Professional sound recording is very easy to spot: it sounds so wide and with great ambiance. Do you think this is a very difficult technique? No, the technique is very easy. Think of live sound recording or a band playing live in front of you. What do you see and feel?
Live band
Great and wide ambiance, it is because of these following factors:
a. The stage is set wide compared to a human listener.
b. Stereo speakers are set wide apart (the left and right stereo I mean)
c. If there are two guitarists, having the two guitars playing two guitar will create some delays adding depth to the sound.
d. Reflections causing depths like echo or reverb as well as the size of the stage.
These are the principles of creating wide stereo ambiance in your recording. So how can we do this during the music production process???
Techniques to enhance the stereo image/ambiance
The short answer is to do this correctly during the recording and mixing process. You cannot make some miracles during mastering process to create depths except widening the stereo. Although stereo widening and enhancement are common audio mastering processes, it is also important you should attention to the stereo image during the audio mixing process.
Below are the techniques I used to improve the stereo and ambiance during the recording and audio mixing process :
a. Double recording:
Believe me or not, but double recording is a very effective technique. To do this is to double record in left and right tracks in the stereo field.
For example: I record on the left (panned -50 or to your own preferred choice) channel, then record again on the right channel (panned with the same value as the left) same track. This will produce doubling effect and the little delay in the notes creates cool ambiance in your recording.
For even better result, you will not only do this once, but do several takes to even create a better stereo ambiance. Panned it in different locations farther from the center like 95%, 75%, 60%, etc.
This is a very effective technique in improving the guitar sound in the mix. I suggest you would be reading this tutorial on recording overdubs for guitars.
For vocals, double recording is also recommended but panning assignments would not be as wide as those used in the guitar. You might want to assign a distinct EQ settings for each of those tracks to give their unique sound in the mix.
b. Track doubling + Delay
This technique is the artificial version of “Double recording”. But this artificial doubling creates reality like double recording. This is applicable if it is not possible to do double recording due to constraint in time and budget at the studio for example.
To do this, is to record only one track then put it in the left first (example panned to your desired settings). After that, duplicate that same track using your software (most recording software can do this), and move that duplicated track to the right (panned using the same settings as the other channel).
It now creates stereo (combinations of two mono tracks panned in the left and right of the stereo field). The most popular example is the guitar double tracking.
To further improve the ambiance, you can add delay to one mono track. The delay should be short enough just to add some space, not to create some obvious timing problems when heard by any listener.
c. Reverb mono sources
This is also a great effect to use. This simulates real listening, in which two mono sources are of different distances to the listener. By some Doppler principle, it will create some delays in the ear creating ambiance and wide stereo sound.
To do is to have one completely dry track (no effects of reverb), then put it in the left (for example panned -50). Then on the right, place the duplicated track with some reverb to it. The reverb must be natural and around 500ms to 1500ms is enough.
Adobe audition screenshot
If you are looking for more information about implementing reverb, you can read the following great tutorials:
1.) Introductory guide on reverb implementation – for beginners.
2.) Best practices on vocal reverb – learn the professional way of using this effect in your mix.
d. Chorus and Flanger on mono tracks
This is similar to reverb mono sources, but put some chorus or flanger effect instead of the reverb effect.
Important: Since putting some reverb, chorus or flanger will cause the track to decrease in volume, it is important to have both tracks at highly similar volume for this effect to realistically work or else it will sound mono (one source is stronger than the other).
Finally one of the most important technique is learning the front and back concept of audio mixing. As you already know panning is a method you can implement to move tracks from other left to right side of your stereo field.
However, an equally important aspect is the front/back mixing. Setting this correctly, you can make a dull mix into a realistic live sounding performance. For example, if you would like to make the vocals in front while the rest of the instrumentation at the back.
Reverb are just one of the effects you can use to push the instruments either in front or back in the mix. There are other effects you can rely to improve the ambiance and feel of your mix. You can read that post for more details.
Content last updated on October 21, 2012