I NEVER MIX IN MONO - Here’s WHY
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ส.ค. 2024
- Why I NEVER MIX in MONO
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Just cause I never mix in mono doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. I’ve just gotten SO many comments about this I figured there should be a video going over my position. Hope it helped ya!
different strokes for different folks. I personally mix in mono, but that's because I've usually got so many floaty pads and synth based instruments going from left to right making my phase battle "easy" that I can't change(clients request), so my main source is a pretty beat up soundcube and I just flip back and forth between that and my Opals. I try to stick to the soundcube as much as possible, but It's nice to hear your mix in stereo from time to time. Lol.
Colt, what pan law do you use?
Alan Moulder mixes on a single Auratone (not two collapsed to mono) and then stereo mixes after he has that down...
I figure he uses the default SSL pan law..
Christian Noir It’s whatever the ProTools default is. I’ve never changed it
@@ColtCapperrune some people like "the sound" of one DAW more than another, simply because of the default pan law.
A well known hip hop/ R&B producer said that he loved sonar, because it always made his beats sound bigger... Came to realize it was simply because of the pan law.
@@ColtCapperrune
Default pan laws
Protools = - 3db center (used to be -2.5db and unchangeable)
Sonar = 0db center
Cubase = - 3db
SSL used to be -4.5db. Alam moulder says that mixing on the single Auratone makes him mix guitars louder (more powerful).. I bet it's because he's mixing at -4.5db in the center, and when he pans them out, it's like they get a boost, vs using -3db.
Mainly, I think the pan law probably dictates a bunch of mixing habits, while also taking care of mono compatibility, and listening situations of "virtual mono" which is what I call the thing another commenter described, kinda like when two speakers are together or you're not placed dead center between two speakers and the room kind of collapses the sound to mono.
Phones? "Smart" speakers? Outside of crappy eabuds, I would argue that these days, most consumers listen in mono, or at least on systems where the speakers are so physically close together that they might as well be mono. Don't get me wrong. I'm a mastering guy and I'm absolutely NOT advocating for catering to the lowest common denominator, but I do think mono compatibility is important in 2020 and at least the near future.
Agreed. Some consumers have a stereo player and a smart speaker. So we don't want them to have a terrible mono experience and a wonderful stereo experience for the same song. A poor guy would probably throw his smart speaker out of the window for no real fault of the speaker. 😀
yeh, the TV example aswell I consider mono, unless you've got a good sound system. Though, my biggest mixing tip is that apart from a few fundamental rules, the tips you need depend on who you are. I personally balance my vocal in mono, cause i'm too stupid to be able to tell if the vocal is too loud or quiet in stereo, and check to make sure the guitars don't turn to mud. But mixers like CLA don't mix in mono because "if you're listening on shit speakers stop complaining that the mix is shit", but cla's mix's translate well to mono, because he can level everything out well on his speakers.
Speaking of drums I’d love to see a drum video from you. Your theory, process, mixing concepts etc.
Definitely in the works. I’ve got a whole bunch of ideas for videos like this, I just have to work on my screen capture stuff whenever I find time
For me, mixing in mono helps to get the mids sorted out faster and I know If my mix sounds good in mono, then it’s going to translate well. I would assume really high level engineers wouldn’t need to do that but, it helps me out.
Really high level engineers do exactly that!
I wouldn't necessarily mix in mono for the reasons you said. But I definitely like to check my mix in mono from time to time.
Hey! Even tho I dont mix in mono either I understand that people do that to force them to make the sounds work together, without “fooling yourself” panning the sound. If they are one on top of another, you need to male them work!
But then again, I dont care and mix in stereo anyways, I mix for people listening to music, not to people passing by in the supermarket, they wont notice that the shaker got 3 db lower when summed to mono haha
i didn't know that people in your area didn't listen to music using their phone speakers.
or Bluetooth speakers, for that matter.
well put! i think it's wise to mix for the best, standard, way that people listen to music. unless you're specifically making club music. music is going to sound bad on a cell phone anyway. no reason to make a mix specifically for something that's not gonna impress people anyway.
