Stereo Seperation Mastering Question Instrumental/W/Vocals?

ICEN

Punchline God
All of this is leading up to mastering

Lets assume you have your instrumental and vocals all mixed together where you want them.

Just assuming the volume, Eq, Panning, ect is where someone wants it.

So basically they are done mixing the vocals/beat together and are moving on to mastering.

I understand the basics of mastering and what you should be doing

The only thing I am confused on is the stereo separation.

I understand perfectly well how the stereo separation effects the instrumental and instruments.

The only thing I am confused on is how you should use stereo separation when your vocals are mixed in with the instruments.

Here is an example of what I mean

In the mixing stage you have your main vocal in the center, lets pretend that you also have two other vocals, one panned 100% left and one panned 100% right or something similar to this.

Now when it comes to using stereo separation when your in the mastering stage

Should you use stereo separation on the ENTIRE TRACK meaning stereo separate the instrumental and vocals all at once, or do you NOT use stereo separation on the the entire track since the vocals are already panned?


That is where I am confused, I am not sure if I should only stereo separate the instrumental in the mastering stage and not the vocals since they are already panned or do you stereo separate the vocals as well even though they are panned already?
 
If you are mastering your own mix, then adjust the stereo image in the mix. You'll have more control there. Also, using stereo separation processing is not required in the mastering process (or while mixing).

I'm not sure what "mastering" looks like for you, but for me, I have a single stereo .wav file that I'm processing. Therefore, any adjustment to the stereo image is done to the entire track. I do, however, tend to use plugins that split the frequency range into 3-4 bands. That allows me to widen or narrow a certain range of frequencies.

In regards to the example you mentioned, do what sounds good to your ears. Use a refernce track to be as objective as possible in decideding what "good" is.
 
If you are mastering your own mix, then adjust the stereo image in the mix. You'll have more control there. Also, using stereo separation processing is not required in the mastering process (or while mixing).

I'm not sure what "mastering" looks like for you, but for me, I have a single stereo .wav file that I'm processing. Therefore, any adjustment to the stereo image is done to the entire track. I do, however, tend to use plugins that split the frequency range into 3-4 bands. That allows me to widen or narrow a certain range of frequencies.

In regards to the example you mentioned, do what sounds good to your ears. Use a refernce track to be as objective as possible in decideding what "good" is.
That is what I am saying, you said you have a 3-4 band range, I assume you mean you have a stereo seperation plugin that can use those bands.

You said you have one wav. file when your mastering, this is basically the instrumental and vocals as one file.

What I was trying to say was, if you take those 3-4 bands and lets say stereo separate them, it would have to separate the vocals as well since its one wav file along with the instrumental?

What I was confused on, is if stereo separating ONE FILE which is both the instrumental and vocals is a bad idea compared to just stereo separating the beat alone and only panning vocals then after that master the entire file.

If You pan vocals left and right I was just asking if stereo separating them with a stereo separation plugin will ruin the panning and make it sound worst or if you should use stereo separate the vocals after they are panned as one file.

Eh...

I don't know if you get what I am saying
 
You should be barely touching your stereo seperation in mastering anyways. I mean, of course everything is opinionated, some might say using it a lot in mastering works well for them. But try to get your mix right in terms of the entire 360 degree stereo field before you get to mastering. Mastering should be subtle changes as well as bringing the volume to its loudest, not making mixing adjustments.
 
stereo separation is more of a mix stage thing than a mastering stage thing (for me at least)

as with all such statements there are always exceptions though for me the only exception here is still at the mix stage when you receive a stereo instrumental that you need to add (a) vocal(s) to. You might apply some stereo manipulation of the stereo instrumental simply to make space in the mix for the vocal. You would most likely do this with some M/S manipulation taking the M channel down 1-2dB - not a lot but certainly sufficient to make room for the vocal in the mix
 
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