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Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:19 pm
by pesky
im currently working on a track where im using some big dance chords on the breakdown.
i want this to be the stand out part of the song for me so it has to be big and take up alot of the stereo image.
ive duplicated the the channels and panned hard left and right...it certainly sounds bigger and wider but just wondered how many of you use this technique and if ill encounter any problems by doing this? :corntard:

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:24 pm
by baseband
be careful with low frquencies

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:31 pm
by pesky
Ive EQ'd out alot of the lower frequencies which i thought would cause problems? :6:

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:38 pm
by Electric_Head
I find panning hard left and right is too much.

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 1:09 pm
by Killamike49
Electric_Head wrote:I find panning hard left and right is too much.
Yeah, 20-50% usually does it for me.

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 1:13 pm
by pesky
thanks for your input lads, ill reduce the panning and see what sounds good.

i usually only use hard panning on hats etc.

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 1:17 pm
by Killamike49
What'll make it sound really big, is if you make like 4 or 5 versions of the patch, and make them all subtly different. Turn them all down, becuase it'll surely be clipping. Pan them all a bit different, two can be 100% left and right, another two could be around 50, and one could be at the center. That's just an example, but things like that really help make things sound big.

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 1:50 pm
by therapist
If the tracks are identical, duplicating and panning doesn't actually do anything does it?

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 1:55 pm
by Killamike49
Yeah if you don't change any of the parameters. It just makes it louder. Haha.

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 2:02 pm
by Filthzilla
What you wanna do is pan left and right [maybe hard left/right or maybe just a little, see what works]...

Then displace on half by taking it back or forward a milisecond or two.

Sounds dope, just been listening to a few Datsik tunes where he does that on the bassline.

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 2:04 pm
by Killamike49
Filthzilla wrote:What you wanna do is pan left and right [maybe hard left/right or maybe just a little, see what works]...

Then displace on half by taking it back or forward a milisecond or two.

Sounds dope, just been listening to a few Datsik tunes where he does that on the bassline.
I've noticed a similar effect when playing with really short feedback times, like 8-12ms. Same thing really. It gives you like instant robo-vibe.

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 2:06 pm
by therapist
Filthzilla wrote:What you wanna do is pan left and right [maybe hard left/right or maybe just a little, see what works]...

Then displace on half by taking it back or forward a milisecond or two.

Sounds dope, just been listening to a few Datsik tunes where he does that on the bassline.
Use a really short stereo (sample delay in logic, don't know the equivalents) delay? Seems a lot easier. This would cause fairly big issues in bass when knocked to mono though, maybe.

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 2:26 pm
by Eat Bass
therapist wrote:
Filthzilla wrote:What you wanna do is pan left and right [maybe hard left/right or maybe just a little, see what works]...

Then displace on half by taking it back or forward a milisecond or two.

Sounds dope, just been listening to a few Datsik tunes where he does that on the bassline.
Use a really short stereo (sample delay in logic, don't know the equivalents) delay? Seems a lot easier. This would cause fairly big issues in bass when knocked to mono though, maybe.
how many samples do you usually delay it by? i know samples are apparently really short which makes the sample delay really good for this trick.

i've been getting into using this trick in logic as well as panning but i just find it a huge pain in the arse to first split the frequencies to leave 100-350hz alone. then duplicate the mids and highs and pan them.

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 2:35 pm
by therapist
Eat Bass wrote:
therapist wrote:
Filthzilla wrote:What you wanna do is pan left and right [maybe hard left/right or maybe just a little, see what works]...

Then displace on half by taking it back or forward a milisecond or two.

Sounds dope, just been listening to a few Datsik tunes where he does that on the bassline.
Use a really short stereo (sample delay in logic, don't know the equivalents) delay? Seems a lot easier. This would cause fairly big issues in bass when knocked to mono though, maybe.
how many samples do you usually delay it by? i know samples are apparently really short which makes the sample delay really good for this trick.

i've been getting into using this trick in logic as well as panning but i just find it a huge pain in the arse to first split the frequencies to leave 100-350hz alone. then duplicate the mids and highs and pan them.
A bus with low/mid cut > short sample delay / imager > stereo delay/reverb etc. can achieve something similar and you can just whack whichever instruments you like through it rather than do it track for track. Or even a bus each for left and right with some ambient effects can get some interesting results.