@@slavesforging5361 it's not about mixing for the cellphone itself. it's about making sure that your mix translates well across any devices or speaker system.
in the same vein, why mix with the mindset of leaving out other consumers with different circumstances, when by occasionally checking in mono you'll make sure that your mix translates well in every system, and is fire on the system's used by the target audience?
if a mix sucks on the phone, it sure as hell is going to suck elsewhere.
Saludos Crivas no esperaba encontrarte por aquí ❤
About listening in mono, I know a lot of smaller bluetooth and wifi speakers are in mono. I use mine almost daily and I know a lot of other people that do as well! But I totally see what you're coming from!
Great observation on the Bluetooth speaker. Definitely neglected to think of that one. Thanks for the comment!
@@ColtCapperrune Thank you for creating great and informative content!
Mac, iphone, ipad, android phone, all content now we are eating quickly and faster then ever and its always in mono. Cheers
I kind of agree with you, however keep in mind that when you watch tv, listen to music on a radio or anything that is stereo (not headphone or any direct feed) , in order for that to be true stereo the distance between you and the source cant be greater than the distance between the speakers themselves. if the mix doesnt translate good to mono, when you listen to your music on a boombox in your room for example, and you are on the kitchen or in the same room but distant, the mix will turn mono and everything that is not mono compatible will be lost. Thats why is good to check your mixes in mono. sorry for my english, is not my first language but i think you understand what i meant.
This. People who mix in mono still pan later.
With that said, I wonder what pan law they use when mixing.
Alan Moulder, one of the best mixers ever mixes on a single aura tone most of the time to get the balances and then mixes stereo after he has that down... I wonder what pan law.. He uses an SSL 4000 of some kind, so I figure whatever that is set to or the Protools default.
Came here to say exactly this.
Well not really... the sound doesn't really sum and/or cancel once it is out of the speakers and in the air the same way it does when it is summed on your stereo bus or played on one speaker for example. You will get a lot more cancellation or boost on summed mono signal if there is something wrong with the phase than you will get once the sound is reproduced by stereo speakers.
100%
I tend to disagree because I jump between both. I find that listening in mono helps with discerning how the balance of EQ levels and volumes truly sit.
Either way, let's all do what we think works best for us, especially since we live in a world of so many complete opposite opinions 😂
100%
I agree and people should realize there is no definitive way. Do what feels right for you and don’t over complicate things.
I work in hip hop & edm which, before covid, were getting played in venues/clubs all the time, so I have no choice but to at the very least check my mixes in mono. You ever have a lead synth in an EDM drop disappear in a club? Boy... its a nightmare 🥺
😂😂😭
Any time you move away far enough from the sound source, you are effectively listening in mono. Also, of course in headphones you'll have sort of a (too?) perfect stereo image, but in the car? That's a really odd kind of stereo image, one that doesn't just come at you differently depending on where you're sat, but also bounces against hard surfaces to the extent where I'd guess most normal people in a normal car would have great difficulties picking out what instrument sits where in the stereo field. Now, none if this of course makes it necessary to mix in mono if your mix ends up translating well on all types of systems, but for at least an inexperienced mix engineer I'd say it can be of great help to do so, as a mix that sounds good in mono will most likely translate well to most listening environments. Furthermore, mixing in mono, or at least checking your mix in mono, can help find problems that a wide stereo image sometimes masks - you've got two hard panned acoustic guitar for example and they sound awesome in stereo, you push the mono button and they... Sort of disappear? So the instrument that was driving the song in stereo doesn't in mono. Now, that's at least a good thing to know about your mix.
I use MONO a lot.. the fastest way to hear if any instrument is too loud. Just a few seconds here and there, not like minutes or hours! Used like that Its gold to me.. but again: to each his own.
Great video, Colt. I hear your argument, but the essence behind "mixing in mono" is not as described. It's about occasionally *checking your mix* in mono as you go (does anyone mix only in mono anymore?). Casual listeners will often exit the stereo field (when not in headphones), which at a distance distills the output to effectively a mono signal. You get up from the sweet spot and move to a different part of the room, you won't hear that the crunch guitar is in the left or right speaker, but you _will_ hear if it still sits well in the mix or not. Checking the mix in mono is just another helpful tool at our disposal. Great content as always. :)
People exiting the stereo field is not the purpose I’ve ever heard discussed before, but I can see that being a factor. I still have to say for me personally but I’m not mixing for people who are leaving the stereo field. But again, to each their own! Thanks for watching and for the comment!
