why add Stereo Spread when mastering?

I've been reading a lot of tutorials about what plugins to use during mastering. Some (not all) suggested the Imaging->Stereo Spread plugin to add some width but they didn't really delve into why and in what circumstances. I can obviously hear the difference this plugin makes, but in I don't really associate the effect with the type of music I listen to so I'm not sure yet if it's right for me.

 

So I'm wondering: when is the right time to try to add width? What problems should I be looking for?

In my opinion, that plug-in has nothing to do with mastering, so I would answer: never. Use it only sporadically and on individual channels or groups of channels for a special effect.

 

Keep in mind that two speaker membranes moving in sync (a mono mix through a stereo system) will yield the loudest, punchiest, most efficient, clearest sound. The instant you have differences between L and R you start losing some of that loudness and punch. The more differences between L and R, the wider the stereo, and the more loudness and punch you lose.

 

So the problems you should be looking for with that plug-in are phase issues, loss of punch, clarity and volume, which is not something you want to have to deal with on master bus, at least not during the whole song.

 

Most of the time you're better off achieving width by panning individual sounds in different positions of the stereo field. If you feel like your mix isn't wide enough, don't use a plug-in on the master bus, go back to the drawing board and go back to panning individual sounds further left or right.

^^^^ this.

Thanks!

 

So the problems you should be looking for with that plug-in

 

What I meant to ask is: what are the problems with songs that make an engineer want to add stereo spreading in the mastering phase in the first place?

What I meant to ask is: what are the problems with songs that make an engineer want to add stereo spreading in the mastering phase in the first place?

Honestly I don't know any self respecting engineer who would want to add stereo spreading in the mastering phase. But as to why some beginner engineers would want to add stereo spreading during the mastering phase, my guess is they're trying to make their mix bigger than life, wider than the stereo field, without regards for the drawbacks this creates. The truth is, the stereo field is limited, in theory you're playing with a 60° angle, which mean you can position your sounds from 30° to the left to 30° to the right. It's really not that much. Anything more than that and you start messing with serious phase issues that can cause all sorts of phase cancelation issues, either acoustic or electric, meaning loss in punch, loss in loudness etc... so once again, if your mix sounds too narrow, revisit your panning strategy, and if you've done everything in your power with panning, maybe it's your expectations in stereo width that you should be revising. Nothing wrong with having, say, a out of this world trance synth be larger than life and playing with phase and appearing like it's coming from outside the stereo field. But a whole mix? I personally wouldn't do it.

And to add to the above, the spreading fx loses its impact overtime when used pervasively. Psycho-acoustically, the brain ends up getting used to it and consider it as the norm and the fx loses its impact, consequently its usefulness.

However, if that is the overal sought result, use of same is therefore justified...

i can add frequency range-specific widening in the ozone 8 mastering suite (which i love), so if, for example, i wanted to add some width to, say, the upper midrange... i could do that.

 

i never do that.

All the others who wrote before me are quite right. So let me add my profound wisdom to reinforce their points.

You get a mix wide by widening some specific elements en leaving other elements very narrow: the contrast between very narrow focused elements (drums, bass, other predominantly rythmic elements) and widely spread elements (strings, backing vocals, pads, certain very harmonic and legato-ish instruments, maybe even one strummed guitar) makes for a mix that "feels" very wide. If you widen the mix as a whole, it becomes very dull and (as David said) it looses punch very quickly, and there is no contrast between narrow and wide elements. It is not unlike photography: if you want a very light, bright image, it is no use to make it all very bright, because that"ll look like it was (amateurishly) overexposed - you need a few very dark elements to emphasize the brightness - same for very dark pictures: if there's only darkness makes them look underexposed - just a few specks of highlights will emphasize the darkness more. One knob to turn the whole picture lighter or darker will not improve things, just like one stereo spreading plugin across the whole mix will not improve the mix.

Another thing to remember:

 

My guess is that 95% of the playbacks of a given song will be on either headphones, mono or some non-ideal stereo (listener might have a stereo setup but will not sit right between the speakers).

 

I guess these wideners will only work for the last 5% that sits perfectly between the speakers like you would in the control room.

 

It might be different for some genres.

No. Wideners will not work on headphones, because headphones will also emphasize all that the wideners worsen: you will hear even better that punch is lost and the exquisite steak has become mushy soup.

That was the point I was trying to make. Wideners will only work for the 5% that listens on a perfect stereo set as you would during mixing.

 

So they’re made for the few and to make it sound impressive during mixing.

That was the point I was trying to make. Wideners will only work for the 5% that listens on a perfect stereo set as you would during mixing.

Wideners are not about creating a realistic image, therefore they don't need a the perfect equilateral triangle stereo position to "work", they're just an effect, and the further apart your speakers are, the more the effect will be perceptible. They'll be even more perceptible on headphones.

I can't add anything to what has already been stated regarding wideners. What you may want to check out is M/S EQ. This technique has been used by mastering engineers for decades. Essentially you EQ the Sides differently than the Center, i.e., remove some of the low-end from the sides for example, and the result is a wider and cleaner sounding master without the artifacts and other problems introduced by a spreader plugin. Very small changes will result in perceptible differences so use it correctly.

 

What is Mid/Side Processing?

https://www.izotope.com/en/blog/mastering/what-is-midside-processing.html

 

Video - Mid/Side for Mastering

 

Hope this helps.

markno999: good share!