Stereo enhancement for PC?

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Dan_Gaffey

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I'm looking for a plugin for PC (I'm using Sonar X1) that can give you a visualisation of the spreading as well as the numbers and knobs. In a nutshell, I'm looking for something like "Stereo Spread" that's in Logic Pro 8 (Picture below). Any suggestions?
 

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It looks like what I'm after, I'll give the demo a go :)
 
I'm not sure why this is in the mastering section (actually, I don't even know why these stupid plugs exist in the first place). I'll bet that 99.9999% of professional mastering engineers NEVER use anything along the lines of a "Stereo Enhancer". This should be in the NEwbiw forum, or the Mixing Forum at best.
 
RAMI said:
I'm not sure why this is in the mastering section (actually, I don't even know why these stupid plugs exist in the first place). I'll bet that 99.9999% of professional mastering engineers NEVER use anything along the lines of a "Stereo Enhancer". This should be in the NEwbiw forum, or the Mixing Forum at best.
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I guess I sort of half disagree. First of all M/S is quite an interesting tool (no I don't use it often) and maybe it could have been in the 'Mixing section (whatever that other forum's called).
But to the other half of your point, no NOT the 'nubie section. Why?
Because as we know it's 'get the basics down first.
I'll go with you on one notion though and that'd be regarding the fancy picture-for-sound displays. Phooey
:p
 
mixsit said:
I guess I sort of half disagree. First of all M/S is quite an interesting tool (no I don't use it often) and maybe it could have been in the 'Mixing section (whatever that other forum's called).
But to the other half of your point, no NOT the 'nubie section. Why?
Because as we know it's 'get the basics down first.
I'll go with you on one notion though and that'd be regarding the fancy picture-for-sound displays. Phooey
:p
Click to expand...
OK, maybe not the Newbies section. :)

M/S is a different thing than these "Stereo Widener" plug-ins.

The main reason for me saying this shouldn't be in the mastering section is because, like I said, most real ME's would almost never use it. Because of that, it's not a mastering tool.
 
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M/S processing is often used in mastering, but not necessarily for widening. A good mastering engineer would not substantially alter the stereo image of a mix, and a good mix wouldn't need it anyway.

A tool that displayed the phase amplitude between left and right channels might come in handy to identify problems, like those caused by copying/panning/delaying a track. The right way to fix those is to go back to the mix and not copy/pan/delay stuff. Even better, the mix engineer should check his mixes frequently in mono. If something sounds very different or quieter or disappears entirely there is a phase/polarity problem that he should address long before "mastering" gets mentioned.

But that first pic looks like some sort of artificial stereo-izer that uses comb filtering. If so I would avoid it at all costs.
 
I don't know of to many respectable ME's using "stereo enhancing" plugs that use comb filtering and haas delays. Those things can have the tendency to really screw up the program. On the other hand M/S gets used a bit because of the flexibility of being able to de-ess the center only or eq the sides a bit differently from the mid.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
M/S processing is often used in mastering, but not necessarily for widening. A good mastering engineer would not substantially alter the stereo image of a mix, and a good mix wouldn't need it anyway.

A tool that displayed the phase amplitude between left and right channels might come in handy to identify problems, like those caused by copying/panning/delaying a track. The right way to fix those is to go back to the mix and not copy/pan/delay stuff. Even better, the mix engineer should check his mixes frequently in mono. If something sounds very different or quieter or disappears entirely there is a phase/polarity problem that he should address long before "mastering" gets mentioned.

But that first pic looks like some sort of artificial stereo-izer that uses comb filtering. If so I would avoid it at all costs.
Click to expand...

Waltz Mastering said:
I don't know of to many respectable ME's using "stereo enhancing" plugs that use comb filtering and haas delays. Those things can have the tendency to really screw up the program. On the other hand M/S gets used a bit because of the flexibility of being able to de-ess the center only or eq the sides a bit differently from the mid.
Click to expand...

That's all I was trying to say. Didn't mean to offend anyone. I'm just not as articulate as these guys. :eek: :D
 
Yep, not mastering is it! Comb filtering/phase games - at best when you have an ancient mono full drum kit track to work with. I have a few such plug ins that I thought I needed - before I learnt that: a) I didnt & b) how to record & mix for a semi decent stereo field.
RAMI's point remains - the OP shouldn't need it, the post isn't about mastering and is a little niave.
 
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