An Example of Using Stereo Spread and Smart Controls in Logic Pro X

Sometimes I like to use the stereo spread on the (software instrument) piano to help define the piano in the mix somewhere other than the middle. I have discovered a way to create an interesting piano sound that doesn't dominate the middle of the stereo field.  In this post I’ll explain how to use the Stereo Spread plugin to move the instrument out of the middle of the mix.  Just for kicks I’ll also show how to add a Smart Control for the intensity of the effect.

This is different than using multiple piano tracks, sometimes I use as many as five, and pan them with lower tones on one side and higher tones on the other. This technique kind of immerses the listener in the piano and it works well when the piano is really the focal point of the piece.  I have used this method quite a bit.  But, I usually track the piano to one midi channel and it can be a real pain to split up the midi notes between tracks.  I believe I should be able to track note ranges to different midi channels but haven't figured out how to do that on my favorite piano - Rhodes MK-80. I've looked for easy and inexpensive software to do this but haven’t found anything that I like yet. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Anyway, on with the show...

The Stereo Spread plugin

The Stereo Spread plugin is in the imaging group of plugins.  The default settings are most definitely not what we want for this experiment…

but, it’s pretty simple to configure this plugin to have a more pronounced (or at least easier to hear) effect.

Change the Order parameter to 2 - then adjust the intensity for the Lower and Upper frequencies to ‘taste.’  I like to use something around 40% with opposite intensity for high and low frequencies.  I do not adjust the frequency ranges. The main control to experiment with is the intensity.

Keep in mind that there may be other effects that are going to play into exactly how much spread intensity is needed.  Reverbs, delays and modulations are going make a difference in how this actually sounds. It's kind of interesting to play with this control anyway.

Adding a ‘spread’ intensity control to Smart Controls

When you open smart controls Logic Pro X includes a set of default controls based on the type of track and plugins that are on the channel strip.  You can change these controls and save them in your patch.  Here’s how…

Here are the default Smart Controls for the Steinway Grand Piano patch.

Clicking the Info button reveals the parameter mapping settings.

Clicking on the Smart Control name (in this case “Automatic Smart Controls”) reveals additional layouts that can be configured in any way you choose.  There is a huge selection - the main thing to think about is how many and what types of controls you want to use.  I choose “Master Channel” because it has plenty of controls for me to configure and I like being able to use Logic Remote on my iPad while I am tracking and mixing.  (Here are some screen captures of many that are currently available.)  

As far as I know you can completely change the mappings but you cannot change the number or types of controls (knobs, toggles).  There are 10 configurable knobs and 10 configurable toggles on this layout. It might look like 5 toggles but it is really 10 - I discovered that when I tried to get the lights to light when the toggles are flipped - they are actually just a copy of the toggle and can be mapped to any on/off kind of control.  But, I digress.  Back to adding the intensity control…

This is what my new Smart Control looks like without changing anything.

All I need to do now is fix up the text a little bit and map one of the unmapped controls to the Stereo Spread intensity parameters.

To change text - simply click on the text you want to change and type the label you want.  If you’re not sure what a control is doing right click on it to open the plugin, you can see what it does and even change the parameter if you don’t like them.

Click on the control you want to use then choose the parameter you want to control.

You can control multiple parameters with the same knob/toggle.

Here is the Spread Intensity Control...

Click on the info button to close the mapping and the Smart Control window looks like this…

(I changed the intensity to make the high frequencies spread more pronounced.)

Don’t forget to save this patch to your Library!