Mid/Side & Stereo
Controlling width in Live 12 — Utility width/mono/bass mono, EQ Eight M/S, Roar Mid-Side, Saturator in M/S via racks, Hybrid Reverb and Chorus-Ensemble stereo, Auto Pan-Tremolo width, Haas with Align Delay, mono-compatibility checks and a per-element width map.
Stereo is a budget. Every element that is wide costs you clarity in mono, headroom on a club system (most sub stacks are summed mono) and focus in the centre where kick, sub, snare and vocal live. Mid/Side thinking turns width into something you can measure and process: Mid = L+R (what mono hears), Side = L−R (what only stereo hears). Live 12 does M/S natively in Utility, EQ Eight and Roar; everything else gets M/S via a two-chain Audio Effect Rack. This page is the practical version: which device, which value, and the rule that low end stays in the Mid.
Concept
A stereo file is two channels, but the ear decodes it as position (interaural time and level differences) and envelopment (how decorrelated the two ears are). M/S is just a rotation of L/R by 45°: Mid carries everything common to both channels, Side carries the differences. A pure mono signal has zero Side; a signal that is only in Side is out of phase and vanishes in mono. Processing the two separately means you can EQ, saturate or compress what mono hears and what only stereo hears independently, which is why mix-bus engineers love it and why it is so easy to ruin a mix with it.
Three physical constraints shape the rules below. Below roughly 100–150 Hz the wavelength (2–3 m) is larger than the head and localisation is nearly impossible, so stereo bass is heard as phasiness, not width, and cancels in mono. Side energy counts against the limiter just as much as Mid energy but contributes nothing to a mono PA. And the Haas window (roughly 1–30 ms between channels) gives width via the precedence effect but produces comb filtering when summed, so the same trick that widens a pad in headphones can hollow it out on a mono stack.
Techniques
Utility: Width, Mono and Bass Mono
Utility is the cheapest and most used stereo tool in Live. Width scales the Side signal (0% = mono, 100% = unchanged, 200% = Side doubled), Mono sums to Mid, and Bass Mono folds everything below a crossover to mono with a Listen button to audition what is being folded.
- Last device on every bass and kick track: Utility, Bass Mono enabled, crossover 100–150 Hz. Click the headphone icon next to it to hear only the folded region and confirm there is nothing above the sub in it.
- On pads, chords and returns: Utility Width 110–140% for a bit more spread, never above ~160% without checking mono. Width above 100% adds Side gain, which means it is also an out-of-phase gain: watch the correlation meter.
- On the master during mixing: a Utility with Mono on, kept inactive, mapped to a key so you can toggle mono in one keystroke. Mix in mono for the first hour.
- For element-level M/S balance, Width 70–90% on busy stereo samples (loops, foley) pulls them towards the centre without making them mono.
| Parameter | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Bass Mono crossover | 100–150 Hz (techno/house 120, dubstep 100, DnB 150) | Everything below the kick fundamental region must be identical in L and R |
| Width (pads) | 110–140% | Side scaled up; >150% starts to cancel in mono |
| Width (drum loops) | 60–90% | Pulls a wide loop under your own narrower drums |
| Width 0% = Mono | Use Mono button instead | Same result; Mono is one click and visible in the device |
EQ Eight in M/S mode: brighten the sides, clean the centre
EQ Eight's mode selector (Stereo / L/R / M/S) lets each band target Mid or Side. The classic moves: high-pass the Side so no low end leaks out of the centre, add a gentle shelf to the Side for air, and dip the Mid where a wide element masks a vocal or snare.
- EQ Eight, Mode: M/S. Click the band's edit button (the small M/S toggle beneath the band selector) to assign each band to M or S.
- Band 1 on S: low-cut 24 or 48 dB/oct at 150–250 Hz. This is the single most effective mono-compatibility move on any wide element.
- Band 8 on S: high shelf +1.5 to +3 dB from 6–10 kHz. Air that lives only in the sides doesn't fight the vocal's presence in the Mid.
- Band on M: a 1–3 dB cut where a centred element needs space (2–4 kHz for vocal, 150–250 Hz for snare body).
