First off, thanks to those who helped me figure out that group channels in cubase can function like busses in Pro Tools. The reason I was asking was so I could figure out how to do an easy way this cool little trick from Pro Tools (and analog boards) in Cubase.
In the mastering stage, this will give you independent control over the center and the sides of your stereo mix (think of the stereo mix as having a discrete left and right as well as a center).
In most pop music, the bass, kick, usually the snare, and vocal will be panned center. The sides (L and R) will be filled with other things like guitars, keyboards, strings, whatever. In some cases, the only thing that is on the sides of the stereo image might be a stereo reverb.
This is useful because it would allow you to, say, compress or limit the stuff in the middle without affecting the stuff on the sides. Or, in the case of a narrow stereo image, you can adjust the actual width of the stereo image without having to buy (or steal if you use a PC...) a waves plug in. You do it like this:
1. Open up your stereo mix to a stereo track and label it "source." Create a mono group track and label it "Sum."
2. Mix down your stereo mix into separate L and R channels (stereo split). Hard pan accordingly. Phase flip the left channel.
3. Mix down the those two tracks (the L and R- ) into a mono track. You can call it "Difference1."
4. Copy the new file to a new track (call it difference 2) and phase flip one of them. Pan the phase flipped one hard left and the original difference track right.
5. Go to the source track and send the mix to the sum group channel, and make it prefader. Then turn the fader of the source down all the way. The fader for the sum group channel now controls the mono version, or center of your stereo mix.
6. Create a stereo group channel and call it sides.
7. Go to the two difference tracks and send them to the Sides group channel and make them prefader. Then turn the fader of the difference tracks down al the way. The fader for the sides group channel now controls the information that gave your original file its stereo image.
Your two group faders now control the stereo image. Mute the sides channel and you have a narrow stereo image. The more sides you add in the wider your stereo image. Then you can also experiment with other things - eq just the center to get the right vocal sound. Add an effect to the sides channel and it will only affect stuff recorded in stereo, like guitars or cymbals or whatever.
Have fun.
You can message me if you didn't understand somethign or i didn't explain it good enough.
- side note:
You can skip all the group channel business by just mixing down at each stage. All you need is a mono version of the stereo mix, a mono version of the sides (which you get by phase flipping either the L or R channel of your mix and summing the result), and a phase flipped version of the sides. Mono goes center, and the original mono side hard panned one way and the phase flpped mono side the other way. Group the two side channels and you're good to go.
In the mastering stage, this will give you independent control over the center and the sides of your stereo mix (think of the stereo mix as having a discrete left and right as well as a center).
In most pop music, the bass, kick, usually the snare, and vocal will be panned center. The sides (L and R) will be filled with other things like guitars, keyboards, strings, whatever. In some cases, the only thing that is on the sides of the stereo image might be a stereo reverb.
This is useful because it would allow you to, say, compress or limit the stuff in the middle without affecting the stuff on the sides. Or, in the case of a narrow stereo image, you can adjust the actual width of the stereo image without having to buy (or steal if you use a PC...) a waves plug in. You do it like this:
1. Open up your stereo mix to a stereo track and label it "source." Create a mono group track and label it "Sum."
2. Mix down your stereo mix into separate L and R channels (stereo split). Hard pan accordingly. Phase flip the left channel.
3. Mix down the those two tracks (the L and R- ) into a mono track. You can call it "Difference1."
4. Copy the new file to a new track (call it difference 2) and phase flip one of them. Pan the phase flipped one hard left and the original difference track right.
5. Go to the source track and send the mix to the sum group channel, and make it prefader. Then turn the fader of the source down all the way. The fader for the sum group channel now controls the mono version, or center of your stereo mix.
6. Create a stereo group channel and call it sides.
7. Go to the two difference tracks and send them to the Sides group channel and make them prefader. Then turn the fader of the difference tracks down al the way. The fader for the sides group channel now controls the information that gave your original file its stereo image.
Your two group faders now control the stereo image. Mute the sides channel and you have a narrow stereo image. The more sides you add in the wider your stereo image. Then you can also experiment with other things - eq just the center to get the right vocal sound. Add an effect to the sides channel and it will only affect stuff recorded in stereo, like guitars or cymbals or whatever.
Have fun.
You can message me if you didn't understand somethign or i didn't explain it good enough.
- side note:
You can skip all the group channel business by just mixing down at each stage. All you need is a mono version of the stereo mix, a mono version of the sides (which you get by phase flipping either the L or R channel of your mix and summing the result), and a phase flipped version of the sides. Mono goes center, and the original mono side hard panned one way and the phase flpped mono side the other way. Group the two side channels and you're good to go.
