Steijing
by Noisebud · Imaging · Stereo balance and gain tool
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Steijing is a Noisebud mastering utility for fine adjustment of left/right and mid/side balance, with an Auto Balance control added in version 2.0.
It is also handy for gain staging, and costs $21 (Windows only).
Best for: Mastering, Mix Bus. Genres: all genres.
Keywords: mid/side, mastering, utility, full mix, bus processing, mix bus, subtle, wide.
What it does
Steijing is a small mastering utility that sets the balance between left and right and between mid and side in very fine steps. It was developed with Saintpid Mastering for the small, exact corrections that a normal pan control can't make well.
- L/R balance: adjusts left against right with high-resolution knobs.
- M/S balance: adjusts mid against side the same way, for subtle width corrections.
- Fine range: up to ±2 dB per channel, with steps as small as 0.05 dB.
- Auto Balance: added in version 2.0; the developer calls it "a unique feature not found anywhere else" and recommends headphones when using it.
- Gain staging: also works as a precise gain tool.
- Touch-friendly: the interface is designed for touchscreens.
Version 2.0, made with SynthEdit. It is also offered through Noisebud's Patreon.
When to use it
Steijing is for one narrow job: fixing a mix that leans slightly to one side, or nudging the mid/side balance, in exact fractions of a dB. Compared with Ozone Imager or S1 Stereo Imager, it has no width spread, multiband control or vectorscope, but its fine steps and Auto Balance make offset corrections faster and more precise. It is much simpler and cheaper than StageOne 2 or Stereoizer, which shape the stereo image itself rather than the channel balance.
- Best for: precise L/R and M/S balance corrections on masters, especially in rooms you don't fully trust.
- Genres: any.
- Look elsewhere if: you need real width and imaging tools (Ozone Imager, S1 Stereo Imager or StageOne 2).
- Tip: the developer recommends using headphones when you run Auto Balance.
Where to buy
- Noisebud: $21
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