- Enable Oversampling in the device's context menu if you use steep high bands; it keeps the shelf shape honest near Nyquist.
| Parameter | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| S low-cut | 150–300 Hz, 24–48 dB/oct | Side bass is phasey and cancels in mono; just remove it |
| S high shelf | +1 to +3 dB above 6 kHz | Perceived width without more Side level in the mids |
| M cut for vocal space | −1 to −3 dB at 2–4 kHz, Q 0.7–1 | Mid is where the vocal sits; the pad's sides stay bright |
Roar Mid-Side routing: saturate the centre and the sides differently
Roar's Mid-Side routing runs Stage 1 on Mid and Stage 2 on Side, each with its own shaper, drive, tone and filter. Harder saturation in the Mid gives a mix-bus-style density that survives mono; gentle, bright saturation on the Side adds width via harmonics rather than via Side gain.
| Parameter | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Routing | Mid-Side | Stage 1 = Mid, Stage 2 = Side |
| Stage 1 (Mid) | Soft Sine / Analog-style, 3–8 dB drive | Dense centre, more even harmonics on kick and snare |
| Stage 2 (Side) | Diode or Fold, 1–4 dB, pre-filter HP 250–400 Hz | Sides get bright harmonics; the HP keeps the Side free of bass |
| Stage 2 tone / post filter | LP 10–14 kHz if the Side gets harsh | Fold shapers generate a lot above 8 kHz |
| Blend / Dry-Wet | 30–60% | Parallel saturation keeps transients |
| Mod: Env Follower → Stage 2 amount | +30% | Side distortion grows with hits: snare gets wider on impact |
M/S rack: Saturator (or anything) on Mid and Side separately
Any device becomes an M/S processor inside a two-chain Audio Effect Rack. The trick: Utility can output Mid on both channels (Mono) and Side on both channels (Width 200% then subtract, or simply Utility with the L/R phase inverted and summed). The cleanest Live-native version uses two Utilities per chain and a phase invert.
- Audio Effect Rack with two chains, both 100% volume. Chain 1 Mid: Utility with Mono on. Whatever follows processes the Mid only.
- Chain 2 Side: Utility with Phase Invert on the Left channel, then Mono. The mono sum of L and inverted R is the Side signal (centred, mono). Process it, then a second Utility: phase-invert Left again and set Width to 200% so the processed Side spreads back into L−R. Check with a mono Utility on the master: the Side chain must vanish completely.
- Now put Saturator (12.1: Analog Clip or Hard Curve on Mid, Soft Sine on Side), Compressor, Hybrid Reverb or Multiband Dynamics on either chain as needed.
- Map Macros: Mid drive, Side drive, Side HP, Side level (acts as a width control that is also a gain-matched one).
Hybrid Reverb: controlling where the space sits
Reverb is usually the widest thing in a mix. Hybrid Reverb's Stereo control, low/high EQ in the post section, and the choice of algorithm (Dark Hall is wide and diffuse, Quartz tighter, Shimmer and Tides very wide) decide whether the tail sits around the source or smears across the whole field.
| Parameter | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Stereo | 60–90% on sends; 100–120% for ambient washes | Below 100% the tail stays attached to the source; 0% gives a mono room, useful on vocals |
| Low cut (post EQ) | 200–400 Hz | Reverb low end is Side-heavy and masks the mono low-mid of the mix |
| Pre-delay | 10–30 ms | Separates the dry transient from the wide tail; keeps the source focused |
| Convolution IR vs algorithm | Convolution for narrower, realistic spaces; Dark Hall/Tides for width | Real rooms have correlated early reflections; algorithms decorrelate more |
| Blend (Conv ↔ Algo) | 30–50% toward algorithm | Early reflections narrow, late tail wide |
Chorus-Ensemble and Phaser-Flanger as width generators
Modulated short delays decorrelate L and R, which is width that survives mono better than Haas (the comb filter moves, so no fixed notch). Chorus-Ensemble's three modes behave differently: Classic is a two-voice chorus with a Width control, Ensemble is a three-voice Juno-style, and Vibrato is mono pitch modulation (no width). Phaser-Flanger's Spin and stereo Phase settings do the same with notches.
| Parameter | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Mode | Ensemble for lush pads, Classic for subtle, Vibrato for none | Ensemble has the strongest L/R decorrelation |
| Rate | 0.3–1.5 Hz | Slower = width without wobble; above 2 Hz it's an effect |
| Amount | 20–50% | Depth of the delay modulation; more = more pitch wobble |
| Width | 80–100% (Classic/Ensemble) | Stereo offset between voices |
| Feedback | 0–15% | Flanger territory above; keep low for width |
| Dry/Wet | 40–70% | Full wet loses the centred core |
Variations: Phaser-Flanger in Phaser mode, 4–6 notches, Rate 0.2 Hz, Spin 50% gives slow swirling width on noise and hats. Doubler mode in Phaser-Flanger is specifically a width/thickening mode with a Haas-like structure plus modulation.
