Mono Auratone - who knew??

[T-rex]

I’ve always had a little set of computer speakers sitting right next to each other on my left side. This was my - mono / vocal & snare level / can I hear the bass and bass drum in tiny speakers - reference.

Several months ago I bought some Auratones and I liked them, but I wasn’t using them much. Mainly because switching between them and my other monitors was too big a jump in sonics. Based on the hearing difference in my right ear I thought why not try the mono thing EVERYONE talks about and let me tell ya, they were right.

Running one auratone, dead center in front of me in mono is way better for me. Even switching back and forth between monitors seems less drastic than before.

I’m not sure if the auratone just works better or the dead center placement is the difference but mixing decisions are way easier this way and I’m no longer second guessing balance based on my hearing offset which is awesome.

[vvv]

I use a Tivoli for that, run my Auratones in stereo.

Or use the mono button on my monitor box, what gives dual mono until panned.

I mixed 3 songs yesterday - I hate starting with the Auratones because they sound so relatively bad compared to my other monitors, but they bring a balanced mix together really fast for the aforesaid, " vocal & snare level / can I hear the bass and bass drum in tiny speakers - reference."

[A.David.MacKinnon]

Starting mixing on a mono auratone changed my mixing life. I work so much faster and better because of it.

[Scodiddly]

I always check in mono, though summed to both speakers. It's too easy to get fooled by the stereo spread. Will have to try the mono Auratone thing, now that I have them!

[T-rex]

Starting mixing on a mono auratone changed my mixing life. I work so much faster and better because of it.

Do you guys start the mix on the auratones? So far I’ve just been popping in and out to check things but the next track I do from scratch o think I’m gonna start there as an experiment and just see how it goes. Generally for rock I’m getting the low end together on my big speakers and then moving to the near fields. So I’m gonna try a few different combos and see what sticks.

[trodden]

I had a pair of the Avantone "auratones" and just couldn't get them to work for me. I do much better using my old boombox with a line in for "real world" or "crappy speaker" test. I"m sure they could have been "broken in" more, for they just seemed "stiff" and shitty.

A single mono one makes more sense.

[T-rex]

I had a pair of the Avantone "auratones" and just couldn't get them to work for me. I do much better using my old boombox with a line in for "real world" or "crappy speaker" test. I"m sure they could have been "broken in" more, for they just seemed "stiff" and shitty.

A single mono one makes more sense.

I had Avantones back in the day and never connected with them. It was too long ago to say they were bad and the aura tones are good. But at the time, I never liked the way they sounded or translated in a stereo set up and I sold them after maybe 6 months or trying to work on them.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

Starting mixing on a mono auratone changed my mixing life. I work so much faster and better because of it.

Do you guys start the mix on the auratones? So far I’ve just been popping in and out to check things but the next track I do from scratch o think I’m gonna start there as an experiment and just see how it goes. Generally for rock I’m getting the low end together on my big speakers and then moving to the near fields. So I’m gonna try a few different combos and see what sticks.

I start mixes as often as possible on a mono auratone. By starting I mean getting the faders up and setting the relative levels. I don't get into EQ or any of the fine details but as i do much of the broad strokes as possible on the auratone.

[Scodiddly]

I start mixes as often as possible on a mono auratone. By starting I mean getting the faders up and setting the relative levels. I don't get into EQ or any of the fine details but as i do much of the broad strokes as possible on the auratone.

Which begs the question, did you do the tracking on more full range speakers? Like you've already sort of got a reasonable sound going for the instruments that have a big low frequency component?

[T-rex]

Starting mixing on a mono auratone changed my mixing life. I work so much faster and better because of it.

Do you guys start the mix on the auratones? So far I’ve just been popping in and out to check things but the next track I do from scratch o think I’m gonna start there as an experiment and just see how it goes. Generally for rock I’m getting the low end together on my big speakers and then moving to the near fields. So I’m gonna try a few different combos and see what sticks.

I start mixes as often as possible on a mono auratone. By starting I mean getting the faders up and setting the relative levels. I don't get into EQ or any of the fine details but as i do much of the broad strokes as possible on the auratone.

This makes a ton of sense to me. That's really interesting just getting that rough up with basic balances etc. on the mono auratone and going from there.

[vvv]

Do you guys start the mix on the auratones?

Try to, but my tracking speakers sound better, and so sometimes I just leave 'em on.

Which begs the question, did you do the tracking on more full range speakers? Like you've already sort of got a reasonable sound going for the instruments that have a big low frequency component?

Yep - I have some crossoverless Momnoprice 5" I replaced the woofers on - loud and good low end and don't care too much if I blow 'em (again).

[A.David.MacKinnon]

I start mixes as often as possible on a mono auratone. By starting I mean getting the faders up and setting the relative levels. I don't get into EQ or any of the fine details but as i do much of the broad strokes as possible on the auratone.

Which begs the question, did you do the tracking on more full range speakers? Like you've already sort of got a reasonable sound going for the instruments that have a big low frequency component?

Absolutely. I do my tracking on the nearfields and aim for a sound that's as close as I can get to what I want in the mix.
If I'm doing the tracking and we're going in with some preproduction under our belts I like to think of everything as mixing. Arrangement is mixing, mic choice is mixing, how the band gets set up and what's going on with bleed is mixing. Instrument choice, size and sound of the room, etc, etc. It all matters in the mix.
If I'm lucky by the time I'm roughing in on the auratone a big chunk of the heavy lifting has already been done and I can already hear the final sound in a faders up rough mix.

All bets are off if someone else did the tracking and I don't know what im getting. On those ones I usually spend some time figuring out what's what on the big speakers before I can understand how it fits together.

[Nick Sevilla]

Yep, it's actually a very old studio trick going back to the heady days of Radio dominance, the 1970s. I still have a pair here somewhere, but am not sure if they work anymore. I am enjoying my CLA-10a's too much to go looking for the Auratones LOL.

[T-rex]

Yep, it's actually a very old studio trick going back to the heady days of Radio dominance, the 1970s. I still have a pair here somewhere, but am not sure if they work anymore. I am enjoying my CLA-10a's too much to go looking for the Auratones LOL.

I had looked at those pretty seriously, I’ve never used NS-10s so I was really curious to see if they were this magical thing when it came to translation. In the Tape Op Auratone review they talked about how, when they hooked the aruatones up they thought they screwed up because they sounded much closer to the NS-10s they were using then the old auratones. So I went with the Auratones to split the difference. I’m set now, if I can’t mix in this room with these speakers the problem is def me. But curious did you come up using NS-10s? Are these close enough to the original to just get to work?

[Nick Sevilla]

But curious did you come up using NS-10s? Are these close enough to the original to just get to work?

I had used them to mix quite a few records, and yes, these sound the same. I did not just get back to works though, since I was sued to other speakers for years. I took about a week listening to previous work, and a/b 'ing them against what I normally used, the JBL LSR 4328P.

These are so important for mixing music with vocals, since they push the midrange forward. You can really zero in on stuff that masks the voice a lot better than with "better" speakers. That's how you can get that big sound with the vocals buried in them like a huge blanket, but yet you can still clearly hear the vocals perfectly. Still a popular mixing style across a lot of genres.