This is the featured image of the Add Stereo Width to Your Drum Elements blog article.

Add Stereo Width to Your Drum Elements

Last Edited: Nov 13, 2023

Stereo widening is an essential process in music production, and you can perform this in various ways than panning. The method I'll show you works well on sounds in the mix that are significant but not overpowering, such as the kick drum, snare, or lead voice. Keeping this in mind, in this tutorial, I'll show you how to add stereo width to your drum elements.

To begin with, let's listen to this short sequence I created in SoundBridge: DAW, which contains most of the whole mix's elements.

This is a screenshot of my mix before add stereo width to my drum elements

~Full Mix - Drums (Unprocessed)

Use a Mid/Side EQ to Add Stereo Width to Your Drum Elements

As seen in the example above, the drum elements are too mono and could benefit from some stereo widening. There are several techniques you can use for this, but I found that controlling the stereo width of the drums with a mid/side equalizer worked best in this situation. 

The EQ I have chosen for this purpose is FabFilter Pro-Q 3. Before we proceed, let us first hear how the elements of the DRUMS MID  group sound unprocessed.

This is a screenshot of the DRUM MID group before applying any processing.

~DRUMS MID Group - Solo (Unprocessed)

This is a screenshot of my mix and the DRUM MID group processed with mid/side EQ I used to improve their stereo width.

Cut the Unnecessary  Frequencies on the Sides and Boost the Frequencies That Enhance the Stereo Width.

The FabFilter Pro-Q 3 interface offers various processing options for accentuating a specific band that has been added. As shown in the picture, you can choose from multiple modes, including left, right, stereo, mid, or side. In this particular task, I opted for the side mode, which exclusively enhances the stereo width of the signal. In this instance, the high-shelf filter was employed to enhance the high and mid-range frequencies, while the low-cut filter was utilized to slightly reduce the width of the highest frequencies in the high range.

~DRUMS MID Group - Solo (Processed With Side EQ)

This is a screenshot of my mix and open hat processed with mid/side EQ.

Finally, I employed the same approach to the HI DRUM group. The open hi-hat needed a bit of stereo widening. This time, I used a bell filter and again made a more significant boost on the high and mid-high frequencies, with an additional boost at around 9500 kHz. Please note that I have significantly enhanced the audio to increase the stereo information, as the original sound lacked sufficient stereo information. In certain instances, a modest boost of 3-4 dB may suffice. Let us hear how the open hat sounds before and after processing.

~Open Hat - Solo (Unprocessed)

~Open Hat - Solo (Processed With Side EQ)

~Full Mix - Drums (Processed With Side EQ)

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