I always mix in mono and turn on stereo only at the end. This opens up a bunch of stereo surprises. But it is more a matter of taste now
I find mixing in mono is very helpful for me when I want to really focus on the relationships of all the content I want very centered - vocal, kick, snare, bass, etc...and when I'm boosting frequencies on those tracks I always do it using an EQ that has M-S functionality so I can boost just the middle. I find that that technique really achieves an extra dimension of separation in the stereo image, so being able to listen in mono helps me really focus on what that particular dimension is doing. Anyway, love your videos man! I'm moving to nashville next year, would love to grab a whiskey with you!
Mixing in mono is not about mono compatibility, but about getting sure that any mono track doesn't mask with any stereo tracks or hard pan stuff, therefore helps with better separation in stereo. For instance you have two different mono synths hard panned L/R . When you hit mono you can check if both synths mask with vocals and with each other even thou they are on seperate channels. When there's good seperation in mono after EQ, you can achieve extra wide and space when you go back to stereo. If you can do that without getting to mono then good for you, but most of the beginers can't and it's a great way to do that.
Well THANK YOU!! I've been saying this for years now. As if people in the clubs will notice any slight "problems" that may arrive when summed to mono, and as a guy who actually worked with systems in clubs I can say that a lot of them are actually not in mono. The other argument is people listening on their phones... first of all who does that??? And again, as if someone who listens to those tiny phone speakers actually cares and can notice any problems, not to mention that a lot of phones have stereo speakers nowadays.
Thanks for the video. I agree with many of the points in the video, especially about phasing. I have a major disagreement with one thing you said: that 99% of all listening environments (including cars and TVs) are in stereo. Here's my reasoning why these are not true stereo:
The vast majority of televisions operate with the standard inbuilt speaker system in the device, which usually consists of a left and right speaker that are relatively close together. Couple this with the fact that most people sit relatively far away from TVs (much farther away than they sit from computers), and you end up with the fact that EVEN THOUGH it started as a stereo signal, by the time it reaches your ears it might as well be in mono! Remember that if the speakers aren't positioned perfectly in relation to the position and distance from your head, and if the speakers aren't the correct size relative to the size of the room you're in, you will AT BEST be experiencing some sort of "partial mono mix", but it won't be "true stereo". The same is true for radios, boomboxes, etc. sitting in a room. Most people will be too far away, and the speakers will be too close together.
Which brings me to car audio systems. Unless you have customized it yourself, the stock stereo system from the car manufacturer is usually quite bad. First of all, speakers for many cars are positioned somewhere near the floor, or the lower half of the car. This is a terrible place to put stereo speakers, as much of the sound will inevitably bounce all around before reaching your ears. Optimally they should be at head level. The other reason is that there is always an asymmetric distance between your head and the speakers. i.e. if you're driving, you will be closer to the left speaker than the right speaker (potentially vice-versa outside the US). Every mixing engineer worth their salt knows that this is possibly the worst way to listen to a mix--with one speaker closer to you than the other speaker. Audio from one speaker will reach each ear at different rates than the other speaker.
As an aside, when people listen to something with earbuds or headphones, EVEN THEN they are not listening in an optimal environment, as many environments where these are used (on a bus, while jogging outside, in an exercise gym, etc.) are not quiet listening environments and there is usually a lot of bleed from the outside.
TLDR: Cars and TVs don't give you a "true stereo" experience. At best, they give you some sort of partial mono mix. I would argue exactly the opposite of what you said: 99% of all listening environments are NOT in stereo.
Mixing is 50% about feelings and 50% about strictly technical requirements. Checking and mixing in mono is part of it, how much one does it is a preference; most just check it now and then. But if yo udo NOT test it.. yeah, you will miss whole lot.. and MONO MATTERS THE MOST..
