How Helang uses EQ, panning, and Ozone Imager for stereo balance

Do you think today’s streaming platforms and modern playback systems have changed the way producers approach stereo width?

I don’t think so. In my opinion, it is probably us who are adding more stereo-width than we realize, and probably have a lot of non-mono elements, etc., overall making it pretty thin and hollow.

Many samples and presets on VSTs have a good amount of width that only actually ‘sounds good’ in isolation.

For example, a lot of sampled kicks you can get online are stereo and have a weird spread to them (I just mono them). I’m still figuring it out, and I’m not a pro, but having primarily mono elements and getting our width through tasteful panning, delay, and reverb is the way. Maybe we’d have one or two broad elements, but nothing is if everything is wide.