Whether by toggling Imager on/off or using automation to adjust key parameters, you can use it to apply a touch of widening to chorus sections, to give them an extra sonic lift. A three‑band approach that narrows the lows (so you don’t get low‑end reverb clogging your stereo image), gently widens the mids, and spreads the highs out wide can be fun to experiment with.įinally, whether used on an instrument bus or your master bus, automating Imager can be useful in an ‘arrangement/production’ context. By applying some subtle widening to a specific frequency band or two, you can place the sound more obviously at the edges of the stereo field, which will make it more noticeable to the listener.įor those who are very particular about their reverb treatments, another option is to insert Imager on your reverb’s FX Track. When you want to help a specific instrument peep out of the mix a little more clearly, Imager can also be a good alternative to a level change. Unlike with simple panning or single‑band wideners, Imager’s multiband options give you control over how you spread the main frequencies of the backing vocals. If you need to give your lead vocal a little more space in the centre of the stereo image, try inserting Imager on your backing vocal group channel (bus) and using it to push the backing vocals a little further towards the sides of the stereo image.
There are plenty of possibilities, but a few simple suggestions should illustrate the potential. Imager doesn’t have to be used on a full mix it can be just as useful on individual instruments or subgroups. Check out the accompanying audio example - to my ears, the result is a subtle but rather pleasing widening of the stereo image, while the low end is kept nicely focused.Ĭubase-pro-stereo-image-audio-1021.zip On The Buses The screenshot above shows two instances of SuperVision’s Multipanorama module, one before and one after Imager, and these make the narrower lows and wider upper‑mids and highs easily visible. SuperVision’s Multipanorama module before (left) and after (right) Imager’s processing of my worked example. Having checked the mono playback compatibility (as I describe below), I felt able to push the width a little harder than usual in this case, for a little extra high‑end ‘pop’.
But I’m generally cautious about going beyond 150 percent in any band, as stereo enhancement can potentially produce unwanted side‑effects when the mix is heard on a mono playback system. There are no hard and fast rules here you should judge things by ear. This keeps kick and bass instruments firmly focused in the centre (generally a good thing) and gradually adds greater Width through the low‑mids, high‑mids and highs. Moving from low to high, I’ve chosen values of 20, 125, 150 and 170 percent.
As the control’s name suggests, it manipulates the stereo width of its band, with a value of 100 percent leaving the stereo image unchanged and higher/lower values making the image wider or narrower, respectively. Leaving the Output and Pan controls untouched for now, I’ve adjusted only the Width in each band. You can adjust the frequency of the filter crossovers between bands and in this case I’ve gone for 200Hz, 1kHz and 5kHz, to create low, low‑mids, high‑mids and high bands. I’ve used all four of the available bands here, but three could easily be enough in this context you can specify the number of bands at the top‑left of the GUI. The first screenshot shows Imager as inserted in my main stereo bus processing chain, with a typical configuration for this kind of application that serves as a good starting point for exploring Imager’s control set. Perhaps Imager’s most obvious application is as a mastering‑style processor, whether used on the stereo mix bus as you put the final touches to a mix, or to tweak a bounced stereo file.
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