There are THREE channels in stereo: left, right and center. Center or phantom channel is the combined output of left and right. It is the most important channel in any mix. Not checking it means you are not doing your job right and don't actually understand how stereo works.
You are absolutely right in your thinking!
Well that only took about 6 seconds for me to hit 👍 Love how pretty much 95% of your videos I can relate to even though we both work in a completely different music genres! Keep ‘em coming....... Also, when do we get to see some action from the little midi controller sitting in the middle of your desk?
Haha thanks! Honestly I’ve struggled to fit it into my workflow in ProTools. Maschine and ProTools just don’t play all that great together.
@@ColtCapperrune I feel that! You pretty much just have to arrange the whole track in Maschine standalone, then just open that session up in protools for "finessing" before stemming. It's not the most fun way of working.
I used to mix in mono, and then I stopped because I started to forget to click the mono button and got some killer results, and it sounds kinda boring compared to stereo haha
I agree 100% with what you are saying.
Thanks for watching!
I like using mono when working on my kick and bass relationship but I mostly work on EDM or hip-hop tracks. Great content.
The best is when you're at a store and they actually have the PA set as two channels and you can only hearing the left channel of a Beatles song. Then walk a ways and now you can only hear the right channel! :-) Good times!
I couldn't agree more. I find mixing in mono tends to make the song sound good but once I hit the stereo setting, suddenly some instruments fall to the background forcing me to reset my levels.
Good discussion. Mixing in mono is not a BAD idea, but it doesn't mean you have to. I can see how it can help to identify frequency overlap and such during the initial EQ sculpting phase of a mix. People still listen in mono with Bluetooth speakers and cell phones (even if there are 2 "stereo" speakers, there is little separation). However, I believe that we should mix for people listening in stereo on good speakers. Chris Lord Alge NEVER mixes in mono, for those same reasons so Cap, you are in good company. However, there are no rules, so one should work in whatever way they feel comfortable and gets good results.
I thought I was the only one not mixing in Mono...lol! Good video, brother!
most club systems are mono, so I think it's a good idea to check mono compatibility to see if the mix still holds up. I don't mix in mono though.
I could never get into mixing in mono. Thanks! Now I know I'm not crazy 😜
Once my mix is 80% there I’ll flip to mono. It’s super easy to see what frequencies are not getting along in mono. Then I’ll go in and adjust EQ (while in mono) until everything is sitting nicely. Then once it all sounds good, I’ll flip back to stereo and let me tell you, that moment is like a religious experience when the mix becomes big and wide but also sonically balanced in terms of frequencies. Some of my best mixes have come from doing this.
Yup, I'm with you on this one man. Mixing in the manner that you listen is a logical thang.
checking my mixes in mono got really helpfull for me, cause it has less space to be filled with "stuff" ^^ so then the stereomix has even more space and doesen't get too crowded. a
i alkways try to check at both, stereo and mono. like you said in mono you dont hear paning and less delay or reverb. otherwise in mono it helps me focus on the important stuff in the mixand the masking :)
thanks for your videos and tipps.
nice mixing mindset.
Small bluetooth speakers, phone speakers, and laptop speakers are for the most part mono. Meaning that most of the stereo translation will be lost. Also, if the listener isn’t perfectly between the speakers the imaging will be off and that’s what mixing in mono helps combat. Masking and phase cancellation is a common offender in a lot of amateur mixes and that’s mainly who needs to hear those tips and tricks. It’s definitely on the technical side of audio though. For someone who hasn’t developed their ears and/or people who can’t fully trust their rooms mono is a great way to reveal all. Does the left and right combine to create an even spectrum or is there a bunch of ragged mid range on each side that’s only noticeable when summed to mono? You only know when checking in mono. So is it a useful technique for a lot of people? Yes. Should you always mix in mono? That's up to the person mixing but I completely understand why you don't.
I love your fox caps. 🚴🎸
Competely agree. I only do mono checks to see if my mix doesn't completely fall apart in mono. If it doesn't, I'm fine. Stereo is a beautiful thing and we should use it while mixing!
