Stereo Wideners on guitars - raspy results

[-Loco-]

Hello all, I've been working on some new material and although I've worked with wideners like S1 before I was wondering a) how common they are now with all these modern 'ultra-wide' sounding metal mixes b) your general approach in taking care of those upper frequencies which, for me..always seem to leave me scratching my head after. E.Q-ing some of the attack at around 2k can make it feel quite lifeless.

I have heard good things about the brainworx shredspread guitar widener, was also wondering if anyone had experience with it?

Thanks

 

[AntonioPetrole]

Hello all, I've been working on some new material and although I've worked with wideners like S1 before I was wondering a) how common they are now with all these modern 'ultra-wide' sounding metal mixes b) your general approach in taking care of those upper frequencies which, for me..always seem to leave me scratching my head after. E.Q-ing some of the attack at around 2k can make it feel quite lifeless.

I have heard good things about the brainworx shredspread guitar widener, was also wondering if anyone had experience with it?

Thanks

i never really understood widening guitars. How do you widen something more than 100% left or right? hopefully someone can chime in to help you

 

[egan.]

You widen beyond 100% by using phase tricks which effect perception (psychoacoustic tricks) at the expense of accuracy, phase coherence, mono-compatibility and tone. I wouldn't use them on rhythm guitars or for anything other than special effects.

 

[P-E]

I've tried shredspread, IMO you should save your money and work on getting great tones that sound wide in the mix rather than widening stuff using phase tricks.

 

[PaoloJM]

Can't understand why you'd want stereo widening on guitars.

 

[-Loco-]

A few people whose production techniques I quite like have used them in the past. I was never satisfied with the sound when I tried them

 

[RedDog]

Pan em wide. Mix with a solid center to emphasize your wideness.

 

[Nimvi]

You could also dial in slightly different sounds for the left and right tracks of your dual/quadtracked guitars to emphasize and enhance their stereo image (or just use different amps/guitars all together). Not everyone likes this but it's good to experiment.

The enhanced nasty highs could be a result of the phasing that is inherently used in stereo wideners. They tend to eat more lows and mids than highs (listen to your quadtracked guitars in mono, and you know what I mean), so you are left with more of the harsh stuff. I've spent hours trying to get rid of all the nasty spikes in the top regions, ending up with dead guitar tracks. Now I just use more mids/bass on the source so I can turn the guitars lower in the mix. The harshness is still there but it is a lot less dominant. That way I end up cutting only 1 or 2 spikes instead of a whole combfilter. Less processing is always better imo. Also, try shelving filters more often if you don't already. They sound a LOT more natural on guitars than bell-shape EQs imo. Pretty easy to balance out bass mids and highs that way if you can't change the source.

 

[paladin shredder]

sometimes, i'll side-chain my rhythm guitars to a stereo widener, with the widener set around 5-15% beyond 100% left/right, and blend that signal in less than 50% of the original tracks volume. this adds a little depth and wideness, but doesn't ruin the mono capability. it's a very subtle effect that won't make or break your mix, meaning your guitars should still sound bad ass without it.

 

[OneDaySky]

Sounds like a bad idea to me! Phase problems.

 

[crillemannen]

I use stereo widener on guitars all the time. Just 1.20-1.25 on S1. I think it works great. THere are no right or wrongs here guys.

 

[AntonioPetrole]

I use stereo widener on guitars all the time. Just 1.20-1.25 on S1. I think it works great. THere are no right or wrongs here guys.

I hear about people doing this all the time, the concept of widening past 100% left or right just doesnt make sense to me though lol

 

[Brady k]

Sounds like a bad idea to me! Phase problems.

don't post something if you have never tried it or don't know what your talking about ...
i have never read one helpful thing from any of your posts one day sky ..

thanks ...



many professional productions are using stereo wideners on guitars now a days...

i used then on the last E.P i produced and was quite happy with the results

 

[P-E]

I hear about people doing this all the time, the concept of widening past 100% left or right just doesnt make sense to me though lol

Then think about reducing volume in the mid, and then raising overall gain, so the sides' volume ends up higher compared to the mid's, raising perceived width.