Mono Mixing

General

– Mixing in Mono Helps Cleaning Up Masking and Balancing Levels (Especially Vocals / Bass / Drums)

– It Mainly has to Do with Energy and the Fact that Even if you Listen to Mono, the Sound Comes from 2 Speakers which Gives you in Theory 2 Basses, 2 Kicks etc.

– so when you Pan 1 Sound Hard Left it will be Coming Out of 1 Speaker Only and if you Collapse a Stereo Mix to Mono that Sound Becomes Quieter (by Usually 3.5dB or Whatever the Pan Law is Set at in the DAW)

– Thus It Does Not Fix a Mix if You Pan 2 Muddy Instruments Hard Left and Hard Right as the Muddiness will Still Exist and the Energy Drops for Panned Instruments

Mono Mixing in Practice

1) You can Start to Mix in Mono or Start the Mix in Stereo

– Either Way Fast Work Out the Elements with Panning / EQ / Compression / Distortion and Go for a Well Balanced Rough Mix

2) Collapse the Mix to Mono via a Mono Plugin on the Stereo Out or Listen to a Dedicated Mono Speaker at a Very Low Level

3) Listen at that Low Volume but Only Enable Snare / Vocals / Kick / Bass (i.e. Mute All Other Elements for Now) 

– so Low that Someone Speaking in the Room is Louder than the Listening Volume

– Make Sure you can Track Every Word of the Vocals, Every Snare Kick and Bass

– Otherwise Compensate the Volume per Instrument so They are Heard Throughout

4) Make the Snare be the Loudest in Terms of Energy

– Adjust Fader / EQ / Compressor of the Snare and / or Make Room for the Snare

– i.e. Snare Should Sit Just in Front of the Vocal

5) Now Raise the Listening Volume Again and if the Snare is Now Too Loud or is Annoying You, Try the Following:

a) Make the Snare Brighter via EQ (e.g. 4kHz or 6kHz)

b) Check Compressor and Let Snape of the Snare Through

c) Add Distortion and / or Parallel Distortion Buss

6) Then Do the Same for the Kick 

– i.e. Low Listening Volume and then Adjust Kick EQ / Compressor / Distortion

– So with have the Snare (Front) ->> Vocal and then —>> Kick

– Remember that at Low Listening Volume a Boost of 40Hz will Not Help to Make the Kick Come Though, so Better Look for Boosts at 500Hz, 1.2kHz or 1.5kHz (Sometimes 2kHz)

7) Then Do the Same for the Bass 

– i.e. Low Listening Volume and then Adjust Bass EQ / Compressor / Distortion

– So with have the Snare (Front) ->> Vocal —>> Kick —>> and then Bass

– Remember that at Low Listening Volume a Boost of 40Hz will Not Help to Make the Bass Come Though, so Better Look for Boosts at 200Hz, 500Hz, 800Hz 

8) Now Enable All Other (Formerly Muted) Instruments and Listen at Low Volume Again

– as Soon as Any of Those Disturbs the Previous Adjusted Picture, Back Off the Volume of the Respective Element

Advanced LCR Mono Mixing in Practice

– if you have Trouble Building a Mix, Again Try the LCR by Either Putting Signals to Dead Centre, Hard Left or Hard Eight (but Nothing in between which was a Regular Approach Before the Mid 70ies)

– but Instead Do the LCR Rough Mix in Stereo Right from the Start, Do the LCR Rough Mix Only on 1 Side of the Speakers at a Time and Entirely Mute the Other Side of the Mix

– this Helps a Lot to Sort Out the Massive Information when All Elements Played and Heard in Stereo Right from the Start

1) Mute the Right Side of the Mix 

 – Simply Set the Master Fader Pan Knob (After All the Master Inserts) All the Way to the Left

2) Do a Rough Mix on Left Speaker Only

– i.e. Build the Foundation of Drums, Bass and the Instrument that Play a Dominant Role in the Song (Such as Piano Chords / Rhythm Guitar / Vocals)

– e.g. for the Drums you Normally have Some Overheads which are Panned to the Left

– i.e. Check Drum Elements that May Sit on the Left

3) Do the Opposite and Continue the Rough Mix on Right Speaker Only

– but Do Not Change Anything that was Put Dead Centre During the Previous Left Speaker Rough Mix

– i.e. if you Need to Increase the Volume of a Element on the Right so It Cuts Through, then Do That but Do Not Lower Volume of Elements that were Adjusted Left to Preserve what you have Done

4) Now Listen to Both Speakers Again

– Now you can Adjust the Dead Centre a Bit (but Not During Left / Right Rough Mix)