Great tip at the beginning about checking phase of drum mics, starting with the overheads... thanks.
I love stereo and I understand you! I also have the same Auratone 5Cs hehe. You're 100x100% right about phase check! In the first place, most (if not all) of the time, if we already have conflicting phases or phase issues in the first place, we already have trouble mixing not only in stereo, but also in mono! Happened to me before, years back. I always wondered why some of my instruments disappear when transferring in different systems (either stereo or in mono) no matter how hard I put EQ and and stereo widening plugins to the point I clutter my session with lots of plugins. Turns out, some of the tracks have cancelled each other because of phases issues especially when using the same plugin in different multiple tracks (example: virtual guitar amp emulators)! LOL! Lastly, using presets without context nor investigating on the settings to see if they'd sit well in the mix and not compete with the other tracks. Again, phase.
Now, I do enjoy mixing in stereo and reap its benefits! I only carve and shape the mids in "forced" summed for mono compatibility, but overall, stereo is pure heaven! I just switch back and forth. Well, that's the comfortable method for me now.
Thanks for this video. It's more of a reminder and a refresher. I'm not a mastering engineer (I actually am an FOH guy though. LOL!), but this point you drove hit close to home!
Do you have a video that you explain the process of setting up your drum mics and how you check the polarity?
I don’t, but it’s basically the exact same thing I described in this video, just I’m flipping the polarity on the microphone preamp’s before we record. The process is exactly the same. In this video I’m discussing mixing a song I wasn’t engineering in the recording process.
My family listens in mono on an Amazon Alexa every morning just because it so easy to ask for the song you want while you're doing other things to get ready for the day.
I 100% agree with everything you said. The key to mixes translating for me is placing things while listening on the NS-10’s at extremely low volume which you also mentioned. I guess a lot of wireless and Bluetooth speakers are mono. You didn’t mention those. But like you, I don’t care about that. Mix in stereo for the listeners who care to listen in stereo.
Personally - on point for me as always Colt. It's not a job (ok, technically it is), it's a creative process. And it should be fun and not fun, and everything in between! Cheers! 🍻
Your honesty is refreshing. Thank you for your video. The only medium I would add to your list of mono usage are Bluetooth devices... Google, Amazon etc, which are in most people's homes. These all sum to mono. Therefore if your mix sounds great in stereo and sucks in mono, it is going to suck when streaming through any of these devices. But I agree that everyone should do what works for them and enjoy the creative process. 110% like on this video though 👍🏻
Cool man, cheers
Grandma’s rotary dial landline phone... Mono 😂
My phone speaker is mono and it's my most frequent listening environment - I'm doing that right now 😀.
I start mixes through a single cube speaker but that's pretty well the "faders up" mix where I'm going for a basic balance in the mids. After that I'm mixing full-range in stereo. The shift in balance upon initial switch-over tells me a lot about what needs to be done. Tracks that are bright but lack presence jump out as do muddy bass guitars.
I've watched hundreds of videos on why and how to mix in mono, the advantages... But but but this video has spoiled everything, blows my mind.from now to lifetime I'll mix in stereo. 🤯🤯🤘
Seriously no one has convinced me in 5,6 min.im not gonna watch any other video on this, How is this possible. 🤔
i am agreed with you for all. And when i mix in mono, then i have lot's of new problems when i listen in stereo lol.... you just forget lot's of people listen in a garden or with friends on a JBL or Sony speaker, often in mono.
I would definitely watch a video of you just going through drum tracks checking all the phase relationships
Another great vid! Awesome
I hear ya.
Great comments on this . i learned Mono mix first, while doing FOH sound. Then after switching over and into doing studio work i discovered Stereo seemed easier by comarison. Getting reverb, ambience and BG vocals in Mono can be trickier In a way it forced me to listen "smarter" . In my own home studio i almost never Mono mix, But i remember how that taught me stuff. Both Can be useful. But we live in a stereo world ... so while in Rome.
Currently there are a lot of people using mono Bluetooth speakers, so is useful having that on mind
So do I render out in stereo if I mixed in mono or render out in mono im on fl studio??
