mixing question about mono and mix consistency. mix gurus, i need your advice

[ozzborn]

whats good slutz

i am working on a mix and i noticed that when i played it in one of my cars, the mix did not sound as good. i played some commercial tracks and i def noticed a problem.
i went back to mix and when i hit the MONO button , it was not smooth. i smoothed out some transients but than a question arised.

? does mono compatibilty equal a more consistant mix.

i know theres alot of factors when mixing. any help would be appreciated.

thanx in advance

[ozzborn]

a little love please

[matthew.sawicki]

Originally Posted by ozzborn

a little love please

I love you.

I always check my vocal levels in mono, and make sure everything is fine when I bring it all down to mono...

Just my thoughts though.

[djui5]

Originally Posted by ozzborn

? does mono compatibilty equal a more consistant mix.

Yep. When it sounds great in mono, it'll sound great everywhere, especially in mono on NS-10's...

[monmon]

always check your mix in mono coz if not.... you'll end up with phasing problem... your bass will vanish as common result. tones will vary.

[ozzborn]

i have a mono button in my daw, and one on my central station, would you guys recommend having a 1 speaker dedicated to mono.

[matthew.sawicki]

Originally Posted by ozzborn

i have a mono button in my daw, and one on my central station, would you guys recommend having a 1 speaker dedicated to mono.

I just use my central station to sum down to mono. That's probably a just fine way for you to achieve this.

Maybe get a set of auratones too...

[Ken Lewis]

Curve ball.

I almost never, almost never check mono compatibility of my mixes. Maybe i'm just lazy. Having said that i am incredibly astute at hearing very minor phasing problems so if they exist, i dont need a mono button to know about it.

Besides, other than ringtones, and on hold messages, what on earth is mono anymore? the occasional computer speaker maybe but any music lover upgrades that.

The last time i checked mono was when i did a mix that nothing was panned in the middle, everything was mono, panned hard left or hard right, effects included. That mix i needed to know it summed to mono correctly. the rest of the time, eh.

[filterayok]

wanna know why i try to avoid panning in my mixes? cuz theres been plenty of times i've had to play my stuff for people who go---"oh i hope you dont mind, my left speaker doesnt work"

this is not uncommon with your average dummy, a lot of people DONT have proper monitoring situations, and i want my songs to sound right EVRYTIME

it doesnt bother me cuz i know all my instruments are gonna be heard where theyre supposed to, but i get pissed like "dude how you gonna listen to shit, when a whole speaker is out"

[con?one]

every time I've checked somethingin mono, it was fine. i stopped checking, stuff's still fine.

[djui5]

Originally Posted by Ken Lewis

Curve ball.

I almost never, almost never check mono compatibility of my mixes.

That's amazing! I can't print a mix without checking it in mono. I always regret it :)

[Ken Lewis]

Originally Posted by djui5

That's amazing! I can't print a mix without checking it in mono. I always regret it :)

Well, ok, i'll admit, when i'm mixing to half inch analog in a big studio that has a Studer machine with that tiny mono speaker, i do like referencing on that. But i see fewer and fewer of those machines left in the room. Last few times i mixed to half inch i had to rent the machine. And while i do think making sure the phase coherency of your mix is where you want it to be, i really dont check mono. I often nudge stereo signals slightly out of phase on purpose, and with the Mix Dream enhance feature, it definitely achieves the "enhance" partly thru phase change. Generally the techniques i do to manipulate phase i already know the consequences, and while i very often play with difference phase scenarios on an individual track basis, even a full mix basis, and i religiously checking phasing on live drum kit scenerios, when it comes to the overall mix checking mono, not really. However, i guess i'm not saying you shouldn't. It can be a valuable tool, but i also think it can mislead you. If your changing balances in your mix because of how they sound in mono compared to stereo, well personally i wouldnt do that, unless it was something like the LV was buried in mono, but thats usually not the case.

It used to be a much bigger issue in the 90's when alot of TV's were still mono and you needed to make sure your video mix would sound good on a small TV speaker in mono, but enough time has passed with TV's equipped with stereo speakers that i dont feel is a thing i'll change a mix for.

Djui5, what do you usually regret about your mixes when you dont check mono? And for everyone else that finds it important, what exactly are you listening for, and what types of things might you change on your mix based on how it translates in mono? Maybe i'll change my ways.

[matthew.sawicki]

Originally Posted by Ken Lewis

And for everyone else that finds it important, what exactly are you listening for, and what types of things might you change on your mix based on how it translates in mono? Maybe i'll change my ways.

I typically check in mono to make sure my dubs and lead volumes are set so that they don't overpower each other. I feel it helps me set my dubs in a good spot with my lead so that everything sounds right. I don't know, maybe its useless, but I just feel like my mixes sit better after I do it.

I work on a lot of hiphop and rap though, so my dubs are a lot more exact with the lead and all that... I don't know if this will apply to everyone else.

[doubledecker]

If you have everything setup right and you monitor well there is no need to check mono.
I know i dont.
Its just not an issue anymore.
Only when i do clubmixes i check my mono since all PA systems are mono and youre mixing for mono basically.
But, i tend to keep everything pretty centered,
so even for that there is no need really.

[adrianex]

Well, sometimes I do, sometimes I don...most of the time that I check in mono, ts because I hear something weird (most cases guitars, synths, OH, etc). But I trust my system enough now to be checking in mono.

[Bjones]

Originally Posted by doubledecker

Only when i do clubmixes i check my mono since all PA systems are mono and youre mixing for mono basically.

Aren't PA systems only one channel (left or right), not left and right summed into one channel?