Can we retire "check your mix in mono?"

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 7:50 pm

Another reason to check in mono once in a while is you might find out that something's mis-wired. I recently got a splitter cable for my guitar rig and I'm feeding two tiny amps (one toob one solid state) that each feed a speaker. I had a couple sdc's in xy in front of it. When I checked in mono (which I hardly ever do) the guitar almost disappeared. It was really drastic. I flipped the polarity of one of the speaker cables and the guitar came back. It's a little embarrassing that I didn't notice this in the room, I guess, but I'd never tried this dual amping thing and didn't really know what to expect. Plus I was tracking with headphones on. Sounds fucking killer in the room now too.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 9:41 pm

drumsound wrote:My mono single speaker is in the meter bridge of the Studer.

Oh, yeah? Well, mine is in the, eh ...

I can't beat that.

No one can!

ott0bot · Post by **ott0bot** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:13 pm

vvv wrote:
drumsound wrote:My mono single speaker is in the meter bridge of the Studer.
Oh, yeah? Well, mine is in the, eh ...

I can't beat that.

No one can!

no you can beat that. that Studer on deck speaker is much to hi-fi for this. I just record parts of the song on various record your own voice cards at Hallmark, then stick them back on the shelves. Then I wait around pretending I'm interested in purchasing a Hummel collection and see if people open the cards so I can really hear my mix in a natural acoustic environment for a mono source.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Wed Jan 16, 2013 4:15 am

Tho' I might be worried if I could easily convince such people that I'm "interested in purchasing a Hummel collection".

digitaldrummer · Post by **digitaldrummer** » Wed Jan 16, 2013 7:29 am

Snarl 12/8 wrote:Another reason to check in mono once in a while is you might find out that something's mis-wired.

good point, and while many of you may read this thinking "I always check phase on my mics", I have now had two different preamps come mis-wired. One was a dual-channel rack preamp and one of the channels was flat out mis-wired - they flipped a couple wires (I verified it with the manufacturer). I discovered after I panned a stereo recording of an electronic drum kit to center (to check mono).

Another recent incident was with a pair of 500-series modules. One of the modules was 180 deg flipped with the other. I discovered this after recording a stereo keyboard and then listening to it in mono. Again I spoke with the manufacturer and it appears one of the transformers was actually miswired. They sent me a replacement and I kept the pair that matched in phase.

and both of these were higher end stuff too (not prosumer).

so don't even assume hardware of the same type is wired in phase correctly!

MIke

Gregg Juke · Post by **Gregg Juke** » Wed Jan 16, 2013 9:20 am

That's a scray story (^^^^)...

As to this:

>>>>I just record parts of the song on various record your own voice cards at Hallmark, then stick them back on the shelves. Then I wait around pretending I'm interested in purchasing a Hummel collection and see if people open the cards so I can really hear my mix in a natural acoustic environment for a mono source.<<<<

Dang! Why didn't I think of that? It seems like a perfectly logical way to get "focus group" reaction-on-the-cheap, in a purely natural acoustic environment, a highly efficient workflow task, and of course there's the hummels.

I knew there was a reason I kept coming back to the TOMB for advice!!!!

GJ

KennyLusk · Post by **KennyLusk** » Wed Jan 16, 2013 10:21 am

telepathy wrote: personally I love checking for vocal clarity in dense mixes by listening in the hallway. if the mixes make their way through the control room doorway (another sort-of-mono situation) with their enunciation intact then everything's usually OK.

^^^^^This is what I do.

I also have a Mono switch on my power amp that sums the output in Mono and I use that occasionally to have a quick listen.

As a hobbyist is that necessary? Of course not. But if mix engineering were my profession I'd make sure to include checking mixes in mono as a common practice for all the aforementioned reasons. Especially now that so many people are listening to mp3's acoustically on those tiny little ipod speakers.

Jay Reynolds · Post by **Jay Reynolds** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:04 pm

Currently reading this thread while streaming my iPad through one of those Bose Bluetooth thingies because we blew the breaker for the front lounge entertainment system. So yeah. Mono.

Also, the real reason to check your mix in mono:

Space Ghost: I also received two cool speakers.

Zorak: (wide-eyed) Are they surround sound?

Space Ghost: Well...

Master Shake: "It." Is "it" surround sound. And no, "it" is not.

Space Ghost: Whoa. Hold on a second. There's only one?

Master Shake: You will receive the second speaker upon the elimination of all hunger.

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 8:15 pm

ott0bot wrote:
vvv wrote:
drumsound wrote:My mono single speaker is in the meter bridge of the Studer.
Oh, yeah? Well, mine is in the, eh ...

I can't beat that.

No one can!
no you can beat that. that Studer on deck speaker is much to hi-fi for this.

Trust me, mine is not very HiFi. Me deck has been through the wringer. I had it rebuilt, but I'm sure it the original speaker from back when it was at Media Sound in NYC.

highway51 · Post by **highway51** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 4:09 pm

Mono is more relevant than ever because of contraptions like these.
http://www.amazon.com/Portable-As-Seen- ... B005XA0DNQ

tjcasey1 · Post by **tjcasey1** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 8:50 am

Actually, I was stuck with a muddy mix of too many tracks, and this thread inspired me to mix it in a mono fold-down last night. As soon as things sounded clearer, I took off the fold-down button and the stereo mix was beautiful.

So, yeah, hitting that mono button is well worth it, even if no one listens in pure mono any more.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:33 pm

Another thing it occurs to me to mention: I mix much quieter in mono, and over the Auratones in stereo, also. It seems that "volume creep" (you know, where you just turn up and up and up) doesn't happen.

I think that's because in mono it doesn't make a huge difference and is counter to the purpose, and the Auratones in stereo don't really sound that much (if at all) better when cranked.

themagicmanmdt · Post by **themagicmanmdt** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 10:50 pm

ott0bot wrote: I just record parts of the song on various record your own voice cards at Hallmark, then stick them back on the shelves. Then I wait around pretending I'm interested in purchasing a Hummel collection and see if people open the cards so I can really hear my mix in a natural acoustic environment for a mono source.

best of tomb. this made my flippin freakin flabbin day

Message Board

Can we retire "check your mix in mono?"

Who is online