dimbiman / zip / pantytec

intellijel · Post by **intellijel** » Thu May 28, 2009 4:01 am

I was listening to some old Dimbiman from 1998 and although it was a lot rawer than his newest stuff it was still really really wide sounding, almost 3D.

I have brought this up before and I have even posted some tips myself on getting really wide sound but I am still convinced that I am missing out on some major trick/technique.

This is not a question of trying to sound like Dimbiman. It is more a matter of picking an artists that consistently has wide sounding tracks and wondering how one might achieve that. Whenever I have used tricks that involves panning and delaying a copy of the sound (e.g. panning a clap left and then panning a copy that may have been processed in some way and delayed a small mount to the right) I always feel like I can never trust the results unless I was able to monitor in a really accurate room.
There are stereo widening plugins as well but I don't believe that these guys are using these.

I keep coming across advice from engineers that say really nice analog mixers or summing busses magically expand stereo image.

I also wonder if certain processors like Eventide stuff does magic things.

I'm sure a combination of smart stereo placement/imaging, nice compression, using stereo sources (e.g. sounds recorded with stereo mic) all contribute.

LOVING TEETH · Post by **LOVING TEETH** » Thu May 28, 2009 6:14 am

HAVE YOU TRIED

TAKING A STEREO DELAY AND PUTTING TH RIGHT CHANNEL ON SOMETHING LIKE 4MS AND THE LEFT ON 6MS AND TOUCH THE WETTNESS TO TASTE

intellijel · Post by **intellijel** » Thu May 28, 2009 6:18 am

yup tried tons of experiments with delays like that (see my thread under "books") this is where I always feel like I am making it sound good on my speakers but it will not translate to other systems (sounds thin) and definitely does not work in mono.

hydrogen · Post by **hydrogen** » Thu May 28, 2009 6:33 am

intellijel wrote:yup tried tons of experiments with delays like that (see my thread under "books") this is where I always feel like I am making it sound good on my speakers but it will not translate to other systems (sounds thin) and definitely does not work in mono.

curious, did you try putting this track through mono?

intellijel · Post by **intellijel** » Thu May 28, 2009 6:39 am

I put this track and many other through mono. On older tracks the phase cancelling is a lot worse and wide sounds get pushed really far back and sound thin... on newer tracks by top artists the tracks sounds really good in mono or stereo.

Leads me to believe that a combination of more expensive hardware and experience improve their mixes. (pretty obvious conclusion to draw I guess)

clubfoot · Post by **clubfoot** » Thu May 28, 2009 8:51 am

intellijel wrote:I put this track and many other through mono. On older tracks the phase cancelling is a lot worse and wide sounds get pushed really far back and sound thin... on newer tracks by top artists the tracks sounds really good in mono or stereo.

Leads me to believe that a combination of more expensive hardware and experience improve their mixes. (pretty obvious conclusion to draw I guess)

the tracks by those top artists are mastered - Im presuming yours are not. That will surely sound a difference if you then mono the track.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Thu May 28, 2009 12:06 pm

if the tracks you are talking about are from 1998, then theres a good chance that the effect was an SPL Vitalizer.
they are really enhancers, but they have a stereo widening function.

many producers were using them back then, and they do create a wide 3D like stereo effect.

but....... theres lots of different models, and the budget models werent very good, i bought one ( the SPL vitalizer Jack )and thought it sounded grainy and felt that it just made my mix sound sht. i sold it after 3 weeks.

however the top of the range models (which were much more expensive), were very effective, you could even get tube models.
i dont know if they are still made, but they appear on ebay.

another possibility is the Roland SRV330 dimensionsional space reverb,
ive got one, they are awesome, but its quite hard to get it right, and they are a bit clumsy to program.
they are a bit harder to find these days, but if you can get one at a sensible price, i'd go for it.

intellijel · Post by **intellijel** » Thu May 28, 2009 4:33 pm

@Steevio

I'll check out the SPL Vitalizer, I have never heard of those before.

As for the Roland dimensional stuff I actually recently bought the SRV-330, SDX-330, and SDE-330 (got all 3 for $625US which seemed like a good deal) specifically as part of my quest to make more 3d sounds.
I actually like the delay the best and had been using the reverb more for deeper, drowned out sounds... not so much for 3d enhancement but I will try that for sure.
Do you recommend putting whole tracks/stems through it or just using it for sends?