Auto Pan-Tremolo (12.3): rhythmic width and Width-mode stereo
The 12.3 redesign of Auto Pan splits into Pan and Tremolo modes with LFO shapes, phase offset between channels and a Width-style behaviour: with the LFO phase at 180° between L and R the signal alternates sides (classic auto-pan); at 0° both channels move together (tremolo); in between you get a modulated stereo spread. Tempo-synced it becomes rhythmic width that opens up on beats.
| Parameter | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Mode | Pan | Moves the image; Tremolo modulates level on both channels |
| Phase | 180° for ping-pong, 90° for a circular feel, 0° for tremolo | Phase difference between the two LFOs sets how much the pan reads as motion vs spread |
| Rate | 1/8 or 1/16 synced; 0.1–0.5 Hz free for slow drift | Sync for rhythm, free for subliminal width |
| Amount | 20–50% on hats, 10–25% on pads | More than 50% becomes audible left/right flicker |
| Shape | Sine for smooth, Triangle for linear, Square with Smooth for gated | Shape = how the width pulses |
Haas widening with Align Delay or Delay (and when not to)
Delay one channel by 5–30 ms and the brain localises the source toward the earlier channel while hearing the whole thing as wider. Align Delay (introduced for latency compensation) is perfect: it delays in samples, ms or metres with no feedback or filtering, and has per-channel offset. Delay in Ping Pong mode with 0 feedback and 100% wet does the same with a stereo offset.
- Align Delay after the source. Set the R channel delay to 8–20 ms, L to 0. Instantly wide, instantly pulled toward L. Compensate with Utility Balance +10–15% R if the pull bothers you.
- Press the mono toggle on the master. Listen for the hollow comb filter (notches at 1/(2·delay) Hz, so 12 ms gives the first notch at ~42 Hz then every 83 Hz). If the mono version is unacceptable, this trick is wrong for this element.
- Safer version: run the Haas copy in a parallel chain at −6 to −10 dB, high-passed at 300 Hz and with a slow Chorus-Ensemble on it so the notches move. This is a "stereo doubler", much more robust in mono.
- Never Haas a bass, kick, snare or anything that must be centred. Use it on leads, plucks, vocal doubles, FX risers.
| Parameter | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Offset | 5–12 ms subtle, 15–30 ms wide, >35 ms = audible echo | Precedence effect window |
| Parallel level | −6 to −12 dB | Lower = shallower notches when summed |
| HP on delayed copy | 200–400 Hz | Keeps the comb filter out of the bass |
Width at the source: unison, Spread, Stereo voice mode
Width created inside the synth is the most mono-robust kind, because it comes from detuned voices (which beat rather than comb-filter) rather than from delays. Each Live synth has its own version.
| Parameter | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Wavetable Unison | Classic 4–6 voices, Amount 15–35%; Phase Sync for a tighter centre | Detuned voices panned alternately L/R |
| Drift voice mode | Stereo (wide, two detuned voices per note) or Unison | Stereo mode spreads Osc 2 across the field |
| Operator Spread | 20–60% | Detunes voices L vs R; mono-safe, becomes chorusy above 60% |
| Analog | Osc 2 detune 5–12 ct, Quick Routing with both oscs panned | Panned detuned oscillators = instant width |
| Meld | Per-oscillator pan, Swarm Sine spread | Two engines hard-panned give a two-sided image |
Mono-compatibility checks: correlation, mono toggle, null test
Live has no built-in correlation meter, but the workflow is simple and the tools exist. The question is always: when I sum to mono, what disappears, and do I mind?
- Mono toggle: Utility with Mono, mapped to a key (Cmd+M in Key Map mode, or a Push button). Flip it every few minutes. Listen for elements that get quieter (partial cancellation), change tone (comb filter) or vanish (pure Side).
- Side solo: an Audio Effect Rack on the master with the Side chain from the M/S rack above and the Mid chain muted. What you hear is what mono listeners never will. If the kick or sub is audible here, fix it.
- Null test: duplicate a track, process one, Utility phase invert on the copy, play both. Silence = identical. Use it to verify the M/S rack decode and to measure how much a widener really adds.
- Correlation: use a third-party meter plugin or the M4L Spectrum device's stereo mode (Live's Spectrum has an L/R display) to spot Side-heavy low-frequency content. The practical test is still the mono toggle.
