Mixing In Mono - Secret Weapon Or Waste Of Time?

Thank you very much for this information
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5 years in making beats and the "aha" moments seem like its all in line. Giving my ears a break from my beats and drowning them in tutorials😅 🎶😎

Which is your video that explains how to add a mono button on the master in fl studio ? Cheers

So I have been mixing in mono all this time. But I learnt how to spread the sound in the stereo field and noticed that everything sounds much "better"; yet, that idea of "better" seems quite like a mirage. Not to mention that mixing with such sound separation looks like the bad way because what it's sunding is like artificially enhanced, if that makes sense.

A lot of newer DAWs compensate or have settings to compensate for the loudness difference, I know Cubase does. My only issue with your first point is that, why would you ever have a guitar that's mixed in such a way it disappears or gets too quiet in mono? Listen to "You're with Stupid Now" by Aimee Mann—the whole track has the vocals and various instruments HARD panned to each side and yet when you sum it up to mono, it still sounds great. Even "Save Me" by Aimee Mann has kick drums panned to one side (usually unthinkable) but really loses no dynamics when listened in mono. There's no reason you should have to re-adjust your levels when going from mono to stereo if you've really carved out unnecessary frequencies and boosted the right harmonic frequencies for each track and so point 1 really shouldn't be that big of a deal. Also I think the advent of Bluetooth speakers and people streaming in their cars has made mono-friendly mixing much more of a necessity these days. Whenever I ask someone to listen to a track they always pull out their phone and just play it over the built-in speaker; I cringe but that's what people are doing.

God bless you!!! So important info for those who try to sound loud in cars and nightclubs 👍

This demystifies so much for me. Fabulous content and integrity as always. Thanks!

Thank You bro 🙌🙌 Very Helpful Video🔥🔥.

I work so freaken hard to get awesome stereo mixes but the client always ends up asking for changes while listening though their cell phone speaker 😢😂

Thank you! The mix mono skill remained a myth to me, this video is giving me a much clearer sense ❤

I am deaf in my left ear so I have to mix in mono.

Harry osborn

Excellent video.
You Rock, Man
You've added so much value to my understanding of Mixing.

Comen check full video

Thanks mate your the best you help me alot from the south pacific 🇻🇺

Can I know when to use the mono plugins and the stereo plugins on vocal?

The people who mix in mono for hours and theb turn it to stereo is just a placebo, it is a fact that everything sounds worse in mono, its fooling yourself

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Very useful as always! What I often think when listening to classic tunes from the 50s, 60s or 70s where engineers didn't have all those tools in place we have at our disposal today: Just an analog console and outboard gear and those mixes still translate to every sound system today - from crappy mono speakers to high-end stereo systems that hadn't even been around at the time the song had been recorded and mixed in the first place.

I have to laugh.
You youngsters are priceless !
In 1961 when I started d recording, all we had was MONO.
One mic, one recorder, one basement.
That's how we learned.
About rooms, mic placement, gear, the whole works.
Even today (2023) I mix EVERYTING in MONO, then I reach for the panorama controls LAST.
Most of the problems you discuss never existed in the first place using this method.
I never did it any other way.
Thanks for posting,
Bill P.

Thank you.

4 years ago I lost all hearing in my left ear.
No choice but mono mixing for me.

I would add that humans have individual differences in balance, frequency sensitivity etc, between each ear, so relying on our ears (a completely non-scientific, organic, device) adds yet another complication. Therefore common sense says definitely good to check the mono, but may I suggest reverse the L/R for some listening too? I’m a complete amateur to this btw but it’s something I have thought of over the years of listening to music - I have often suspected my ears don’t represent the same L/R frequency response. Switch headphones around the “wrong way” and hear the difference. Might be a well covered topic already though! (If so, I did disclaim my amateur status 😅)

Masterpiece

Can you mention which encoding simulator you use when mastering? I can’t seem to find any… Thabks for the great tips!

