another reason to hit that "mono" button

[JGriffin]

Reason #314 why it's a good idea to check that your mixes are mono-compatible:

I'm putting up a musical; I am the arranger/recordist/mixer for the backing tracks since the production cannot afford a live band. Been working for a couple of months on the ten or twelve songs and multiple underscore cues, got 'em all sounding pretty awesome. Bunch of nice stereo stuff, including some '60s-esque hard pan stuff that's really fun.

First day of tech, we walk in and discover the theater's PA is wired in mono. And it's a rental house that currently has 3 other shows running, so we can't change anything.

Hope like crazy that the mixes collapse well to mono!

[drumsound]

Good luck.

I have to assume your years of experience and knowledge should ensure the mixes will work in mono.

[JGriffin]

Good luck.

I have to assume your years of experience and knowledge should ensure the mixes will work in mono.

That may be extending me too much credit, but thanks!

[0-it-hz]

I make my living in theatre tech, I almost never see stereo PAs. It's either multi mono or some kind of LCR with the center cluster driving most of the show.

Just FYI.

[accordion squeezist]

Have you heard mono on one speaker instead of your customary two? Preferably a single speaker in a corner of the room?
Put on some Heifetz Decca recordings and you'll get what I'm talking about.

[cgarges]

I'm currently making a rockabilly record with plenty of stereo information in the mixes and I asked the producer and the band today if the "Rockabilly Police" were going to come get us for not making a mono album.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[JGriffin]

I make my living in theatre tech, I almost never see stereo PAs. It's either multi mono or some kind of LCR with the center cluster driving most of the show.

Just FYI.

Though, see, with an LCR setup you can run a stereo mix and have it come out the speakers in stereo!

I've worked in a bunch of different theaters with a bunch of different setups: stereo, mono, multi-speaker...the storefront rental houses generally tend towards cast-off home stereo equipment and busted Mackie or Radio Shack mixers. The colleges tend towards the multi-speaker setup, and high schools are generally multiple speakers in mono.

One storefront theater I worked in two summers ago had two 4x12 guitar cabinets as PA speakers--one was unplugged, with the bare-ended speaker wire hanging from the ceiling nearby. The other was facing a wall backstage. The CD players were old enough that they didn't play CD-Rs, which every sound designer who didn't have access to a computer playback system was using.

So, I'm used to less-than-optimal sound setups; It was just a bit of an adjustment as last week I teched in a show where we did a 6-speaker "surround" setup. Since I'm not officially the sound designer on this gig (I'm just the arranger) I never had any contact with the TD, and didn't know what they had. My mistake.

I did manage to get the SM to run the show on QLab instead of iTunes...

[Wagz]

Yeah, I had one of those "I need to check things in mono moments" last week. A guy I did an album for, told me that the station that he is doing the best on broadcasts in Mono. I didn't check a single song in mono on that album, smooth, very smooth.

[Rakoro]

I was checking a project that had a ton of stereo information in mono, and it seemed like some stuff got a little quieter when I did and it wasn't as clear.

But being fairly new at this, I don't know if I can get away with that seeing as how I had 10 tracks of drums, stereo violin , two distorted guitar parts, di banjo and bass, and vocals. I'd have to be pretty effin good to get it to all sit well at once without any panning.

So instead of starting a new thread on it, I figure this is as good as a place as any to ask,

what are some good ways to fix problems you hear in mono? tracking and mixing.

I'd assume a bit of eq, making sure all the phase relationships are good during tracking, minimizing voices at a time.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

Start your mix in mono. 99.999999% of the time a good mono mix will translate into a good stereo mix once you start to pan everything out. Mono makes you deal with the fundamentals of the mix - balancing tones and creating depth and space.
In mono if you can't hear one of the parts it's because it's in the same frequency range as something else and one is masking the other or there is a phase issue that needs to be fixed. Is one guitar covering up the other? Is the bass eating the kick? Use eq instead of panning to separate each sound. Use reverbs and delays (as well as eq) to position each instrument in the front to back space of the mix.
Once the hard stuff is done you can start panning things around and you should end up with a good, balanced, 3D sounding mix.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

P.S. I find it's a huge help to monitor in mono while tracking (even if you have stereo sources). It makes any phase issues really apparent and helps you know if one part is stepping on another.

[millzners]

When you guys check things in Mono, do you have a button on your mixer for that or are you using something software based from your DAW? I check occasionally but I don't have a nice mono button on my mixer so it's kind of an afterthought to do with my software. I'd love to be able to hit a button to go mono and place a track in the mix before going back to stereo.

Maybe I'll wire something up just for that... Time to hit google.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

If you're in the box there's a freeware plug-in called Stereo Tool by Flux. It will save 2 sets of settings and lets you toggle back and forth between them. It's also has a phase meter and independent gain controls for L & R channels. I use it for mono and L/R reverse when I'm working outside of the studio. When I'm at home I use the console.


http://www.fluxhome.com/products/Freewares/stereotool

[Waltz Mastering]

I check mono all the time for mastering.. sometimes process mid and side separately.

[parasitk]

I don't just check in mono, I spend a good deal of my time mixing in mono. I prefer it.

I even like adjusting panning in mono. Subtle - not big changes. Sometime things just sit better with a little nudge this way or that while still in mono.

<3 mono!

//Chris