How do you turn mono drums into stereo?

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

Curious. How are you guys making your mono drums (hats, claps, snares, percussion, etc) sound stereo.

I’ve been using the Haus effect but I’m curious if there’s another way to make my drums wider

Thanks!

#2

I generally don’t. I just place them thoroughly in the stereo field with panning and add a hint of reverb. Or use a subtle ping pong delay.

Using plugins to make things sound wider can add a lot of problems to your mix. Especially when you overuse such a plugin. If you want a huge and wide hihat of snare for instance it would be better to layer a couple of different hihats on top of each other and spread them across the stereo field.

Hope this helps :slight_smile:

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#3

Ah yes. I just put a mix in mono and almost everything disappeared.

So if I layer a couple of different types of hats and pan them a bit I can get a wider mix. I’m going to try that.

But say I just want to use 909 sounds…hmmm, let me experiment

#4

Stereo chorus (something dimension d-ish) and micro pitch shifting work well for higher-frequency stuff.

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#5

It is one of the ways. It requires thorough EQIng as well though as stacking multiple sounds in the same frequency spectrum requires EQing.

I’d first try and get a good understanding of how you can use pan and subtle reverb+delay to get a better stereo field. It’s the most basic and at the same time the best way of getting a nice and wide mix.

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#6

Chorus is one way I’m familiar with.

I think a spatializer should do that too?

If you’re looking for sloppier methods- a super short panned delay could do a terrible job for your precise needs

#7

drums as sound sources are not stereo, even panned.
reverberation is :wink:

that’s (approximately) the way how human hearing works.
phase differences make things stereo. volume differences don’t (but help).

#8

To check and adjust the stereo field of your tracks, you can use Ozone Imager (free plugin). Keep an eye on the build in correlation meter, to see if your mix is too wide.

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#9

Thanks for your help. I’m getting the sound I’m looking for by stacking different (but the same i.e. claps, hats) sounds and panning until they’re balanced in the stereo field

But I really want to use 909 sounds :slight_smile:

edit: a 909 clap sounds similar to a 707 and when stacked and panned, they sound good

I can stack some similar 909 type sounds. I have plenty

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#10

i usually use highpassed chorus and pingpong delays for widening hihats in the mix. Uhbik-T can do some haas delay tricks as well, sometimes works ok. I also have the UAD Precision K-stereo plugin, which sometimes gives nice spatial qualities with the right source material, but it needs some sort of stereo field to exist to work its magic.

Anything goes as long as collapsing the mix to mono doesnt make things fall apart :diddly: Messing with Mid-Side EQs can also be a wonderful way to carve space to a mix.

#11

Simple panning, panning modulation, stereo reverb and delay

#12

I achieved good results when i layered my snares. I put the main snare (or clap) in the middle and two other snares to the left and right. With hihats i sometimes use two different sounds which play different rhythms and pan them a bit to different sides.

#13

Did you check phase cancellation? If things disappear from stereo to mono, more often than not, you have frequencies cancelling out competing frequencies.

#15

Ableton’s Chorus

100% wet mix
Delay 2 on fixed.

Delay 1 hi pass to taste

Stereo. No phasing.

So happy :blush: