I just bought a mono headstack.

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stereopathetic_banjo
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I just bought a mono headstack.

Post by stereopathetic_banjo » Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:06 pm

Man, am I excited! I've been meeting a fair amount of bluegrass/punk guys at shows lately and they all seem really into the idea of minimalist recording scenarios. Live to two track, OR super ballsy one track. I've talked to a few artists, and they seem game, so now the time has come! Wooooo....here it is:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 2759.l1259

My question is- do any of you really mix to mono and/or release mono albums in this day and age? I met a guy named Charlie Parr from MN and almost all of his stuff is mono, last being done on a Nagra in someone's garage. And they sound awesome, especially with the type of music going down to tape. So do any of you record stuff that could be well served by the limitations of a mono delivery format? If so, do tell. Thanks!

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calaverasgrandes
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Post by calaverasgrandes » Wed Mar 04, 2009 6:49 pm

I always mix in mono (or dual mono rather with 2 speakers playing the same thing) for about 75% of the mix. Then I start doing things to stereo it. I just like mixing that way.
??????? wrote: "everything sounds best right before it blows up."

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Post by stereopathetic_banjo » Wed Mar 04, 2009 8:27 pm

Yeah, likewise. I'm just curious who goes the whole mile and actually releases mono mixes. I'm pretty excited to try it out, once I get the stack on my machine.

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Post by Jazz Jed » Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:21 am

I'm doing a lot in mono. My 3 piece band now just records live to two track 1/4" @ 15ips. Usually there are about eight mikes open at once but can be more, mixed on the go with a simple stereo pan mix. Then I master down with those two tracks, centre panned to a 1/4" full track mono Nagra, also running at 15ips.

I've just this minute finished another mono master of a friends 5 piece band that I also recording live to two track 1/4" this time with 12 open mikes and mixed on the go. It sounds pretty damn good. In many ways I prefer it to the stereo master, which I've also just done.

For some reason I've always had to flip the phase on one of the two track channels coming in to the Nagra otherwise things disappear when you combine the the two centre panned tracks from the tracking tape into one mono output.

Taking that Nagra mono track into a digital medium and outputting it as two mono tracks so it can be played on a pod or put on a cd doesn't seem to cause too many problems. Doing the same on cassette is causing all manner of phase and artifact issues when the two signals, tape head alignment and tape medium vary slightly as the cassette tape gets pulled along.

I'm just about to run an experiment with a two channel 31 band equalizer in between the mono splitter on the Nagra's line out and the cassette recorder line inputs to vary the frequencies in say a 0db to -3db sawtooth on one channel and a mirror -3db to 0db sawtooth on the other to see if I can stop it phasing around without destroying the mono feel of the thing.

Our ultimate goal is to feed a vinyl cutter off the mono Nagra so it'll be A-A-A all the way and a better sonic quality than using cassettes as the final result. But I figure if I can solve the cassette phasing issues I'll be okay to feed a cutter with the Nagra in mono.

Jed
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Post by stereopathetic_banjo » Thu Mar 05, 2009 10:09 am

Right on. Let me know when you've released some of that music, I'd love to check it out!

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Post by dsw » Thu Mar 05, 2009 4:48 pm

Oh.

Head STACK.

I couldn't figure out what about a headstock could be mono.


doh!
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Post by stereopathetic_banjo » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:25 pm

Haha, yup. Wide format MONO. Should have it Saturday or Monday latest. I'll report back how it goes.

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Post by drumsound » Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:19 pm

stereopathetic_banjo wrote:Haha, yup. Wide format MONO. Should have it Saturday or Monday latest. I'll report back how it goes.
Could also b cool for tape delay...

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calaverasgrandes
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Post by calaverasgrandes » Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:36 pm

drumsound wrote:WWRTBD?
Roy Thomas Baker?
??????? wrote: "everything sounds best right before it blows up."

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firesine
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Post by firesine » Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:16 pm

Jazz Jed wrote: My 3 piece band now just records live to two track 1/4" @ 15ips. Usually there are about eight mikes open at once but can be more, mixed on the go with a simple stereo pan mix. Then I master down with those two tracks, centre panned to a 1/4" full track mono Nagra, also running at 15ips.
Jed
Why pan anything in the mix if it's gonna end up mono?
Mmm, lung butter.

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Post by stereopathetic_banjo » Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:29 pm

stereopathetic_banjo wrote:
Haha, yup. Wide format MONO. Should have it Saturday or Monday latest. I'll report back how it goes.


Could also b cool for tape delay...
Yup! Heck, for the price I got it for, even if I used it rarely for my own amusement, it's worth it.

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calaverasgrandes
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Post by calaverasgrandes » Fri Mar 06, 2009 9:19 pm

thats why I wear all black converse. Because the box says MONO!
??????? wrote: "everything sounds best right before it blows up."

Jazz Jed
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Post by Jazz Jed » Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:14 pm

firesine wrote:
Jazz Jed wrote: My 3 piece band now just records live to two track 1/4" @ 15ips. Usually there are about eight mikes open at once but can be more, mixed on the go with a simple stereo pan mix. Then I master down with those two tracks, centre panned to a 1/4" full track mono Nagra, also running at 15ips.
Jed
Why pan anything in the mix if it's gonna end up mono?
'Cause I might want to go back to it and master it up in stereo. Keeps all the options open.
I used to be a digit, now I'm just-a-log.

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Post by kingmetal » Sat Mar 07, 2009 2:07 am

The artists I'm working with have this tendancy to do some of their best work when we're drinking in their apartment late at night, far away from my gear. My Zoom H4 has been on loan to a super flakey guitar player friend of mine, so on an impulse I bought a shitty little Radioshack microcassette recorder on my way to their place last weekend. I got some killer material that night and I'm experimenting with bouncing to it. I've got this take of a whole mess of people trying to cover You've Really Got a Hold on Me that just sounds ancient, awesome and deep. Makes you forget it's mono.

I'd love to do more mono stuff, thanks for reminding me.

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Post by stereopathetic_banjo » Sat Mar 07, 2009 10:28 am

Awesome. I'm certainly not abandoning stereo mixing by any means, but I do enjoy the challenge of making things deep without the 'crutch' that pan knobs can sometimes give us. I realize I can do this without some crazy headstack, just to be clear. I'm just nuts and like torturing myself with technology older than myself :wink:

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