Steve Vai, I remember him saying, "The goal is to learn all the rules, and then break them until it works" or something to that effect. Some people may be against you taking your own approach and philosophy to mixing, because they can only mix like they were told by someone else. Well, if all they can do is what someone else does, why not just go to that person? People go to you because they want YOU to mix them YOUR WAY. And that's awesome. Meanwhile, they can whine and hate and stew about it, and think they're better. They'll be sitting there doing nothing while you're mixing away and killing it. Much luv Colt. You were my favorite of the 3 Ninjas.
I listen to older music in mono...Beach Boys, Velvet Underground etc...they’re mono mixes often sound better than the stereo-ized version. Personally I do a basic mono check but every album sounds bad in a cell phone and those modern blue-tooth speakers rarely sound decent (everything way too hyped) so as long as nothing just totally disappears. I often record/mix/master music with a lot of modulated reverb and often times stacked so phase is always a bit of a battle and eventual compromise I’ll pick my battles. I also think the kind of people that listen to music on their cellphone speaker will never care about anything I’m involved with and I’m cool with that.
I do agree with you for most of what you are saying. Except for the part that nobody listens music in mono. A lot of people have a Bluetooth speaker in mono. And to make it even worse a lot of people including my own wife are listening to music just on their phone. mono! So the debate is not about or people listen in mono or not but about should we mix so their crappie devises sound a little bit better. Or are we mixing for the people who took the effort to put on a good pair of headphones or sit property between there speakers? I honestly don't know the answer. Thank you for your content! And for everybody: Have fun making music!
Apple and googles tech Needs a stereo signal and it’s algorithms take over.
We don’t have to worry about it. I don’t begrudge anyone’s mixing technique. I don’t see the need for phones, BT speakers , or TV the first two because of the reasons I’ve gone over and TV , well I don’t know what that’s about.
I pretty much only do hardcore punk and metal. As much as I’d like that to be what is played at grocery stores, I’m in stereo 99% of the time.
Very clever use of 'Hit Dislike Twice' idea.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where the consumer is the product. The advertiser calls the shots and programs the algorithms which choose how wide your audience is. Tunes with temporal distortion (stereo mix) get grouped with demos.
Dude... it is a really cool way to see if you have phase correlation issues in the mix. Like say, if you have dual/quad tracked guitars (1 to 2 tracks on LFT and RGT). Wouldn’t it be a good idea to listen to those guitars in mono to hear what’s going on?
Vance Powel uses that technique to hear the phase relationship and he eq’s the guitars to make them sound like one in mono!
Gene Phillips Vance is an awesome guy, and I love his work, but personally… No… I’m with CLA on this one. See the more different the two sides sound the wider the stereo image. So a little bit of phase issues between the left and right can actually be a good thing. Aside from the issues I specifically mentioned in the video.
depends on your end goal, sometimes when mixing club records you might have some elements L R that cancel out each other in mono
I actually always listen to stuff on my phone which is in mono. Also reference listening :D
I find that it helps tremendously on heavy mixes, especially on metal guitars. However, it doesn't seem to do much to calmer mixes like jazz and country. I usually mix metal guitars in mono when dialing tones for a better affect on the mix. Especially on two or three guitar bands. Another area it seems to sometimes help in, is tom bleed. From mic to mic in a long fill. If you can control that right from the start, I find that you will have a much more solid low end. I do a good amount of the checking during a ghost track. It seems to really make people happier when their headphone mix sounds good while tracking. And it translates to their performance.
I kind of check the mix in mono to take away frequencies that clash too much against each other, to sort of clarify the mix a bit, but most (or the rest) of the time I do it in stereo, because levels in mono are almost always not what I want them to be.
Hello Colt Caperrune. I am Bozz Alvarez and I Approve This Message !!!! Keep up the Excellent vids bro !! Excellent content. Thank you !
