Mono sounds/samples - making them stereo

[coyotekells]

I use Logic pro and often want to make a sound or sample stereo (from a completely mono signal)
There's a plugin that comes stock called StereoSpreader which shifts frequency ranges to either sides ... it works enough for me with most sounds, but when attempting to make a sample (a complete phrase of music) stereo this way is very lacking in it's controls, etc.
There are other techniques to help these situations (i often layer my own playing over the sample, etc. to thicken & widen it up) but there are cases I really just wish I could, for example, make a string loop seem more like it was mixed in stereo.

Any and all tips for going from mono to stereo are much appreciated!

Which tools do you use? It didn't seem like the Waves Stereo Imager, etc. were geared towards creating a stereo image from a mono file, probably more just for widening existing stereo. am i wrong?

thx folks

[Mark1353]

Use short delays, for example 15ms left side 25ms right side, mix to taste with the dry signal. You can also effect these delays with reverb or what ever comes to your mind, no rules here. Pitch shifting is nice too. Or pan your sound left and send the signal to mono reverb at the right. You could also playback the sound through your monitors and record it back with 2 mics, mix this with the original.

[soundsubs]

if youre looking for a plugin that will make it stereo, this isnt a good answer... but what i do sometimes is stick a mic (57 or neuman, it doesnt matter) in front of the monitor speaker and play/record the sound twice, then slide the track back to another audio track in the DAW and pan left/right. (sorta) instant stereo!

it works pretty well.

[microka]

I don't use logic but...I believe to if you open a stereo channel, and drag that mono file into the stereo channel, it will paste the sound into the left and right channels...Again I don't use Logic, but this works for me in sound forge...I hope this helps!!!

[jonesboy]

Grab a plugin called 'PhaseTone'. This will allow you to take your two mono signals and muck with their relative phase as well as inducing some number of samples' delay to one side (or both, if you want). This can do some neat false-surround things if you really play with it (may / may not be desirable), so make sure to audition the sounds on a Dolby Digital and a Dolby Surround system. Worst case you can pan both tracks closer to centre to remove some of the phase difference.

Hope this helps,

-Matt

[filltrate]

as a great man once said "F*uck that stereo Bulls*hit" but if you insist try a TC 1210 or an AN-2 by Studio Technologies i prefer the latter

[FunkyDrummer]

Originally Posted by St. Kelly

I use Logic pro and often want to make a sound or sample stereo (from a completely mono signal)

Check out the PSP stereo pack: http://www.pspaudioware.com/plugins/stereopack.html Their plugin "pseudostereo" is great for making a mono signal sound as stereo as you like... Hope this helps

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by microka

I don't use logic but...I believe to if you open a stereo channel, and drag that mono file into the stereo channel, it will paste the sound into the left and right channels...Again I don't use Logic, but this works for me in sound forge...I hope this helps!!!

Erm...I think you need a little more experience before offering advice on this! For a signal to be stereo, it has to have different information on 2 channels...what you're suggesting above (assuming it works) will be dual mono....and thus sound exactly the same as panning a single channel centrally. Now if you started EQing one side, or put a delay on one side...THAT would start making things happening in stereo, because different signals would be coming out of each speaker.

FWIW, it depends on WHY you want a signal to be stereo. If it stands to gain something significant (eg Organ sample being fed into a Leslie speaker simulation, to make it sound more authentic) then I can see the point.

But otherwise, too many stereo sounds can take up the stereo spectrum and make things sound cluttered - a piano spread with the bass notes far left and top end far right seems unnatural and "sample" like if you ask me. Much better to leave the sound in mono, pan it off centre, and then if you need to add some sort of stereo ambience. To my ears, an acoustic guitar part treated like this would sound much more natural than any of the artificial widening techniques used.

Just my opinion. But I've assisted many top notch mix engineers over the past few years, and very few of them ever try to make a mono signal stereo - if anything, they'll mono/reduce the width of a few stereo sounds to make space.

[filltrate]

Originally Posted by psycho_monkey

Erm...I think you need a little more experience before offering advice on this! For a signal to be stereo, it has to have different information on 2 channels...what you're suggesting above (assuming it works) will be dual mono....and thus sound exactly the same as panning a single channel centrally. Now if you started EQing one side, or put a delay on one side...THAT would start making things happening in stereo, because different signals would be coming out of each speaker.

FWIW, it depends on WHY you want a signal to be stereo. If it stands to gain something significant (eg Organ sample being fed into a Leslie speaker simulation, to make it sound more authentic) then I can see the point.

But otherwise, too many stereo sounds can take up the stereo spectrum and make things sound cluttered - a piano spread with the bass notes far left and top end far right seems unnatural and "sample" like if you ask me. Much better to leave the sound in mono, pan it off centre, and then if you need to add some sort of stereo ambience. To my ears, an acoustic guitar part treated like this would sound much more natural than any of the artificial widening techniques used.

Just my opinion. But I've assisted many top notch mix engineers over the past few years, and very few of them ever try to make a mono signal stereo - if anything, they'll mono/reduce the width of a few stereo sounds to make space.

monkey.......F*uck that stereo bulls*hit"
if you want stereo try PANNING