When do you most prefer a track be in stereo?

[rasputin1963]

When you're mixing a fairly complex mix, say with rhythm section and more than five instruments or voices, when do you most like the sound of a stereo component track?

 

For example, I have a mix here in progress with over 8 voices going... I've just recorded a B3 VSTi organ track, and it's in stereo... Or should I say "pseudo stereo" if we agree that the only true stereo is when one uses two mics, R+L, from a live environment.

 

So, my question is: Do you ever use a stereo track just because the stereo effect "sounds pretty", ie., because of the unique pan-spread and chorusing that just occurs naturally with stereo? (maybe enhanced with its own reverb or whatnot).

 

If my B3 VSTi organ is just a subtle "background" accompaniment, lending texture and harmonic meaning-- and not a focal instrument-- should it be a stereo track? Or maybe mono is the way to go, as it won't add all manner of phasing conflicts, yet can still be panned somewhere in the mix in "implied stereo"?

 

In other words, Are YOU a big fan of just the very SOUND of a stereo track (and the pseudo stereo of digital synths) just because it sounds pretty?

 

Yes, this is another one of my dorky questions, but please give me some of your experience/lore/aesthetic leanings to chew on, won't you?

 

ras

[Folder]

That pretty stereo track is usually heard best as a solo instrument. Once you start adding more instruments that "pretty stereo effect" may lose some of it's luster. Does the B3 VSTi allow mono tracks? Some of them don't. A mono sound source may work better especially in a dense mix with a lot of instruments. But it really depends. Try it both ways and see.

 

Also you don't necessarily have to pan the instrument or effect far left and far right. You can experiment with panning ratios. Maybe one channel far left and the other center, etc...

[Folder]

Sometimes when I've panned a stereo keyboard or effect the sound seems to lose some of it's character. Don't know if some of these sound designers are taking into consideration panning of their sounds. Maybe some of them are only meant to be played in stereo.

 

The way to make sure you are getting the full effect is to record both the right and left channels to their own separate tracks. Then pan the individual tracks instead of panning the instrument itself. .

[blue2blue]

Like Folder, I find that as the mix complexity goes up, the 'room' for stereo instruments goes down. I do usually keep my drums somewhat stereo -- but I generally avoid wide spreads. When mixing 'human' music (as opposed to synth-dominant music) I tend to view an imaginary band in front of me. If it's anything other than an intimate trio/quartet arrangement, I find stereo instruments besides drums distracting. And even with drums, I tend to 'tuck in' the spread to fit the vague mental image of the band in front of me. (And, yes, when I think about it, I tend to drums from the audience perspective -- although I'm not at all past putting a given drum any old damn place in the spread I think it serves the arrangement; every track is potentially different.)