Settings per source / genre
A per-element width map. Width is given as Utility Width or the equivalent; M/S Side HP is the EQ Eight Side low-cut; "source width" is how much stereo to create inside the instrument. Values are starting points for a club mix; home-listening genres can go wider.
| Element | Width | Side HP | Source width | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sub | Mono (0%) | n/a | None | Bass Mono 100–150 Hz on everything that carries sub |
| Kick | Mono below 150 Hz; click can be slightly wide (80–100%) | 150 Hz | None | Layered kicks: top layer may be stereo sample, Bass Mono still on |
| Bass (Reese/wobble) | 100%, sub mono | 120–200 Hz | Detune/unison only above sub | Reese width is harmonic beating; keep it, mono the fundamental |
| Snare / clap | 80–100% body, 100–120% tail | 200 Hz | Stereo reverb tail only | Mono snare transient, wide clap layer is fine |
| Hats / rides | 100–130% | 400 Hz | Auto Pan 20–35% | Widest of the drums; keep one closed hat centred for pulse |
| Chords / stabs | 100–120% | 150–250 Hz | Chorus-Ensemble, unison | Dub chords: wide delay returns, narrow dry |
| Pads | 120–150% | 150–300 Hz | Unison + Chorus-Ensemble | The main width carrier in most mixes |
| Lead | 90–110% | 250 Hz | Spread 20–40%; Haas doubler at −8 dB | Lead usually centred with a wide double |
| Vocal | Mono dry, 100% on doubles/FX | 300 Hz | None | Width comes from reverb, delay throws and doubles |
| Reverb returns | 100–120% | 250–400 Hz | Hybrid Reverb Stereo 70–100% | Low-cut hard; reverb Side bass is mud |
| Delay returns | 100–140% (Ping Pong) | 200 Hz | Echo stereo modes | Dub delays ping-pong, but the first repeat can be centred |
| FX / risers | 130–180% | 300 Hz | Anything goes | Short-lived, mono damage is acceptable |
| Genre | Bass Mono crossover | Overall width | What is wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Techno / hard techno | 120–150 Hz | Narrow, dense centre | Hats, rumble reverb tail, noise sweeps |
| Dub techno | 100–120 Hz | Medium; chords wide, drums narrow | Delay/reverb returns on chords; dry chord 90% |
| House / deep house | 120 Hz | Medium-wide | Pads, keys, vocal FX, open hats |
| Dubstep / 140 | 100 Hz | Bass wide above sub, drums mono | Growl harmonics, FX, reverb |
| DnB / neuro | 150 Hz | Narrow drums, wide bass stereo movement | Reese phasing, pads; breaks nearly mono |
| Trip-hop / downtempo | 100 Hz | Wide, atmospheric | Vinyl noise, pads, delay throws, Rhodes chorus |
| Ambient | 80–100 Hz (or none) | Very wide, 130–160% | Everything except the drone fundamental |
| Trap / drill | 100 Hz (808 fully mono) | Narrow low, wide top | Hats with Auto Pan, vocal doubles, pads |
Common mistakes
- Stereo sub. A detuned or chorused sub cancels on a mono stack. Bass Mono at 100–150 Hz on every bass-carrying track, no exceptions.
- Width >150% as a default. Utility Width above ~150% turns a healthy image into a phasey one and makes the sides louder than the centre. Create width at the source instead.
- Haas on everything. Fixed inter-channel delays comb-filter in mono. Use them on leads and FX, in parallel, high-passed, with modulation.
- Reverb with no low cut. Reverb tails are Side-heavy; a 250–400 Hz low cut on every return cleans the low-mid more than any EQ on the dry tracks.
- M/S EQ with huge moves. ±2 dB on Mid or Side is a lot. Big Side boosts raise the out-of-phase content; big Mid cuts hollow out mono playback.
- Never checking mono. One Utility on the master, one key. Flip it often, especially after adding any widener.
- Wideners on the master. Width on the mix bus widens the sub and kick too. Do it per element, or in an M/S rack with a Side HP.
- Panning instead of width. Hard-panning a mono element is position, not width; it leaves a hole on the other side. Use a wide double or a stereo reverb for actual width.
Related
- EQ strategies — EQ Eight M/S mode in depth
- Reverb & space and Delay design — where most Side content comes from
- Saturation & distortion — Roar routings and Saturator 12.1
- Parallel processing — the rack techniques behind the M/S rack
- Loudness & limiting — why Side energy costs headroom
- Sub bass, Reese bass, Pads & atmospheres
- Mix bus rack, Pad rack
- Listening checklist, Frequency chart