Mixing in Mono: Better Mix Outcome + 5 Reasons Why To Do It!

Mixing in Mono

Introduction

Have you ever completed mixing and mastering your track, felt glad about the end result only to switch it to your telephone to enjoy, and instantly it sounds bad or unusual? This can be a widespread drawback amongst music producers and it has a reasonably easy and often-overlooked resolution.

Typically components of your music get misplaced when performed via cellphones, automobile stereos, and radios because the standard of the audio system may be very totally different from studio monitors, or they only have a mono (single) speaker.

Mixing in mono isn’t for everybody, however, there will be some nice benefits in doing so. In case you have not tried it before, we advise you to give it a go in your next mix. Merely drop a plugin in your master bus that permits you to sum the left and right channels into one channel and enjoy a few of the advantages of mixing in mono.

We don’t suggest mixing all the tracks, selecting components, and creating sounds while in mono, that is for use sparingly, switching back and forth throughout your session.

Mono vs. Stereo

Let’s begin with what mono means in music production. Mono refers to single audio signals, resembling one vocal track recorded with a microphone. By including a second microphone on a separate channel to record that very same vocal, you’re now recording in stereo.

That information isn’t too obscure, but it will get extra difficult after we talk about mono vs. stereo for mixing. If you record or import mono signals into your DAW (digital audio workstation), the signal is often break up 50-50 between a listener’s left and right audio system. When the left and right indicators differ from one another in any manner, the track turns into stereo.

What’s Mixing in Mono?

Mixing in mono isn’t simply arranging layers of singular audio tracks in your songs, although it could actually definitely be that. Starting the mixing process by listening in mono is arguably one of the simplest ways to get started. This is applicable whether or not your tracks stay mono or not.

In truth, some producers mix levels in mono all through most of the process. It’s because mono provides you not only readability while listening, but additionally the flexibility to catch errors within the mix.

For instance, mixing in mono can assist you to detect phasing points between totally different waveforms. Mixing in mono from beginning to end won’t work for every producer. However, staying in mono long enough to create a strong basis in your mix is a good suggestion.

Why Mix In Mono?

It may be a wise thought to mix in mono because many individuals listen to music in mono. Folks listen to music on their telephone speakers, or they use just one earbud at a time. And plenty of bars and shops have a mono speaker setup. Ideally, you wish to be certain that your mix sounds good in all of these contexts, not simply on studio monitors or good headphones.

Mixing in mono could be a bit difficult, however, when you do it right, you will get significantly better outcomes than when you only mixed in stereo. For instance, you can also make music sound nice by panning instruments with comparable frequency spectrums left and right. However usually if you crunch that into mono, these devices can often trample throughout each other. Because of this checking how your mix is performing in mono will be so useful.

What Problems can Mix in Mono Repair?

Let’s get right into all the advantages of mixing in mono, in addition to swapping from stereo to mono sometimes to see how the mix is doing.

• It forces you to mix correctly

At its core, mixing is nearly adjusting the relative volume of the tracks, the frequency content, and the stereo position correctly. If you happen to take away the stereo position, it’s going to allow you to focus more on the other two and it’ll make it apparent where things want some tweaking.

When you’ve got two tracks, one completely panned to the right and the other to the left, it is going to be simple to discern what’s going on in everyone due to the stereo position.

However as quickly as you turn it to mono and they’re each popping out through the center, if the quantity wasn’t set correctly or if some extra EQ or compression is required, it is going to be a lot tougher to establish what’s being performed in each track.

• It exposes phase issues

Signals out of phase will cancel each other out. When panning instruments, since one is popping out the right monitor one the opposite one is popping out the left monitor, phase cancellation isn’t an issue.

However as quickly as you collapse everything to mono, if these tracks are barely out of phase with one another, you’ll run into some issues. That is especially true within the low-end.

A simple method to recognize if you have phase issues is that if as quickly as you hit the mono change, some instruments go from sounding full to thin, or there could also be volume variations.

• The mid-channel will sound incredible

A stereo mix that sounds nice won’t essentially sound good in mono, however, the opposite is true.

If you happen to handle to get good separation between the totally different instruments in mono by counting on proper level adjustment, EQ, compression, and so on, then your mix won’t only sound nice in mono however even better in stereo

• Much less ear fatigue

When mixing in mono you’ll discover that you’ll believe your ears more and will be able to mix at lower ranges. Having the ability to mix at lower ranges will then, in turn, cut back ear fatigue, particularly when engaged on a mix for hours on end.

• Extra accurate balancing of instruments

One other nice benefit of mixing in mono is reaching greater stability between instruments. Similar to benefit number 1, when listening in mono, it could actually allow you to essentially narrow your focus and better position components in terms of volume towards one another.

How Do You Mix In Mono?

Each DAW has a mono button. Merely put, simply turn it on and begin mixing! If you’re mixing in mono, deal with the volume ranges of the totally different instruments. You need everything to be audible, but for very powerful instruments (or vocals) to stand out.

To do that, mix in “top order.” What does that imply?

Mainly, it means mixing by importance. Right here’s how to do it: bring all of the faders down, then turn every instrument up one by one, beginning with the most important one. Most of the time, the lead vocal is a very powerful thing. After that, significance varies relying on your style.

• For acoustic singer-songwriters, the guitar or piano is very powerful after the vocals.
• For hip-hop, it’s going to be the drums and bass.
• For rock music, it’ll most likely be the guitars and drums.

You must also begin with the most essential part of the music. Often, that is the section with the most happening all at once. This could possibly be the second or third chorus (where the vitality often peaks), the bridge, or a giant instrumental break or solo. So simply loop that part of the tune as you turn up and pan the instruments so as of importance.

Crucial: if you mix in mono, it’s significantly better to make use of a mono sound source relatively than a phantom image throughout a stereo speaker setup.

When Should You Stop Mixing In Mono?

Do you have to mix in mono on a regular basis, exclusively? Well, not precisely.

It’s totally nice when you’re going to mix your entire song in mono. However before you bounce it, change back to stereo to listen to the way it sounds. In case you’ve mixed the music well, you could only have to make tweaks in stereo.

You are able to do it the other way too. Mix in stereo, then hear and make tweaks in mono before you bounce the music. Or you may break up the difference and change between stereo and mono all through your mixing session. Both ways, you’ll undoubtedly want to do some mixing in mono for reference.

In case you don’t mix in mono, you’re not preparing your song for each sound source.

Conclusion

Mixing in mono is an extremely useful tool to have in your arsenal. It helps you to establish and repair phase issues, in addition, to clear up your muddy mixes. It will be a good way to learn about depth mixing. In turn, this actually helps in creating a large mix.

Most DAWs have a channel button or a plugin obtainable to mono your mix. Logic has the gain plugin which has a mono button. Ableton has the Utility plugin. Those of you with Focusrite gear can use the Scarlett MixControl which additionally has a mono button.

You by no means know what sort of speaker your listeners are listening to your work on, so the goal is to get your mix to sound nearly as good as possible on any speaker, whether or not it’s a fancy stereo system or an affordable mono speaker.