Greetings from France :) Thank you for this "petite piqûre de rappel"

There's an old saying in my country Mexico, for situations like these: "No pos esta cabrón" 🤔

The reason to mix in mono is simple. All speakers at live events are in mono. This is very important so that people on both sides of the event can hear the same thing. If the speakers were stereo then people on one side would only hear the guitars and people on the other side will only hear the bass, if these were hard panned right and left. Mixing in mono is not a secret, it's the professional thing to do if the music is expected to be performed as a backing track at a live event. We also mix in mono to fix phase cancellation issues which cannot be heard in stereo.

do you compress and eq in mono or just leveling?

What happens if you pan in mono? Is that possible or is it better to pan before mixing in mono?

I know this much, if you try and mix to have a good translation to a mono fold your mix heard in stereo will not be as great as it could be. Sure you might go through the effort to find the right compromise, acceptable to you perhaps, but its still not optimal. I think anyone listening in mono will be used to hearing many older songs sound "off" do to their focus on stereo mixing, thus accepting that listening in mono is sub optimal. I mix to maximize the best potential, not a compromise for the sub optimal. That said, music is art, its creation process is a personal reflection, your choices are never wrong when your ears tell you its right, its right for you.

First of all thanks for this Amazing Guide! I think Mix in Mono should be the First step before you start applying FX. Reverb,delays ,Even compressors that can add volume will confuse most Producers. Either way I think it's a great tip for OBSERVING &LISTENNING to your instruments and also for getting the full potential of the dynamics of every sound by checking for phase issues. If you can get the full dynamics without compressors on the mono just by correcting phasing issues then you can go a lot smoother on the compression step which comes along .
Please let me know your thoughts on this!

Nailed it with your last tip. My UE Boom will immediately show me issues in my low end, while my track will show me if I have width issues. Also, just putting it on while driving casually let’s my ear pick up obvious transients like your headphone idea.

At some point it’s important to just take role of casual listener.

Very helpful tip! So we should and do minimal or no pan first during mixing, then decide on panning only after for a nice stereo sound :)

One thing I have noticed a lot when checking in mono, is how it effects reverb, reverb can sound lush in stereo but a lot more dry in mono, if not mixed properly. I think its a good idea to constantly switch between mono and stereo when mixing. When I listen to pro mixed audio it always sounds just as good in mono.

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Hey I put all of my mono stems (instruments/drums/vocals) all in my session to mix in mono is this proper...if not what should I do?

Your jaw line is intense man! It's not fair that you clearly have talent and good looks. Anyway thanks for the video very informative.

Great video as always :D

I always mix in mono it is my artist name in hiphop and i am deaf on my left ear.

Good video. Very calmly and good explained.

My mix sounds so good in stereo but trash in mono 😆😆😆

amazing

I've found that inserting a Patcher (which I use to EQ mid and side, or stereo, information separately) on the master track removes the "summing" of the audio information and makes mixes come out more clear and cohesive in the full stereo mix.

The quick version is, you split the audio into mono-only and stereo-only signals with a stereo separator. Then, when you mix, turn off the stereo signal in patcher by right-clicking the signal "cord" going to your stereo EQ.

You'll hear the center information minus the stereo.

Get levels close to where you want, then turn off the mono and turn on the stereo signals. Here you'll be fine tuning your mix, so you need a good ear. The benefit is that you hear all of (and only) your stereo signal, but IN mono.

I've found it much easier to mix the levels properly this way. If you, for instance, add more stereo separation to an element, it will just get louder in the stereo signal, and won't push signal to the left and right.

Adjust the level to get the sound near where you started, then turn the mono signal back on.

Now, added with the mono, the full stereo mix will sound cleaner and more full, with better sounding levels.

It's definitely a more advanced technique, but if we're talking about making mono-mixing beneficial, this is the best way I know.

Wow! This was incredibly insightful!

Thanks for this Boss , Do you reckon make every channel mono before even start mixing or just the master channel by turning the knob all the way right ? I am keen to know that should we keep all the other channels in stereo or can we keep them stereo/mono both according to need while mixing in mono as whole . Many Thanks

Appreciate you keeping it legit man!