mono vs stereo

[AcoosticZoo]

If you have two mono's be sure to pan them on opposite sides according to taste.

Two mono's synths (pan on opposite sides) will give the illusion of one source spread across the width of your stereo speakers. It's similar to a spreader. However, this only works if there's subtle variations between your two mono synths in regards to pitch and modulation.

Use different fx's on each mono source is a good idea to gain some interest and movement in your synths.

Regards
Josef Horhay
Mixing Engineer
www.acoosticzoo.com

[gritzildino]

Do you do this on multiple synths? and also vocals all in the same project?
... just worried about everything getting too clouded

[golden beers]

I think hard panning is something to be used very sparingly.
If you hard pan everything, everything will be double mono. not usually a great idea and ends up sounding quite messy.

the classic and traditional use of pan is to have elements in each part of the panorama, not just hard left and right. My mixes have improved since I started thinking about it in those terms.

in the case of doubling up for fatness. if you double up the same thing, you'll not make any difference to the tone, you'll just be creating constructive interference, which will have exactly the same effect as turning the signal up.

when engineers/producers talk about double tracking, they're talking about layering two variants of the same recording. ie in the case of a vocal, this would mean two separate recordings of the singer singing the same thing. the subtle and inevitable difference between the two takes is what enriches or 'fattens' the result.

in terms of VSTi's why not take a leaf out of Deamou5's book and have more than one instance of your soft synth playing exactly the same thing twice, but on the second instance what you do is you turn the master tune by a cent or two. this will fatten up the sound nicely, and you can keep doing that, adding another instance and changing the tuning slightly, only very slightly. and not too many instances. experiment. and with these different instances, you can also experiment with different pan settings and FX.

[AcoosticZoo]

THat's where mixing comes into play. If you do find this getting too crowded, the mute button does wonders (no jokes! really).

It's good to have that crowded "wall of sound" in parts of your production. So as long as you have contrasting sections in your productions, yes you can do it on multiple synths and multiple vocal harmonies.

At the end of the day, it's fun to break the rules and stumble upon something magical. I like to think of production as an adventure with your ears being the guide.