widening techniques...BECAUSE I need to know that before I go on....and I might just go swimming today too.

The Vine song is so complex that it makes my head spin. But the good news is that my Wunderlist list is now down to a few small nit picky notes so it is time to pick some reference songs. What I am specifically looking for besides the same kind of instrumentation and a female vocalist are sonic consistency and stereo width. 

Only the best survive: Let's face it - there's a lot of music out there. Too much, in fact. If I am going to be able to compete with the world at large my music had better be as good as any commercial stuff out there. I have taken up the process of A/ - ing my mixes with commercial tracks in an earlier chapter. In order to do that legally, I need to buy albums/songs. That's why I have been looking for possible reference tracks on Spotify and have been buying CDs for referencing when I find the songs I like on Spotify in the second hand store shelves. 

One of the things that makes a song a good reference is how wide the song is. When you listen to music you use both your ears. They interpret the sounds as how far away and 

The featured video (above) uses the Ableton DAW and covers these things:

Top 10 Stereo Width Techniques:1. Auto-panning

How to use tremolo plugin for auto panning in Logic

2. Reverb - is a big topic in itself but we all use it. It's an echo. See other chapters in the book for more info. Don't forget that you can send the right guitar's wet reverb signal to the left and vice versa to get a great widening effect! 3. Delay

In Logic, use the "Sample Delay Plugin" or if you have Waves Gold, you can use H-Delay : 

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4kUvIRkDjI

https://youtu.be/aWqcQ3wrIMM (for the H-Delay)

4. The Haas Effect

Put simply, if I hear a sound from the left and the same sound slightly after the first I might sense them as one sound but wider and louder than if I had only heard from the left.

In Logic Pro you can duplicate your track and then nudge the copy a few milliseconds (no more than 30) after the first track above it (the original one in time with the beat). In this way you can create wideness by using the Haas Effect. Of course you might want to make sure that the combined sound is not too loud (use a submix and pan one left and one right.)

NOTE: Always check the Haas effect in mono. If the distance between them is too much, then you'll notice it. 

5. Sound Design

Sound design involves processing two similar signals differently and in parallel. The Haas effect is one example. Here's another: take a synth arpeggio panned to the left and add another similar one but with the same track raised an octave and panned to the right is a way to increase wideness. 

If you have the same one on the left and right there will be no sense of wideness. You only get a mono feeling. 

6. Parallel Processing

In parallel processing, you send the same signal as you have on the left but you apply different plugins/effects to the one on the right. 

You can also 

Be sure to check them that they actually are wider in mono. 

7. Mid-side Processing (MS processing)

Waves: 

Read the article in the references below from Waves: "....modern digital algorithms are capable of further separating stereo content into a monophonic mid channel (sometimes called a "center" channel) and a stereo sides channel. This means that you can apply equalization, compression or other effects to the sounds in the middle independently of the sounds panned to the sides – a technique called mid-side (MS) processing.(1)"

This process can only be used when all the elements in your mix are balanced properly left and right and is usually used when mastering. Read the Waves article to find out more. Of course Waves plugins cost a whole bunch. 

Fabfilter's Pro Q plugin is also demonstrated in the featured video. 

Here's the free alternative...

MS Processing in Logic for free: 

No matter how you do it, just be careful to keep the things that should be center in the center (bass, kick, solo vocal)

Check the effects in mono!!!

8. Chorus, Phase and Flange FX

Here he demonstrates Ozone's Imager. 

9. Stereo Imaging Plugins10. Double-tracking

He also shows how not to misuse these tricks. 

I will be applying many of these tricks on the Change My Mind Album. But I can't do some of them yet. Some cost too much for me right now (Ozone etc.), others are just too complicated for some of the songs. I just need to get done asap within my time and money constraints. But, by listening to this video, I found some tricks that will make my music sound better than ever.

I can't stress the need to constantly learn the trade. These videos are examples of a great video that stretch me...but where are the women producers?

References: 

1. Mid side processing (waves blog) https://www.waves.com/mid-side-processing-with-plugins

July 27th: Additional tips about PANNING

Panning is the placement of instruments on the virtual stage. There are some rules of thumb to go by but this next video tells you how you should think about placement. A good video from Audio Skills. (Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLGkRoxyfg0).