Precision K-Stereo Ambience Recovery Plug-In By UAD

Description

Say goodbye to “narrow” mixes. Recover and boost the natural ambience of recorded sources.

Universal Audio’s Precision K-Stereo™ Ambience Recovery plug-in is a psychoacoustic processor created for the UAD platform with famed mastering engineer Bob Katz. Offering a unique, patented process, the K-Stereo Ambience Recovery plug-in extracts the ambient cues from source recordings — allowing you to precisely enhance the stereo depth and imaging of mixes without artifacts. Designed for critical 2-track mastering applications, from jazz to rock to hip-hop, the K-Stereo plug-in is the 100% natural-sounding cure for busy or narrow-sounding mixes.

Background
The K-Stereo Ambience Recovery process uses elements of the Haas effect and other psychoacoustic principles to create a transparent, phase-accurate “ambience recovery” and stereo enhancement tool. This plug-in does not have a sound of its own; instead, it transparently enhances the existing ambience and early reflections of your source material — increasing the “third dimension” of the recorded sound. Add depth and imaging to the instruments and vocals on your stereo master, without adding artificial reverb or changing the ratio of center elements to side elements — thus providing a “do-no-harm” approach to finalizing the stereo image.

Parameters
The K-Stereo’s Ambience section is the heart of the plug-in. Dial in the Recovery amount that suits your track, while using “Deep” and “Wide” for additional enhancement of the stereo field. Use the Recover switch to disable and enable Ambience Recovery, auditioning the K-Stereo process against the original sound as you go. A three-band Ambience Filter section allows fine tuning of the effect, while Mid/Side Gain controls let you adjust center-to-side balance. Lastly, Left/Right Gain controls are available for final stereo image balancing and leveling.

In Use
The primary use for the K-Stereo Ambience Recovery plug-in is in mastering or post-production, especially where improvements in stereo width and depth are desired. You can start with default settings and adjust the K-Stereo’s parameters to taste, or use the array of presets specially designed by Bob Katz. The K-Stereo plug-in is also useful during mixing, enhancing stereo sources within a mix, such as drum groups, acoustic piano, vocal groups, or other sub-mixes. With its flexible parameters, the K- Stereo plug-in also excels at creating a  natural stereo soundstage from a mono source.