Stereo widening on guitar bus.. does this make sense?

[SawdustRecordings]

Hey,

on my current productions I'm trying out the Wave Shuffler or Stereo Imager to get my guitars a bit more left and right. Does this make any sense? I mean, I hear that it sounds wider and that I have more room in my panorama, but it sounds kinda strange. Like you delayed one guitar channel about some ms. Do you use stereo imager on guitars?

 

[timislegend]

imagers are useful ...however unless it's an effect, i would say always double-track the "rhythm" guitars.

 

[Zack Uidl]

never

 

[Zorran]

i would say try a few different ones. i like the steinberg one alot more than the blue tubes or waves ones. also if you hear phasing thats probably too much widening. 5% or 10% goes a long way. if you still dont have enough space i would say thats more an eq issue than widening

 

[egan.]

Anything "wider than hard panned" even if it had no artifacts is strange to me for anything but an effect IMHO.

 

[SawdustRecordings]

imagers are useful ...however unless it's an effect, i would say always double-track the "rhythm" guitars.

I double track everything of course! I like how an imager affects the guitar bus. But I think it's the same like using exciter. Of course they make it sound kinda better, but it ruins your mix if you overdo it.

 

[XnaySaturo]

It never sounds completely natural. There's always something off about it, and it throws me off a lot.

 

[guitarguru777]

Double track and pan hard right and left. Stereo imaging can have some cool effects on clean parts and solos though

 

[Star Ark]

I tried for a few months but could never get them to work for me. Now I track with different guitar tones either side, if they sound different your mix will sound alot wider.

 

[jimwilbourne]

Double track and pan hard right and left. Stereo imaging can have some cool effects on clean parts and solos though

+1
I don't recommend using this for every application. you'll end up with a thin mix.
the only place i ever use it is for a specific effect or in the Mastering Stages. and even then, I rarely push it wider than 120% (100% being the normal setting).

 

[SawdustRecordings]

havent I read that joey uses this widening thing, too? but I think your all right. it's nothing more than an effect

 

[Jevil]

For me, even hard panning is a bit weird. I like -90/90 panning.

 

[AHChris]

My guitars tend to completely drown in mono when I use widening stuff... so I don´t

 

[greyskull]

no.

 

[Chris_P_Critter]

Maybe a little M/S processing for a master, but never in the chain / mix for me.

 

[Fragle]

skip the stereo widener stuff. try dialing in two slightly different tones for L/R or different eq curves instead. widens the guitars in a subtle way.

 

[SawdustRecordings]

Thanks a lot for your answers!

 

[pikachu69]

This is cool:
http://www.brainworx-music.de/en/videos/bx_shredspread

Cheers.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

never

+1

 

[Ermz]

I've always found the wideners to sound a bit strange. If used subtly in mastering, on particular frequency ranges, or as a subtle effect behind lead vocals they can sometimes have a cool effect. But the operative word is subtle.

In order to get this happening on guitars without really screwing your phase, the best ways appear to involve slightly different tones/curves on each side, hammering one side with a limiter. or delaying it slightly behind the other side (assuming the two sides are edited together very tightly, otherwise the playing will sound out). I don't like doing this kind of thing for metal in general... it doesn't really add anything I find beneficial. Tightness over width in that case, IMO. For rock and looser styles you can get away with it though, if the width is important to you.