Mono or stereo in small venues/clubs?

[Meriphew]

Do you prefer running sound in mono or stereo in smaller venues/clubs? I'm gearing up for some live performances (electronic music based), and trying to decide on if I should run synths/drum machines in stereo or just mono. Thx for any info/input.

[Jim vanBergen]

If the club PA was designed so the left speaker(s) covers the entire space and the right speaker(s) cover the entire space then PAN WIDE, bro.

If, like 90% of the clubs in the world, the club has a crappy small PA where each speaker barely covers a small seating/standing/moshing area, then go mono.

Get the info to the listeners.

[TyRip]

I always prefer to have the PA in stereo and then usually end up mixing mostly in mono for most club settings.

I like to give the drum OH mics some space, effects returns, CDs, etc., and maybe some slight guitar movement/separation.

I personally hate the stock stereo sound of any keyboard I have heard, so those stay mono or close to mono for me, but yeah, whatever feels right.

Walk around if you have a chance at sound check and see what areas may be missing what, etc.

[Remoteness]

For me in a perfect situation -- Meaning the system was properly designed, installed and maintained this is how I hear it...

The smaller the room the more spread (stereo) I use in the mix.
The larger the space the narrower (mono) I make the mix.

Even with that concept, I still listen and look at every live sound gig individually.
I want to be sure about how well everyone will hear the entire mix.
For the most part, mono is our friend when it comes to live sound mixing.

[Meriphew]

Good info. Thx all.

[bishopthomas]

The "right" answer here is going to be, "It depends." For playback where I have a stereo signal then I usually pan hard left and right. For bands in small clubs I have to make decisions. Sometimes nothing gets panned. Sometimes I pan "opposite" for loud stage sources. If the guitarist on the left is blasting his side away then I'll pan him right and maybe do the same to the guitarist on the other side.

Drums are usually more predictable. If I'm using 2 overheads then I'll pan them at 9:00 and 3:00 (never hard left or right). Those are my "bounderies" for the other drum pieces and I fit each one in between the cymbals. I may make the image more narrow, but I never go larger. If I'm only using one overhead (and all other pieces are mic'd, including hihat) then I try to favor the ride and pan around 10:00. For minimal drum mic'ing (3-4 mics) I just leave it centered.

[Steve Smith]

I go Mono on 95% of the live gigs I do.. But I ALWAYS perfer the sound of a keyboard when I have both left and right channels coming to the console and I sum them to mono at that point.

[nomadic8]

stereo all the way dont forget which century were in most punters are getting used to surround at home so why not add some depth at the club if your worried just narrow your mix a little , if the pa has poor coverage thers no doubt it will have phase problems anyway so mono will make it worse still.