Hey guys, I was wondering how wide I should have certain sounds. Should my leads/main patches be really wide? I was trying to see if there's something that explains what width certain sounds should have in the mix. Is there a way to have a really good sounding stereo track that translates well in mono? What approach do you use?

Everything as to be mono under 150hz for sure , for a good stereo imaging try working with the Mid/Side eq it helps a lot , as well when you pan thing you let the center breath a bit wich can help , but don't forget than clubs are in mono so if you track don't sound (not exactly but the closer the better) the same it will not sound as you like.

After that you can work with the S1 by waves wich enhance the stereo image and the Izotope imager wich is a multiband imager wich is pretty decent !

Try also avoiding widdening too much it can kill a mix !

Depend on what you wanna achieve , I use ableton as well and as I said I mostly use Reverbs (Try the convolution reverb from Max for Live it's AWESOME) S1 and Izotope to get my Imaging right but do it slightly otherwise as I said it will fuck up your mix

How does this "everything under 150Hz has to be mono" works, I mean, how do you turn something that has a very wide stereo image into mono?, the kick and the bass for example; how do you know those low frequencies are in mono? and how do you make them mono if they are not?, and what are the benefits for having them that way.

Maybe I'm asking a lot of things but this particular issue is having me troubled and intrigued.

I'll try answer everything , first of all everything under 150hz has to be mono cause the bass as to be focused in the middle as you want to hear the low kick and the sub hitting you in the middle , also it can cause phase issue but that's a bit difficult.

You know it's in mono by putting for example a MID/SID eq , Mid is for mono information and Side is for stereo information on your master if you cut the side information until 150 hz , everything beside that point will be in mono , aswell you can you the Izotope imager and puting the left fader all the way down it also do the trick

Hope i helped

How does this "everything under 150Hz has to be mono" works, I mean, how do you turn something that has a very wide stereo image into mono?, the kick and the bass for example; how do you know those low frequencies are in mono? and how do you make them mono if they are not?, and what are the benefits for having them that way.

Maybe I'm asking a lot of things but this particular issue is having me troubled and intrigued.

The kick is always mono (unless you use a weird sample).  To make a wide bass mono in the sub range, use a plugin such as TP Basslane, or an equalizer with the M/S capability (such as FF Pro-Q).  Having said that, this is not a strict rule - use your ears and check your mix for mono compatibility (use a mono plugin on the master and make sure the low end is still present).  Sometimes adding width to the bassline makes it sound more massive.  Unless you use extreme settings for channel phase variation, it will not cancel out in mono, so everything should be good.  Just be careful with wide detuned pads - they're all over the place, so it makes sense to EQ the sub out and reinforce it with a sine or triangle.

Hijacking this thread real quick to ask what the best stereo imagers are. I'm getting bored with iZotope's.

Melda has great stereo widening plugins

How does this "everything under 150Hz has to be mono" works, I mean, how do you turn something that has a very wide stereo image into mono?, the kick and the bass for example; how do you know those low frequencies are in mono? and how do you make them mono if they are not?, and what are the benefits for having them that way.

Maybe I'm asking a lot of things but this particular issue is having me troubled and intrigued.

To turn a sound completely into mono, just turn your mixer track into a mono track. In FL it works like this (stereo knob turned all the way to the right = mono): http://imgur.com/iWuAjsz
If you're not using FL, you'll have to consult your program's manual to find out how to do it there.

To only turn the lowend of a certain sound to mono, you can use Pro-Q2's mid/side EQ like this: http://imgur.com/II8FOxi
What it does is it cuts away the side signal of the sound with a "low cut" filter. In very basic terms, the mid signal is whats equal in both the left and right channels (mono), and the side signal is what's different in both channels (stereo).

In my opinion, you shouldn't split sounds too much as it can often mess with the dynamics, so I can't recommend using too many multiband plugins. Instead, try to think about what needs to be wide and what doesnt, keep it simple. In most cases it's enough to just make the whole sound either mono or stereo. And remember, it's not the overall width that makes something sound wide, it's the contrast between mid and side. My rule of thumb is to keep everything that has to sound precise (low basses region and drums, lead vocals) more mono, I leave the stereo space for sounds that require it to work (pads, chords or sometimes background vocals).