Mono Producing

Performance & Techniques Music Production
1

Mono Producing

What are the benefits of mono mixing, or producing? Whenever I switch to my master channel to mono to see how it sounds and to mix the volume levels, sound and actual volume of the instruments changing way too much. Can anyone explain the mono-stereo difference in producing.

I didn’t do anything special about it since I was reading about mono producing for kicks and basslines(things below 300hz) and club PA systems being mono etc, now all the previous informations are colliding with this new information I just happen to read.

I will be happy if someone explains it in a different way or better :slight_smile:?

2

never mix/produce in mono…think about it…why are you producing in stereo over mono? because EVERYBODY listens to music in stereo

what stereo does is split the mono into both left and right giving you a perception of space in music…when you go to a play you dont just see the actor moving right you can hear him too…

the reason people check in mono to make sure things arnt getting super fucked up is because some club systems are in mono and you dont wanna play a track that sounds like shit in mono…

kicks and (some) bass lines are mono because the producer wants them to be as dead center and pronounced as possible (thats what i believe anyway i could be wrong on this)…helps them come through better and heavier

3

You want a track that is mono compatible for the reasons stated above, but if you produce 100% in mono your work will simply sound subpar with the rest of the industry. People don’t listen to music only clubs. The key is balance.

4

You should only give out advice if you know what you are talking about.

  • Want your music played on the radio? Better be mono checked.
  • You will get a better mixdown if you check all your instruments in mono, stereo can often trick the ears.

Kicks and basslines come from the old days of cutting to vinyl. WHile its not as important to have sub 200hz in mono its still good to do.

5

So it is more to check the final mixdown in mono if everythings sounds correct?

6

Yup, you can also have a separate mono mixdown if you needed (ie: hard pan sweeps are killed by mono).

7

You do it mainly to check for phazing issues. What you’re hearing most likely when you fold it down to mono is just that, phazing, frequencies cancelling each other out.

8

Thanks for the answers. It helped a lot.

9

You’ll mostly hear this in pads, strings and anything that naturally has a wide stereo image

10

and under which part did i say something wrong? cause from what i can tell you just added checking for radio as well…

and fyi fm radio isnt mono…and only some am channels are and when u have bad reception

11

Yeah, a lot of club soundsystems are mono. If you don’t want phasing issues and complete instruments going missing in your mix then ignore the mono fold at your peril. Also bass tones and kicks contain a lot of your mixes headroom, so panning these off to the side will cause a lot of the punch of your mix to disappear, never mind that we find it harder to locate lower frequencies in the stereo field due to the longer wavelength.

So good advice all round really