I can't really remember the science re- sample delay, but enough to give some width, not so much that the sound becomes two distinct sounds in each speaker. I don't imagine that's helpful but there you go.

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 3:12 pm
by Eat Bass
therapist wrote:
Eat Bass wrote:
therapist wrote:
Filthzilla wrote:What you wanna do is pan left and right [maybe hard left/right or maybe just a little, see what works]...

Then displace on half by taking it back or forward a milisecond or two.

Sounds dope, just been listening to a few Datsik tunes where he does that on the bassline.
Use a really short stereo (sample delay in logic, don't know the equivalents) delay? Seems a lot easier. This would cause fairly big issues in bass when knocked to mono though, maybe.
how many samples do you usually delay it by? i know samples are apparently really short which makes the sample delay really good for this trick.

i've been getting into using this trick in logic as well as panning but i just find it a huge pain in the arse to first split the frequencies to leave 100-350hz alone. then duplicate the mids and highs and pan them.
A bus with low/mid cut > short sample delay / imager > stereo delay/reverb etc. can achieve something similar and you can just whack whichever instruments you like through it rather than do it track for track. Or even a bus each for left and right with some ambient effects can get some interesting results.

I can't really remember the science re- sample delay, but enough to give some width, not so much that the sound becomes two distinct sounds in each speaker. I don't imagine that's helpful but there you go.
yeah ill give it a go doing it that method. but the method i was talking about thats a pain in the arse is panning each bass hard L and R but still having the lows just mono. there a better method than splitting frequencies then cuplicating the mids and highs and panning them?

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 3:20 pm
by Killamike49
Eat Bass wrote:
therapist wrote:
Eat Bass wrote:
therapist wrote:
Filthzilla wrote:What you wanna do is pan left and right [maybe hard left/right or maybe just a little, see what works]...

Then displace on half by taking it back or forward a milisecond or two.

Sounds dope, just been listening to a few Datsik tunes where he does that on the bassline.
Use a really short stereo (sample delay in logic, don't know the equivalents) delay? Seems a lot easier. This would cause fairly big issues in bass when knocked to mono though, maybe.
how many samples do you usually delay it by? i know samples are apparently really short which makes the sample delay really good for this trick.

i've been getting into using this trick in logic as well as panning but i just find it a huge pain in the arse to first split the frequencies to leave 100-350hz alone. then duplicate the mids and highs and pan them.
A bus with low/mid cut > short sample delay / imager > stereo delay/reverb etc. can achieve something similar and you can just whack whichever instruments you like through it rather than do it track for track. Or even a bus each for left and right with some ambient effects can get some interesting results.

I can't really remember the science re- sample delay, but enough to give some width, not so much that the sound becomes two distinct sounds in each speaker. I don't imagine that's helpful but there you go.
yeah ill give it a go doing it that method. but the method i was talking about thats a pain in the arse is panning each bass hard L and R but still having the lows just mono. there a better method than splitting frequencies then cuplicating the mids and highs and panning them?
Route your bass to another mixer track, eq out the low and pan/spread to taste. Then adjust how much signal is being sent to the master.

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 3:21 pm
by pesky
therapist wrote:If the tracks are identical, duplicating and panning doesn't actually do anything does it?
oh. :oops: hahaha.

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 3:27 pm
by deadly_habit
http://www.fluxhome.com/products/freewares/stereotool this is what you wanna be looking at

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 3:28 pm
by OfficialDAPT
pesky wrote:
therapist wrote:If the tracks are identical, duplicating and panning doesn't actually do anything does it?
oh. :oops: hahaha.
The easier way is switch to Ableton where intrument racks and busses are plentiful.

Re: Making synths wider with panning.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 3:44 pm
by pesky
deadly habit wrote:http://www.fluxhome.com/products/freewares/stereotool this is what you wanna be looking at
thanks deadly, ill have a look into that stereo tool.
OfficialDAPT wrote:
pesky wrote:
therapist wrote:If the tracks are identical, duplicating and panning doesn't actually do anything does it?
oh. :oops: hahaha.
The easier way is switch to Ableton where intrument racks and busses are plentiful.
im on Ableton but recently just switched so im still getting used to using instrument racks and stuff.
ive also been using Utility for widening things which seems to be a good tool to create space within a mix.