BIG stands for "Binaural Image Generator," and that's what it does. Via a 5 to 30 ms left/right split dual Haas Delay Spread and a 5 to 25 cent dual micro-pitch shifter Detune, it adds a "width" to tracks. Overall, BIG brings a certain ambience that is fairly addictive and sometimes exactly what is needed. I think what I'm describing as ambience is also a bit of depth, so BIG will somewhat "pull" the image of a mono track back from the speakers and phantom center to a degree – you can imagine how much this might help on backing vocals, for instance. Like all Raising Jake plug-ins, it's designed for the needs of real engineers but is intuitive and gets results fast. The filters (High and Low Cut) are a case in point; using them to clear the stereo effect from the low end of a bass or for adding only a smidge of high end width around a lead vocal makes a lot of sense.
With remote mix work, sometimes I get tracks, such as an electric guitar via amp simulator with effects, that are often processed poorly in ways that add a very out of phase stereo field – the kind that collapses when I audition my mix in mono. But on the other hand, some of my clients send me mono tracks that seemingly should be in stereo, such as keyboard pads, virtual string sections, rhythm pianos, or echoey keyboard or guitar lead lines. With BIG, I could split one of those stereo guitar tracks to mono, and then rebuild a phase-coherent version. I could also apply it directly to a stereo track if a different width was desired. For mono tracks, I've been using the plug-in to stereoize piano, synth, glockenspiel, and sound effects (such as outdoor field recordings) with stellar results. Severe abuse of Detune can begin to create some wobbly modulation-like effects, and running two instances of BIG in series can get a bit synthetic. but it also can create a cool vocal effect that has made at least one client happy (someone tell Gary Numan! [Tape Op #125]). The "cross-fed micro-pitch shifting and Haas delays" magic that happens in this plug-in are all set up to sound quite musical, and the presets are perfect jumping-off points. BIG is incredibly mono compatible, always keeping the track's level in a mix intact while still adding the light ambience/depth that I like from this effect. I use Raising Jake Studios' True Mid/Side [#150] and SideMinder Max [#163] plug-ins on almost all my mixes, as they solve problems and help me sculpt sounds in ways that many engineers should be considering. BIG joined these two right away as a favorite, and I've already made good use of it on several mixes. Try it out!