Are your mixes not as wide as the competition?
There’s a good chance that some of your favorite tracks have been mixed or mastered with some stereo width enhancement.
In today’s video I show you the difference a little bit of stereo widening can make on your mix, but even more powerfully I show you how you can AUTOMATE your mix buss plugins including stereo width, mix compression, and more.
Just knowing that you can do this is helpful as a mixer, whether you use it on every mix or not.
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My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
I use the stereo widening in Ozone 7, but only on the higher frequencies. The low low frequency is collapsed to mono.
Good point Larry.
i really need to learn plug in automation..I can see and hear all kinds of variations and uses of this….ths once again G…..Doc
I remember when I discovered that very same plugin in my protools stack. I started using it as a final step just to discover that I was abusing it. Once I took my mixes out of my studio to the car, I discovered many instruments including the voice getting lost in the mix…
Good for you for being honest about it. Part of the learning process in audio for me is abuse of what I’m learning. Eventually I learn to dial it back to a useable level and then only when needed.
How do you turn this on in Reaper?
This is a great idea I didn’t think about! Love it! And your music is amazing!
Thank you Graham, GREAT idea
Master Buss plugins, yes (Waves SSL compression to knock off a couple of dbs, Slate Digital’s virtual tape machine and virtual mixbuss as well as stereo widening [by Waves I think]).
Using Automation on the MB, not yet… 😉 Flanging is the first thing that comes to mind.
I know that most music these days is released digitally or on CD etc but for some crazy obscure reason Vinyl seems to be making a comeback, I know, what the heck. So my point is, I’ve heard that your not meant to use stereo widiners when mastering for vinyl because it will distort the high frequencies. Would you recommend making 2 final mixes, one for digital release and use stereo widening for choruses etc and if also doing a Vinyl release, have a final mix just for vinyl? I’m interested in hearing from anyone that has used stereo wideners on their final mixes and got a Vinyl run done and if it still sounded good. Or would you recommend absolutely no stereo wideners for Vinyl? I’m just very curious.
Great question – never mixed or mastered for vinyl so I couldn’t say.
This is great teachings here!!
I’ve always used wideners – the only place where I could think of putting them was on the master – very slightly, to the point where I like the subjective panorama, which is not excessively wide, lest it become flat.
And panning automations, as well, a lot, but not for widening purposes, but for interplay, stereo movement, and even mix balance or declutter. For instance, when you have six guitars on a song, and on a certain part all three guitars come in on the right, and none of the ones on the left, the mix would be completely unbalanced, so you have to temporarily move one or two of the guitars on the right, depending on the weight of what they play, to the left, to balance it out.
I’ve always used wideners – the only place where I could think of putting them was on the master – very slightly, to the point where I like the subjective panorama, which is not excessively wide, lest it become flat.
And panning automations, as well, a lot, but not for widening purposes, but for interplay, stereo movement, and even mix balance or declutter. For instance, when you have six guitars on a song, and on a certain part all three guitars come in on the right, and none of the ones on the left, the mix would be completely unbalanced, so you have to temporarily move one or two of the guitars on the right, depending on the weight of what they play, to the left, to balance it out.
And I like the low end left slightly narrower, to have it come from the center.
Good tip. I never thought about automating the stereo width. i have used stereo widening before, and I have used a mid-side eq plugin to widen the image. i’ll have to try this. Lately though, I have only been doing tracks for church. We only have a mono PA system, so I just do mono mixes.
Great Tutorial! I use wideners a lot, in particular StereoTools by Sonalksis on the Master Bus. Never thought to use it in this way with automation. Thanks a lot 🙂
You’re welcome!
Thank you, Graham. Simple stuff to do. Knowing the “how” is what sets it apart and makes it work. Now, I need to give it a shot and make it work where it’s needed.
It’s a great eye-opener. Thanks, Graham!
Very effective move, thanks! And, more in general, I thank you for letting me realize that simplicity is the key. If you have a good band, a good song and a good recording, the 90% is done; what you really have to care for is not to ruin everything, thinking you are improving. Thanks again!
Thanks Graham. I do use plugins on the Master bus but not automation! Thanks for the great tip.