Adjusting a mix’s width can be a useful aesthetic tool in restoring some panoramic interest or reigning-in over-wide panning or reverbs. Few soundstage shapers can claim to deliver results with just one main control, but what about one that brings A.I. to the party?

Stereo widening techniques, and even processes that attempt to bring stereo interest to existing mono recordings are almost as old as stereo itself, beginning in the 1930s when it was realised that stereo information could be encoded as Mid and Side channels. Not only was the familiar stereo mic technique of the same name born out of this discovery, but also the realisation that stereo vinyl records could be mono compatible simply by pickup of just the M channel.

Why Use Widening Or Narrowing?

As a mixing or mastering tool, being able to control width is useful for emphasizing the difference between left and right for epic soundstages, or for bringing back a central anchor to those mixes that seem to wander beyond the speakers. Mono compatibility can sometimes suffer when widening is applied, whereas existing problems in wide stereo can become more noticeable as narrowing is applied, with the Mono button being the nuclear option for quality checks.

Many engineers will be aware of the extra-width trick that is achievable on analogue consoles. This involves duplicating stereo channels, inverting the duplicates’ polarities, and panning them to their absolute opposites (L for R - R for L). This can of course be done in the DAW mixer in seconds if you can’t find the width plugin…

Mastertones The Stage Package

This bundle of two plugins covering widening (The Widener), and apparent distance of central sources (The Deepener). Mastertones explain that these two tools are powered by their own Ariosa Technology:

“Ariosa is an AI modeling framework developed by a group of researchers and DSP engineers with a strong passion towards music. Furthermore, from choosing hardware to quality assessment, Master Tones collaborates with accomplished musicians and Tonmeisters to ensure the finest quality of the delivered content”.

• Expand stereo width image - The Widener (TW) and modify sound source depth image - The Deepener (TD)

• EQ for the plugin to function only at certain frequency range

• Smooth functioning without any phasing issue

• Input/Output gains with reverse link

• Intuitive and neat UI/UX, easy to navigate

• Presets that help with fast mixing

• Highest supporting sampling rate at 96kHz (up to 192 kHz internal working sampling rate)

Complete Transformation?

Although complete transformation of the soundstage is possible using just their two main controls, The Stage Package’s tools are both useful at their minimum settings to get opposite behavior, making each an alternative to the other’s intended purpose.

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