How to compress/mix stereo piano with different L&R levels

Getting Stuff Done How do I .... ?
#1

When you have a stereo piano that has one side louder then the the other. How do more experienced tackle these types of situations.
Do you use a dual mono compression that does both sides individually or do you boost the side that’s low and bring it up or do they split it into 2 mono sources and mix it that way etc

#2

Change the L/R balance (with a stereo panner or specialized tool like Flux Stereo Tool) until it sounds natural…compressing L and R differently just seems odd.

2 Likes
#3

Step 1: Understand WHY one side is weaker than the other. Is it because that music is left hand heavy? Is it because of an imbalance in settings between two different microphones? Address and understand that first.

Step 2: If appropriate, use a stereo compressor that doesn’t cause the imaging to shift because you are compressing one side stronger than the other. Otherwise every time one side gets compressed and the other doesn’t, your imaging will shift and balance of the instrument will change.

    Seablade
1 Like
#4

Don’t compress a stereo signal with dual-mono compressors unless you want the image to wobble disconcertingly from side to side whenever one channel’s compressor reduces the gain less than the other.

Try the x42 Balance.lv2 before a stereo compressor if you need to adjust the stereo image.

1 Like
#5

This topic was automatically closed 91 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.