Phantom Center

Name: Phantom Center
Author: Bertom Audio

by Bertom Audio · Imaging · Phantom-center extractor and LCR upmixer

Not rated yet

Phantom Center extracts the phantom centre from a stereo signal, giving left, centre and right parts instead of plain mid and side.

Hard-panned sounds stay out of the centre, and the three channels can be output separately; it is free or pay-what-you-want.

Best for: Mix Bus, Mastering, Vocals, Sound Design. Genres: all genres.

Keywords: vocals, aggressive, full mix, wide, free, bass, mastering, bus processing, lead vocals, mix bus, mixing, smooth, sound design.

What it does

Phantom Center is an "upmixing stereo imager" that extracts the phantom centre of a stereo signal rather than using mid/side maths. The idea is to separate what sits in the middle of a mix, such as a lead vocal, from what is panned.

Phantom centre extraction: the side parts are much less correlated than with mid/side, and hard-panned signals do not leak into the centre.
HPF and LPF: set the frequency range of the extracted centre; content filtered out goes to the sides, so you can keep bass or highs out of the centre.
Smooth and Width: further controls that set how selective the extraction is.
LCR outputs: optional separate left, centre and right channels, so each part can be processed on its own.
Aggressive algorithm: the developer describes the extraction as on the aggressive side.

The current version is 2.0.2. It is pay-what-you-want, including free; the developer asks users to consider paying.

Source: Bertom Audio product page

When to use it

Phantom Center is a free way to split a stereo signal into left, centre and right, which lets you work on a centred vocal or bass inside a finished mix, or narrow and widen without the side effects of mid/side. Unlike Ozone Imager and S1 Stereo Imager, which widen or narrow the stereo field, it isolates the centre, much as the commercial CenterOne 3 does. Production Expert pointed out that, on suitable material, it avoids the artefacts of AI demixing tools, though it cannot pull out sources that are not centred. Its extraction is aggressive, so it suits deliberate processing more than subtle mastering width.

Best for: processing the centre of a stereo mix on its own, rebalancing vocals in a bounced mix, LCR upmixing, and widening without mid/side side effects.
Genres: any; it is a mix and mastering utility.
Look elsewhere if: you only need simple width control (Ozone Imager is quicker), want a fuller commercial centre tool (CenterOne 3), or need to separate sources that are not centred (an AI stem separator).
Tip: use the HPF to keep low end out of the extracted centre when you only want to treat the vocal range.

What producers say

Coverage is favourable and treats it as a practical free alternative to stem separation.

Production Expert (Julian Rodgers, 2024) presented it as a useful way to pull centred elements from stereo recordings without demixing artefacts, noting the developer's own warning that it is aggressive and not built mainly for upmixing.
KVR users rate it 5 out of 5, from a single review.

Where to buy

Bertom Audio: Free

Tutorials and reviews

Similar plugins

Center by Waves · Mid/side center processor · $32.91
CenterOne 3 by Leapwing Audio · Phantom-center spatial processor · $174

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