The secret of STEREO!!!

[marcan]

I often use one or two binaural recording in my mix (ambiance of voice, guitar, ...). It directly creates a dimension in the mix and if you hear it with headphones it's even better.

For one album, I put the band in the control room (a big one), everybody with wireless in ear and a lots of stuff able to make noise (driller, hammer, …).
I placed the dummy head in the centre of the room and I played the entire album (thru the wireless in ear). The band start to create the ambiance related to the music (screaming, snap, knock, …).
I mix it with the album. Enough to hear it in the mix and not too much otherwise you lose the magic.
I wanted it to be very garage and it really makes it…

[I Lurk]

The secret of stereo is to stop your quest for loudness.

regards

[Mr. Man]

Originally Posted by corn55

I know you're being cute, but right back at ya brother. Many years ago, (before all the cute tools every dick, clark, and harry now have at their amatuer disposal), engineers needed 4 things:

Good instrument/voice
Good player/singer
Good room
Good mics

There was no lexicon, eventide, no width controls, no di inputs, no analog synths... sheesh how did they get along? Even when they only had mono capability, the depth was unreal. I could be really mean, but I won't. Your statement simply shows how far we've evolved backwards in the studio.

So so true. Except the way I learned the 4 things was:

Great musicians (with great instruments)
Great material (not always the easiest thing to find)
great mics
great mic pres

because everything else is just signal processing and summing assuming the mics and pres don't help you out with that.

I prefer to mix in mono then pan in stereo at the end so that I can eliminate the phased high frequency sound of the mix while I'm working then experiment with different panning at the end. It may not work for you, but it ain't a bad way to start.

[filthyrich]

For those who record ITB.

When you set up your inputs for tracking, do you do input 1 and input 2 and record them on the same "track"? It would appear as 2 "identical" tracks showing on top of each other in the space where one normally is?

OR, do you make track 1 mic one and track 2 mic 2?

The reason I'm asking is that my Layla 20 bit (which im getting rid of in favor of a MOTU 24 I/O that I haven't gotten hooked up yet) has input options of L1, R2 or LR stereo track.

By the way, I record in to Sonar.

[danasti]

Originally Posted by Mike Caffrey

It's funny. There's such a PC answer here for people who ask gear questions - "it's not about the gear it's about what's in front of the mic."

Yet, when it comes to stereo, that answer has gone out the window.

It's good to mention that. A brilliant peice of music that's both played and arranged with space and dyanamics will sound wide and deep. Either mono or stereo. Alot of times what we consider stereo, or "wide, deep, spacious", will retain those properties in mono with speakers on the left and right.

Originally Posted by Mike Caffrey

The answer is, it's all about the arrangment. You can record in mono, or stereo or use whatever reverb tricks you want and make have great mono compatibility, but if there isn't space in the arrangement to allow depth, it won't be there in the mix.

No doubt that someone wanting to improve their mixes, or improve as an engineer / producer gets more from music theory than from a new compressor or preamp. (assuming they at least have a couple a good ones )

If you are working closely with artists having the skill and sensibilities of theory is truely a difference maker. Stereo width and depth? I couldn't agree with you more Mike! Louder, more present mix? Arrangement. Warm, airy vocals? Sure helps if you have somewhere to put it!

[RainbowStorm]

I like to define stereo as "the overall degree of ability to locate a randomly picked element within the sound field". So to create a good stereo image I think these conditions must be met:

- Keeping the mix dynamic enough (creating enough room for hearing the sound of individual tones)
- Avoiding unnatural decay (keeping the perception of the tones as a whole on a high level)
- Using the max 4-elements mixing thumb of rule
- Careful mic choice and mic placement (for a good overall mix signal-noise ratio)
- Good monitoring environment (for panning efficiently enough)
- Signal distribution,arrangement and tone timing (removing fighting frequencies etc)

[Mike Caffrey]

Originally Posted by danasti

It's good to mention that. A brilliant peice of music that's both played and arranged with space and dyanamics will sound wide and deep. Either mono or stereo. Alot of times what we consider stereo, or "wide, deep, spacious", will retain those properties in mono with speakers on the left and right.



No doubt that someone wanting to improve their mixes, or improve as an engineer / producer gets more from music theory than from a new compressor or preamp. (assuming they at least have a couple a good ones )

If you are working closely with artists having the skill and sensibilities of theory is truely a difference maker. Stereo width and depth? I couldn't agree with you more Mike! Louder, more present mix? Arrangement. Warm, airy vocals? Sure helps if you have somewhere to put it!

I wasn't thinking so much about theory (harmony etc), but density.

I hate when artists grafitti their tracks by adding unnecessary parts. Sometimes I have recordings with 48-96 tracks, but it's still essentially a small band. Maybe the guitars got 4 mics/tracks per performance.

High track counts don't necessarily mean density of recording. It may be engineering methods.

As I started writing, I thought theory doens't matter, but I think chord voicings can make a difference. so maybe I do agree with that.

The main point is the content, can affect stereo perception.

[danasti]

Originally Posted by Mike Caffrey

I wasn't thinking so much about theory (harmony etc), but density.

I hate when artists grafitti their tracks by adding unnecessary parts. Sometimes I have recordings with 48-96 tracks, but it's still essentially a small band. Maybe the guitars got 4 mics/tracks per performance.

Agreed about the unnecessary additions. It's natural for artist to want to keep adding though. A good producer, or well seasoned artist with vision, will scale it down and strip it down to the most effective form.

I wasn't speaking totally to theory but more to the overall "engineer/producer as conductor". Placements of instruments and placements sonic sources in relation to the time of the recording.

Originally Posted by Mike Caffrey

High track counts don't necessarily mean density of recording. It may be engineering methods.

As I started writing, I thought theory doens't matter, but I think chord voicings can make a difference. so maybe I do agree with that.

The main point is the content, can affect stereo perception.

I think theory does matter. I really wish I took it more seriously sooner in my life.

I'm often suprised when I hit the mono button and all the life is still there.

[dussel]

Originally Posted by RainbowStorm

- Using the max 4-elements mixing thumb of rule

could you elaborate that?

best
Dussel

[RainbowStorm]

Originally Posted by dussel

could you elaborate that?

best
Dussel

When the number of tracks playing simoultaneously increases the dynamic range of the mix drops due to the limited headroom and the frequencies of the different sound sources start overlapping each other more easily causing frequency masking. Frequency masking in turn makes it harder to locate instruments in the sound sphere with the result of bad instrument separation, ultimately causing a bad stereo image. With too many sound sources and when these are playing the same frequencies you have a platform for bad stereo. With hard limiting on top of this the stereo image will be very bad.

There are many bad sounding mixes out there. A typical mistake is to record 4 elements, apply hard limiting and using reverb too wet on too many elements. A better approach is to record only 3 elements, applying moderate limiting and using reverb on the main element, with only a litte reverb send on another element. Of course you also need to pan the tracks well. Keeping some elements in mono will also help.

With a lot of air in the mix you get a beautiful stereo image.

[abit]

Originally Posted by RainbowStorm

A better approach is to record only 3 elements,

Ideally yeas.
But how often U in ideal room, with ideal monitoring, ppl, arrangement etc.

[Mike Caffrey]

Isn't that the reason people pay you to be in the room - to make it ideal?