The MODERN Way To Mix Stereo Width 🎧

Why the "mono bass / wide treble" approach to stereo mixing could be WRONG – and the frequencies that modern mixes actually use for width 🎧

[damianb]

with respect I think this needs an hour video... it's so involved

[machete]

Bass and treble travel straight to you when someone speaks in front of you. Midrange stuff is what bounces off the walls the most. This kinda makes sense

[garrett]

Spot on. I used to make the highs the widest too, but I noticed that my most recent reference track had wider mids than highs. Pulling the highs in and widening the mids instead on my own track made it sound so much better.

[Mrenglandmusic]

Honestly. My niche is my messed up stereo width, it’s the thing that makes my mix sound unique. I try to get the most amount of width before the point of phasing. It sounds great even know it’s technically wrong. It almost has this 3D effect. Without breaking up and distorting


If you want alot of stereo width make sure your elements are balanced really well, compression is great, and your mids are coming out enough. I like my elements to be on the quieter side just so nothing distorts in mastering. And that way I can get more natural width out.

During mastering, I go through each element to make sure nothings phasing with the utility tool L R, I balance all of my instruments width with ozone 9 SOLO width plugin. The upfront sounds get more width, the semi important sounds like cymbals get 50/75 percent width, and background elements sometimes are mono, panned either a bit to the left or right.
All panning should be good, and all notes should be mostly on grid, otherwise things in the spectrum sound weird. I then do the master mono check, and if it sounds good in mono, it’ll most likely sound good in stereo. If any bass is missing in mono your element is phasing.

Then I decide whether or not I want to keep 100hz mono or leave it stereo, sometimes it sounds off, other times it gives it a unique sound. 50hz should be mono.

I also like to do reference mixes and masters on every single project I work on. When you’re done writing or even during writing, listen to elements, be inspired by what you like, and know how they do it.

[wcproductions]

Finally! Someone more of a pro than I am sharing the same opinion/experience.

I do the exact same thing cause sub bass is too low to hear the difference between left and right, plus if you have sub(s) in your car, it causes phase issues since most sub amps combine the loudness of both the left and right channels. And then highs, like above 6.5k or so, is too high to tell the different as well. I always understood the bass part but the highs part took a lot of trial and error before realizing what I kept doing wrong.

[MusicByNemo]

that last bit of info is why yall are actaul legends

[lfakroll]

I agree, but sometimes i like a ride cymbal with a big reverb

[Reakerboy]

Of course! That's why most mastering engineers use mid / side eq! It's a game changer at mastering stage.

[moresnqp]

I'm a bit addicted to the khz comb filter stereo setting

[vukan.mp]

stereo 808s jus completely throwing this out the window 😭

[truecrimsons]

I like making my 808s super stereo it sounds really gritty in a good way

[Nebvla]

I agree, though i don't think the highs should be completely mono..

[abincshaji]

I like my basses wide. But, I'll make sure to narrow the sub frequencies under.

[awlies]

UK chorus sub doesn't follow the rule also :)

[jordanmarcus]

so what elements occupying the high frequencies should one set to mono? hihats?

[james-m-]

Basically, subs are usually played back in mono anyway, and humans can’t hear direction in really high pitched stuff anyway. So keep it narrow in those zones

[styzr]

Actually wide basses are quite interesting.

[shawnmorgan]

Why he talk so fast. I had to watch three times to catch his point

[PortoFinoww]

I think there’s a misunderstanding behind this. The christmas tree shouldn’t be reverse, the image should be like a standing Christmas tree 🎄 the wood at the base is sub frequencies, they should be monoish. Then there’s the larger part of the stereo field (the low mids), here we get the most of the stereo width. And then the tree goes narrower (but not too mid centered) in the high mids and high frequencies. In the highest part of the spectrum there should be only a bit of vocals and transient from the drums that are mostly monoish. Hope this helps.

[Vingul]

Stereo width is overrated, I see lots of people seeming to want to make everything as wide as possible. Details on the sides is of course good but the punch ought to be relatively centred imo. If it’s a percussion-less ambient [edit: track] it might be a different matter.
Not referring to this video btw, this was a measured take.