Stereo Clichés

Loudspeaker music relies heavily on the phase-locked interaction of two speakers, leading to an illusion we call “stereo.” Opportunities for even more thrills, chills and spills are looming on the horizon as home theaters give us additional channels with which to exploit this joyful techno-mayhem and thoroughly confuse the bejesus out of our listeners (Look out, Dolby! I’m developing an eight-channel surround system which I’m hoping will push the ‘totally awesome’ meter to eleven!). So, using both speakers of a stereo system for all they are worth is a worthy goal and some standard techniques for doing this are worth noting.

One might separate the stereo clichés into two categories: 1) static and 2) dynamic. The static techniques rely on panning so that the various elements in the mix work together rather than interfere with each other, and interact rather than ignore each other. Consider the drums for example. We would never experience it live, but we expect the toms in our loudspeakers to move across the entire stereo field – a drum roll across the horizon. And separate instruments play off each other from different points in space: a shaker to the left, the hi-hat to the right. Carefully panning the elements of a mix enables you to leverage the space between your speakers, and your listeners will reward you for filling that space and making it exciting. The A+B/A-B aesthetic (see the December, 1993 H&SR) is predicated on the idea of balanced “framing” of the stereo field, using spectrally and musically similar elements balanced left and right to build a sonic support structure for the all-important, kick, bass and lead vocal located in the phantom image.

Dynamic use of panning is a logical extension of this. Mixes are made more exciting through the motion this creates. Blatant panning, the wah-wah guitar solo that ping-pongs back and forth, is pretty standard stuff but is a nifty special effect nonetheless. Simulating motion that might occur in real life is not a bad approach. The right to left entrance of the jet in the Beatles Back in the U.S.S.R. wasn’t a bad way to start the second disc of the double White Album. Less obvious use of panning is a good way to make a mix more exciting. Critical listening to pop mixes you are fond of is likely to reveal background vocals which creep left and right and special effects which move continuously across the stereo field, adding motion and excitement without adding distraction (you might even try A-B monitoring, as discussed in the December, 1993 issue of H&SR – ya gotta save those back issues, 12/93 was a classic!). Experiment with this and make the most of that distance between the speakers. It is a fundamental way to take advantage of a standard feature of your instrument, the loudspeaker. For example, I occasionally add a kind of pulsating spaciousness by mixing in low-level (-20 dB) polarity-reversed reverbs that are auto-panned in opposite directions at the same time. This is barely audible, but it adds a kind of motion to the ambience that is really nice on occasion, particularly for fairly static, low-intensity ballads where you need to do something to keep the song from sagging.

We’ll continue with this next month, looking at clichés in the spectral, frequency and amplitude domains. In the meantime, you get the idea. Clichés are signposts that loudly proclaim “this really works!” What makes them become tired and worn out is not so much overuse, but abuse. Don’t use them as a substitute for creative conviction and focus, don’t depend on them to carry you through the dry times, as in: “Man, I’m really stuck. Well, I’ll just give ‘em some more negative killer flange. That always grabs ‘em!” Instead, keep your ear focused on the emotional qualities that you can represent through various clichés and when you need to go in some particular direction, be willing to pull them out, dust them off, and use ‘em. Don’t be afraid that, just because they’ve been used before, you can’t use them again. Your fresh juxtaposition of flanging, timed delays and the lyric “I’m turning inside out waiting for you” may turn out to be the next great hook!

Happy tricks, er, tracks!