I tested several times to mix in mono. In fact we think we are doing well, and yes it will sound good on a mono speaker, but for the rest no. If for example I put a piano that has reverb in my track and I mix in mono, maybe I will increase to 400Hz so that it sounds good. But it will perhaps be completely bad in stereo suddenly! I had the same thing for a hi-hat that I had turned up to mono, and in my car stereo it sounded way too loud in the stereo and it was awful! Whereas if I mix in stereo, very often my track will sound good on a mono speaker. The reverse with me was often wrong. I had more unforeseen events mixing in mono than mixing in stereo. this is my experience :)
Lots of Bluetooth speakers in mono (unfortunately) those little Google home hub thing's, Alexa and my JBL Flip which I use when I travel... etc
Colt, when you talk about monitoring at a very low level to set balances, how low are you talking? It would be great to hear you talk about that in more detail as well as how you approach setting bass and vocal levels.
Don’t disagree with you however keep in mind that a lot of ppl listen to music from mobile phone and tablet speakers. Even if those speakers are stereo, if you listen from a distance it equates to mono. Same with laptops or any stereo source where you aren’t actually sitting in between the left and right speakers. That being said, yes, I only switch to mono to check mono compatibility but I won’t mix the entire song in mono. It is a creative process after all 😊
would it be more effective if i were making a track in the box? electronic music for instance with no external gear?
Thanks for the great content! Can you do a video on how you actually use your studio monitors? For example, do you switch between differents sets of speakers throughout the mixing process, or do you first do the mix on one set and then just check it on another set?
Great video. i don't mix in mono either. i just check in mono around the time i first think a mix is done. honestly, it's never been an issue or anything that needed correcting. i take care of phase up front during mic placement, and also some fine tuning in editing. i also don't pan anything hard to the sides. the widest thing i have will be panned 85% at the most. more regularly 75%. if i want something wider i put a stereo widener on it's buss, and often the mix buss as a whole. it just sounds better than hard panning to me, and doesn't ruin mono listening.
that being said, i do know a lot of people that will hang out with a good friend or two and listen to music on their cell phone speaker, which is mono. (they're called poor people). I listen to my cell phone speaker in the shower, and sometimes while reading. so i suspect more people listen to mono than Colt suspects. but... it's a moot point. as i said, i do check in mono, but there's never been a reason too.
man it would be nice to show your phase process sometime... thanks for all nice info
O my gosh... I btw sub to this channel and love it, BUUT to say that your always a part of a stereo system is technically right although what if you turn your head to the right, or you step out of the car, or you’re listening on a portable speaker?? Look, Colt is right about finding the pockets which is why I mix in stereo then check it in mono. Every move/few moves you make should be done in stereo, then checked in mono. End of discussion.
Phones and laptops may be mono but I I understand what your saying.
Ive had good results from starting a mix in mono an setting basic levels an doing some basic eq moves but will then go to stereo an leave in stereo, works for me at this time but constantly evolving
Well... The last time you heard a classic recording. Let's say pre 1958, though you can hear music mixed in mono even today.
But, yeah: I now what you mean and I'm with you.
I am with you 100%... I hate mono
Hi Colt! Thanks for the video. Indeed it's a "whatever works for you" scenario. If it's sounds good, it's good. I use mono to check phase polarity issues and frequency masking between elements. I don't like it to balance neither instruments or reverbs and delays. Do you have any tips to check frequency masking issues in stereo? I appreciate it. Thanks again for taking the time to create great content. Cheers!
We don't all live in America with stereo speaker phones. Most of the population in the world, especially in countries with a lower income level, listen to music through their phone speakers. Pretty much 90% of my clients here in South Africa have mono speakers on their phones because they don't have the latest and greatest iPhone or top end flagship Samsung s20 ultra like me.
Another inportant thing I've discovered is that since radio is still a huge thing in many countries of the world, those countries actually have a lot of music consumed in a portable mono radio system. Lastly, mixing in mono very often takes out any extra distracting information and quickly allows you to get the vocal sitting in a very good place, very quickly. It's well known that in pretty much every club the PA system is mono. So you're going to want to make sure that your mix translates everywhere.
I'm not advocating for only mixing in mono. But the top end mix engineers in the world have been found on record explaining how important it is. If they say it, it has to have some weight behind it. They're not there because they don't know how to do this.
