Analyzes the stereo image of an audio file — how wide the sound is, whether it’s balanced, and how the energy is distributed between mid (center) and side (stereo) channels.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| file_path | string | required | Path to stereo audio file |
Example Output
$ analyze_stereo mix-bus.wav
Stereo Analysis Width: 0.72 Balance: +0.02 (centered) Mid/Side: 62% / 38% Correlation: 0.61
Panorama Distribution: Hard left: 8% Left: 18% Center: 48% Right: 17% Hard right: 9%
What the Numbers Mean
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Width — A 0-1 scale of how wide the stereo image is. 0.0 = pure mono. 1.0 = completely decorrelated stereo. Most well-mixed music sits at 0.5-0.8. Width above 0.85 may have mono compatibility issues.
-
Balance — Pan offset from center. 0.0 = perfectly centered. Positive = right-heavy. Negative = left-heavy. Values above +/- 0.1 may indicate an unintentional imbalance.
-
Mid/Side Ratio — Energy split between the center (mono) and sides (stereo difference). A typical mix is 55-70% mid, 30-45% side. Very high mid (>80%) = narrow mix. Very high side (>50%) = wide but may lack center punch.
-
Correlation — Similar to phase coherence but amplitude-weighted. 1.0 = mono. 0.0 = fully independent channels. Negative = out of phase. Values below 0.3 warrant checking mono compatibility.
-
Panorama Distribution — How the energy is spread across the stereo field. Uneven distribution (e.g., 30% hard left, 5% hard right) indicates panning imbalance.
Example Prompts
Width check
How wide is my mix? Analyze the stereo image of mix-v4.wav
Balance check
Is my mix balanced between left and right? Check stereo-bus.wav
Mono compatibility
Will this mix translate well to mono? Check the mid/side ratio and correlation
Related Tools
- analyze_phase — Per-band phase coherence (more detailed than overall correlation)
- compare_to_reference — Compare your width against a reference track’s width
- match_to_reference — Automatically match stereo width to a target
Pro tip
If your correlation is below 0.4 but the mix sounds fine in headphones, check it on a mono speaker (or sum to mono in your DAW). Wide mixes that rely on side information can collapse dramatically in mono — common in venues, TV, and phone speakers.