The Jazz Behind Stereo Image?
Okay so,
Im looking for someone that can explain stereo image to me.
I understand the basics of pan, reverb, stereo separation and width, but what is the role it plays in a final mix? can things be too separated? or too narrow? is there a certain amount of space thats an average between frequencies? How do i know when things are too far? or too big for the mix im working with? do i need to put everything in the same size room for it to work together? what about compression on the stereo and width? is it recommended do add more space for other stereo objects?
PHEW!
any other answers or tips and tricks you have with anything on that topic would be a huge help. Just wanna learn.
I have a few tips and ideas here:
http://tarekith.com/assets/pdfs/CreatingSpace.pdf
Maybe those help some.
+1
As always tarekith has all the answers
Nah, just a couple, I’m still looking for more 
I guess maybe i should re word it. i know how to make space but i dont know how to utilize it to get a full sounding mix.though im slowly realizing my effects processing is a little much and wears my mixes thin
Sometimes the “hint” of space does more to convey depth than a lot of effects will. I generally tell people if you can hear the reverb as a seperate part in the mix, then maybe it’s too much.
Keep in mind a lot of the synth presets and samples we use already have a lot of effects on them, everything from delays and reverbs to modulation based effects like chorus and phasing. So often, they already have a sense of space to them and adding more later in the mix just muddles things up.
One of the more common things I do when mastering other people’s music is to take a little emphasis off the side channels and build up the middle to be a little more solid (via M/S processing). So many mixes these days have sounds with so much happening in the far sides of the stereo field that the middle of the mix feels empty.
lol seriously, Tarekith is like Apple: “There’s an article for that” 
Sorry, not trying to be annoying with it. I’ll tone it down some.
No, it’s awesome man, I really appreciate it. Makes alot of sense
No, no dude, not annoying at all. I just find it amusing that you’ve managed to write an article on pretty much every question that gets asked around here. Thats awesome actually, its all good stuff!
Cool. I started noticing people always asked the same questions, so rather than retyping my answers over and over I did the guides and just link to those. I never know if it bothers people though, doh!