(Tutorial) - How to create super fat stereo lead sounds

Wassup peeps!

Today i will write a short article about how you can create a super fat stereo leadsound using a synthesizer.

The essence of a super fat stereo leadsound is obviously in the difference of the left and the right channel. Otherwise it wouldnt be stereo. So how to get a super wide stereo leadsound? By creating slightly different content for the left and the right channel.

--> What to do?

• delay one channel about a few miliseconds (usually anything in between 1 and 50ms i would say).
• do different eqing for left and right channel
• add different fx to left or right channel (like put a phaser on the left, flanger on the right)
• creat a midi-pattern with a leadsound and do a filter automation. Now do a second filter automation of it. Pan the first to the left, the second to the right.
• do some small variations on the midi pattern, like different velocity, different pitchbend, different note-lenght
• same effect as above, but change other parameters on the synth like the cutoff, or the filtertype (e.g. a lowpass- and a highpass-filter), or osc-wave, or pulsewidth, and so on.....
• or even use a total different patches or presets for the left and the right channel

There are also plugins like 'Doubler' from waves wich do the job fast for you. But i rather prefere to do it manually since you have many more option to tweak.

Basically you can delay one channel and eq it in this plugin.

A 'very important' hint about this technic is: Always check it in mono. The leadsound should still work in mono aswell! When you delay one channel about a few ms, do this while listening to it in mono. You will find the sweet spot the best while monitoring that sound in mono.

PS: Also you can apply this trick not just to synthesizers. You can experiment with recording a guitar, recording vocals or any other instrument. Basicly just record everything two times and then pan one hard to the left and one hard to the right. Because you can never record an instrument exactly the same two times, it will always sound pretty nice when you apply the doubler effect to that.

Happy tweaking :D