What is "stereo spread?" or "stereo separation"?

[Big Russ]

Im not sure what it actually is but I was using my FL Studio 6 XXL edition's mixer and i found a preset of "mastering". and when i dragged it into the mixer, it had a "stereo separation" tool. What exactly does that do?

i was playin with it a lil and i found out that the more i add, the sound of the master mix got sharper with less bass.

Can somebody tell me what it is and how to use it??

 

[seltaeb1012002]

I'm sure someone with more experience could give you a definitive answer, but basically a stereo imager can give you the impression that the mix is spread out over a larger stereo field - IE, stuff sounds like its panned out further. It has to be used in moderation, or else you'll lose your center channel (which is probably why you heard less bass).

 

[MASSIVE Mastering]

"Mastering" presets... Two words that shouldn't even be in the same sentence together.

 

[moses]

there are basically 2 methods you need to distinguish:

1. M/S widening, increasing the amplitude of the difference signal "S". the most common widening method, many people say it's dangerous, but that's not true - it's as dangerous as panning (they mean method 2.). of course, it will attenuate the center indirectly... ...but that's what you want: its widening! (add a phase inverted mono version to your stereo original signal, it's the same thing)

2. a phase-inverted version of the L signal is added to the R channel - and the same (or similar) thing with R and L (sometimes symmetric sometimes not. it's a way of "bigger than life" panning). this one creates a strange hole at the center (again, that's widening - the opposite of centering) but creates serious mono incompatibility and extremely unreliable results (sounds completely different on any system). it doesn't mean it's forbidden - it makes sense for occasional special effects in music and is often used in film fx. just avoid it on "important" tracks.