AustinSummersOfficial While I am not super informed on clients in other parts of the world, there are also plenty of hugely successful mix engineers and mastering engineers who are on record saying they never use mono. To each their own.
Well described!
My 2cents... Its not about listem music, its about consistency when listening...
I respect anyone who has valid arguments to sustain their point, as I respect yours.
But, every mix I've ever done in stereo is crap. I usually end up with a mix that's too bass-ey, bathtub low midrange and shrill highs. Most people listen to music in mono and mono compatibility has always been a critical factor in determining the quality of the mix. So mono mixing helps me tame the mid and mid bass frequencies and helps me ensure that highs aren't shrill. Then when I expand the mix to stereo, I can fine tune this or that level.. but my eq work is pretty much done. I eq everything in mono. Compress in mono. Eq reverbs and delays in mono. The only "work" I do in stereo is phase checks/polarity inversions.
I would advise anyone to principally mix in mono, on a single shitty speaker if possible. There's a reason the NS10's are the most popular speakers in studios throughout the world - because they sound like absolute dogshit. But if you can make your mix sound good there, its gonna sound good everywhere. Hey i'm not a grammy award winning engineer or anything, it's just my opinion and how I went from producing consistently mediocre mixes that only played well on my speakers to mixes that play well on any speakers. Respect your approach all the same. The cool thing about any art is that rules are meant to be broken. If you can pull of good mixes that play well on any speaker and maintain mono compatibility by mixing in stereo, hey all the more power to ya!
I just listened to this video in mono as I only had one of my bluetooth eearbuds in, which then gets both channels on one earbud. 🙈😅
But do you check your mixes before exporting them in mono? I mix in mono rarely too but sometimes from time to time check in mono before exporting! Huge Congrats on getting 30K Subs you bring much value to guys like me with your amazing videos and channel! Thank you so much for all of your wonderful and knowledgeable videos Colt!
I have not watched one credible video that suggests mixing in mono. I've seen a bunch saying not to. Which makes sense: you've got two channels-worth of signal to work with, putting it all in the center is an inefficient use of your range. Stereo gets you a bigger mix with less collisions between instruments.
Music is listened so much in mono (phones) so many person watch video and listen music there. Doesn't mean u have to mix in mono but u should check it more frequently when u use spreader doubler etc... Peace
No hate, but disagreement.
I’m not mixing for the club or the supermarket, so I don’t care about translation to true mono, but a majority of my clients’ listeners are on phone speakers or computer speakers at least part of the time, so they’re not getting a full stereo spectrum. Also, mixing in mono sometimes helps me to make better balance decisions. When I pop it back into stereo, it sounds better than before I mixed in mono.
But if it doesn’t help you, then yeah, don’t waste your time doing it!
I understand your point of view. But theres one important point youve missed. What about all the different frequencies in the mix from all your sounds? You can definitly hear it better in mono, if they fit together. I agree with mixing the whole song in mono, is wrong. But for checking frequencie Problems its so powerfull.
Agree and Disagree at the same time, as you I never mix in mono any more, but usually check my mix in mono, cause at least 40% of people are listening to music in mono, as you said stores, clubs and phones most people is not using their headphones all the time, the listen music with just their cellphones or maybe a bluetooth or a home speaker that most of them are not in stereo, so what you're saying could be dangerous for people who are just starting because of phase problems that they don't know about..
i will always reference my phone speakers. it will let you know very quickly if you have any frequency build up that you couldn't catch on monitors. thats about it though.
I am just learning about recording so I am just trying to figure all this stuff out total beginner thanks for the video
Hello we are in 2020, FYI most people listen to music in Mono! Examples... Bluetooth SINGLE Speaker...Echo Dot...Goolge..Apple Pod...Jbl...and so on! the market is full of Mono Sources...Thats why I mix in Both Mono And Stereo!!!!
There are different opinions so one opinion that someone said was which ever way you learn/train will actually work
Most budget smartphones and even some midrange models don't have stereo speakers btw.
I like how they would record in big time Stereo back in the late 70's... ei, Eagles, Doors, Rolling Stones, Pink Floid etc. .
We dont get that now days.. 😭