There are many different techniques you can use to make your synth sounds sound big and full. Things like panning, using stereo doubling plugins or the Haas effects are well worth checking out. Pursuing this further, there is an unorthodox and obscure technique of designing stereo sounds. It applies to just about any sound source, so we wanted to share it with our ever-growing community!
Using Melda MStereoProcessor
The Melda MStereoProcessor is a powerful tool that can significantly help with the widening of the stereo image. Unlike a high number of stereo widening tools out there, this one operates in multi-band mode which is truly beneficial. Firstly, let’s put an instance of Melda MStereoProcessor on the synth stab sequence. I previously made it together with some basic rhythm in Soundbridge DAW.
Lets first hear the unprocessed synth stab sequence solo and then with rhythm and the bassline.
~Synth Stab – Unprocessed
~Synth Stab – Unprocessed + Rhythm & Bassline
The Interface
After the opening of the Melda MStereoProcessor, we can see a complex interface containing all the essential tools for precise editing and widening of the stereo image. So let’s start explaining the key features of this great tool from the top.
On the top section, we can see the control parameters for “Gain”, “Panorama”, “Widening” and “Exciter”. Those are of great help in balancing your results.
The middle section is divided into four quarters. So as you can see, there are control parameters for each frequency band containing “Widening”, “Delay”, “Delay Depth” and “Exciter”.
Below this, there is a section with a small spectrum analyzer where the above mentioned four bands are presented. There is also possible to drag the little dots in the middle of each gain to increase or decrease the volume of the selected band.
On the left side, we can see a dedicated metering section. The bigger portion of it is reserved obviously for the Goniometer which accurately represents the stereo image and below that meters are showing the amount of input, output, mid and side signal.
Audio examples
Once I have set the amount of stereo width for the synth stab sequence, let’s hear how it sounds. Bear in mind that the first audio example is accompanied by a slight amount of reverb and delay. The second example also contains the rhythm and bassline. Feel free to experiment with enhancing both middle and high frequencies in the stereo field. By doing so, you can achieve the desired sound.
~Synth Stab – Processed with Melda MStereoProcessor
~Synth Stab – Processed with Melda MStereoProcessor + Rhythm & Bassline
