Double Stereo Width

[HotChick]

Studio One's "Binaural Pan" native plugin features a 'Width' control documented, "Adjusts the stereo width of the stereo track. Variable from 0 (mono) to 200% (double stereo width)."

Image of the documentation here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5Z...ew?usp=sharing

What is "double stereo width", and how can I duplicate the effect outside of Studio One?

My guess is "double stereo width" results from splitting into mid/side and phase-inverting the mid? But I haven't experimented yet.

[HotChick]

Originally Posted by HotChick

My guess is "double stereo width" results from splitting into mid/side and phase-inverting the mid? But I haven't experimented yet.

I did the math and this ^ is a bad idea. I guess they're just nulling the mid channel.

[Fergler]

Yup, think of it this way:

Stereo track (treated in M/S decoding):

0%: Mid only
(-)100%: Mid and Side
(-)200%: Side only... or at least, a lot less of mid. Maybe Mid reduced in volume by about half? It's up to them really.

[Judders]

The easiest way to increase stereo width is to buy longer speaker cables.

The thing is, binaural recording and mixing is rather an arcane and specialist field. There is no way to reproduce binaural panning with a conventional stereo speaker setup.

If it's just more perceived width in the stereo field you want, then as Fergler says, use M/S encoding/decoding to raise the level of the side channel in relation to the mid channel. No need to completely mute the mid though.

[Dannii]

Originally Posted by Judders

The easiest way to increase stereo width is to buy longer speaker cables.

That actually made me physically lol!

[Rusty Falcon]

If you REALLY want to do this... the free bx_solo plugin will let you: https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/p...l/bx_solo.html

[HotChick]

Originally Posted by Rusty Falcon

If you REALLY want to do this... the free bx_solo plugin will let you: https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/p...l/bx_solo.html

Thanks, I'm going to use that. I'd guess some of Reaper's stock JS plugins can do this, but their lack of documentation makes them useless to me in practice

[Rusty Falcon]

And if you want a little more control, albeit at a small price, Boz Digital Labs "Mongoose" can do that for you. You can control of width with a crossover frequency and some other features:

[Judders]

I use this freebie for M/S encoding/decoding

http://www.voxengo.com/product/msed/

But, just to be clear, mid-side processing has nothing to do with binaural audio.

[HotChick]

Originally Posted by Judders

I use this freebie for M/S encoding/decoding

http://www.voxengo.com/product/msed/

But, just to be clear, mid-side processing has nothing to do with binaural audio.

Thanks. I appreciate the clarification, but it happens that Studio One's poorly named "Binaural Pan" native plugin seems to have nothing to do with binaural audio (dummy-heads, etc.) and everything to do with M/S encoding/decoding.

[Judders]

Originally Posted by HotChick

Thanks. I appreciate the clarification, but it happens that Studio One's poorly named "Binaural Pan" native plugin seems to have nothing to do with binaural audio (dummy-heads, etc.) and everything to do with M/S encoding/decoding.

Oh yeah, I just had a look at it on their website. Weird that they'd give it such a misleading name. The only binaural panner I've used is the one included with Logic, which is a true binaural panner.