Help me to open up.

[mij sang]

Im looking for a better way to "open up" the sound of my mix. Currently I use a basic plug in. Stereo Width by AIR, as far as I know it came with Pro Tools. I use it on individual stereo tracks and sometime the master, depending on the instrumentation, and it seems to work better that IZOPE Ozone 4, but I admit that I have not experimented much on Izope for width. Can you point me in the right direction for a better plug in? How do you get that "open" sound in a mix? Is delay the key? Where is it best utilized?
What is your method to an open mix?

Thank You
PT - 10.0.1
Mac - 10.6.8

[Emcha_audio]

Personally I'd be careful with using stereo width plugins as they can cause phase problems.

I find that sometimes if you use a stereo reverb and you send a few tracks in them, it gets jumbled. Even more so if you don't set the send pan in the first place. The following is a matter of taste and it may depend greatly on what your trying to do. But for some things like guitars if the track is panned let's say to 45L, then I will place the send pan to the same position. Again, it depends on what you're trying to do and what style your mixing. So experimenting with delays, reverb and panning will have a great deal to do. Also work on the frequencies of each instruments, the less they impede over one an other, the more clarity of each instruments you will get, and it will open up your mix.

[albee1952]

There's lots of "stuff" going on and many ways it can be affected. Converters, your speakers(placement) and room acoustics can certainly affect the stereo "picture". I saw your other post re. mastering and, my 2 cents only, but I prefer to master as a separate step. I make the mix as good as I can get it, and master in Wavelab as the tools and workflow are better than in PT. Back to the "spread" of stereo, if you are faking double-tracking, stop that and do real doubling(play or sing it again on another track). With guitars, use a different tone on each pass(like humbuckers on 1, and single coils on the other). The only time I use a stereo widener is on some reverbs(and I listen in mono to hear if it falls apart). When I do BGV's, I usually double each part and spread them around(and always AWAY from the center so the lead vocal can "own" the space). On electric guitars, I often use what I call the "Jimmy Page" effect(pan the guitar far to one side and add a MONO reverb panned opposite). Don't get hung up on how things sound in SOLO mode. A "perfect" _____(insert instrument here) by itself, may be worthless in a mix with other parts. Carve out frequencies in "texture" parts(rhythm guitars and keyboards) to make space for the important things to stand out. If you have lots of BGV tracks, insert an EQ on all of them and thin them out(like -4db at 350-400Hz) so they don't mask the lead vocal.

[mij sang]

Thanks, I will have to carefully experiment

[morristyson]

I wouldn't use widening on stereo source tracks. A stereo reverb or delay could definitely benefit from judicious widening. I always treat stereo reverb and delay with an agressive HPF to keep the lows tight and center. Have you tried EQ in conjunction with a M/S decoding plug-in? I've found a mix can really "sound" open by giving the side a different EQ treatment than the mid. You can get basically the same effect by doing what albee said with using different instrument treatments while doubling.
Mo

[tommytime555]

Some good articles here: http://www.homerecording.co/5-quick-...te-your-sound/

T