Issues with Stereo Width

I'm trying to create width on my music tracks in scenes that have dialogue, to sort of "create space" for the voices to come directly at the audience. The trouble is, the stereo width only seems to work in the section of a particular song that has more bass/low end (tension is rising through this scene so initially the song is just a light synth and harp).

I have it set at 2.00 width, the maximum allowed, and yet the mid/high range barely goes past mono. Are there any workarounds for this issue?

If I can't find a solution for this problem specifically, I'm planning to drop the EQ for the song in the 1k-2k range to hopefully avoid any muddiness as the dialogue and music are on top of each other.

Thanks

Sam

Kind of sounds like there's a bit of side/stereo content in the lower end of the audio, but mostly in the mid/higher freq. range it's mono. In a typical d.a.w. enviroment to create a more stereo/wider sound you could use a mono to stereo plugin to get the middle channel content in to the sides, there's probably a bunch of good free mono to stereo plugins available to at least try. After that process it may be desired to use a sides-only eq plugin, TDR Nova free edition is good, to cut out the lower end in the sides to some degree, say 100-200hz for example, so that there's no undesired bass/lowend irregularities etc. There's also a free Voxengo MSED plugin which can alter width volume seperately from the mid channel and panning as well. I've yet to properly dive in to the audio/fairlight side of D.R. so I'm not certain how exactly third party vsts are used. Maybe just try slightly panning the audio first, and then increasing the width, might work to some degree, even duplicate audio tracks if all audio content used is in one track and this could allow more control perhaps? Another thing to consider when panning or using stereo techniques is checking how the overall soundtrack sounds if played back on mono speaker devices, to check this you could temporarily use something like Voxengo MSED last in the plugin chain and just mute the side channel to then only hear mono (mid channel) audio, you'd then notice if any audio/music content would disappear too much for your liking on a mono speaker device.

If simply the reducing frequencies in the 1k-2k range method works then I'd most probably just go with that. Hope any of this helps anyway, or others chime in with advice/solutions. Cheers!

How I improve the clarity of vocals in a music video may also be on a path to allow separation of vocals from music.

Let’s pretend there are four isolated captured tracks that contain both music and vocals from four mics, but one of the tracks has more of the lead vocalist than the others although it still picks up music; track one for example.

I copy the vocalist’s track to a fifth track and then apply Voice Isolation and Dialogue Leveler to that fifth track. Then I work with the fifth track to enhance the vocal while retaining track one. So the mix now includes five tracks and vocals are clearer.

If you had two iso tracks for two vocalists, then you would add a sixth track and pan one left and one right for your stereo mix.

How I improve the clarity of vocals in a music video may also be on a path to allow separation of vocals from music.

Let’s pretend there are four isolated captured tracks that contain both music and vocals from four mics, but one of the tracks has more of the lead vocalist than the others although it still picks up music; track one for example.

I copy the vocalist’s track to a fifth track and then apply Voice Isolation and Dialogue Leveler to that fifth track. Then I work with the fifth track to enhance the vocal while retaining track one. So the mix now includes five tracks and vocals are clearer.

If you had two iso tracks for two vocalists, then you would add a sixth track and pan one left and one right for your stereo mix.

In my case, I'm doing all of the dialogue ADR and the sound effects are all Foley work (I'm trying to emulate old Italian movies). So while this isn't *directly* applicable, I'm curious about the doubling of vocals. Wouldn't that create a chorus effect, or does it simply end up enhancing loudness/clarity?

Not sure what your target audience is but I would be careful in balancing a mix that only works in stereo. A number of streaming sites will often be watched in mono.

I only use Vimeo that supports stereo generated by Resolve, and I know most of my listeners are accessing Vimeo from their computers. Because only the duplicated tracks would show a stereo effect and my original mono tracks remain in the mix, I think I’m safe.

Not sure what your target audience is but I would be careful in balancing a mix that only works in stereo. A number of streaming sites will often be watched in mono.

I see. This makes sense. So the move might be to mix it in mono, make sure everything is sounding good on that one, and then *maybe* apply the stereo width feature onto the music for the theater release?

How many mics were used to record the piece and how were they placed? Would proper placement of the mics with isolated audio tracks be the first step in getting a good separation of left and right at a minimum? I understand this is like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted, but I’m thinking about what you do in the future.

How many mics were used to record the piece and how were they placed? Would proper placement of the mics with isolated audio tracks be the first step in getting a good separation of left and right at a minimum? I understand this is like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted, but I’m thinking about what you do in the future.

Nothing was mic'd. It was either DI guitar/bass/synth, or MIDI synth, all done on garageband.

Thanks for the response. It’s been many years since I used GarageBand but I recall a feature where you could define a virtual stage and audio sources on the stage. Did you do that? Sorry I can’t be more specific.