We’re back with another video mixing tip. Today’s is so foundational that it’s really worth more than one day’s tip. But it’s so easy that it can easily be overlooked by newer mixers.
Mono Forces You To Work Smarter
If you want to get the absolute best EQ balance in your mixes, then make it a habit to do most of your EQ’ing while in mono. That way you won’t have the stereo field to distract you with “easy separation”. You’ll be forced to think hard about which frequencies need attention to get your tracks to sit together well.
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My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
Hi,
Nice video! Have been a big fan of mono monitoring for a few years now!
I always do this..EQ in mono.With one speaker though. I pan everything to one side and mix. And later check on some cheap computer speakers..in fact I even automate my volume levels in mono! For me, the stereo playback turns out HUGE!
Thanks for the videos!
Gokul
Never tried this before. Will now!
Hey, a quick slightly off topic question. I love that slow-strum electric guitar in the left. is that a chorus on there? what else did you do to it and what kind of guitar was it, cause that’s an amazing sound!!!!
Hey, I’ve been a recurrent user of this technique lately, also I wanted to say, I really like your site, I think we are kind of in the same page on our engineering thoughts, and that’s cool. This one I realized kind of by accident (sounds really amateur I know), but after mixing a concert recording for hours I kind of messed something in my configuration, so I was mixing in mono for a long while and when I pulled it out to stereo again, it sounded clearer than the first stereo results, so about 2 hours of an accident gave me a clue, now I do a lot of EQing and compressing in mono.
I’ve been reading your offerings for quite some time now. I found that most, if not all, of your pieces are rooted in time proven OLD SCHOOL facts. As in before all of us were born the trail blazers in audio set the foundation rooted in FACTS. Like the Fletcher-Munson Curve and basic accoustic treatments to assist in a good final product were the ground work for all future works to be heard in the highest quality for it’s time. THAT kind of old school. Before anyone even coined the term “analog”. I’ve been a pro audio/professional musician for 30+ years.
I wish I could say you guys were alright. Nope. Fact is you guys (girls too I guess)are GREAT. A true reliable source for newbies and old salts as well. Good basic FREE info with enough to learn from before you offer them further knowledge for a resonable fee. SO keep up the good work…or…we’ll hurt ‘cha bad. JV
. But I can’t.
Thanks JV!
Sorry the last words “But I can’t” was supposed to be deleted.. I hit enter too quick.
Graham, My audio interface (Duet 2) has a “sum to mono” button. Here is what it says in the manual:
“When mixing, it’s also a good idea to check mono compatibility. Beyond questions of phase, any masking caused by overlapping frequencies is most easily heard when listening in mono. Try starting a mix with Sum to Mono engaged – once you have something that sounds good, then disengage Sum to Mono and revel at the beautiful stereo mix you’ve created!”
Is that the same thing as changing the mix to mono in my DAW (Ableton, btw)? Do I have to change the setting in both places or is it fine to just use this button and not worry about the DAW? Thanks!
It’s the exact same thing 🙂 If you have a sum to mono button the Duet, then use that!
Graham, thank you for all the great info on your site!
I remember when I was just starting out with recording, etc. some 10 yrs ago and there was not nearly the volume of great resources like this online IMO. I’ll most def be coming back for future articles from now on, great stuff here!
Just 1 question though, in this tutorial – what plugin are you using to sum to mono and on what track or buss? The master buss I presume? Or are you adding this plugin individually to each and every track? Thanks!
Hi Shaun, I’m using a Stereo Width plugin from AIR in Pro Tools. It’s on my master fader.
Graham,
I had actually watched this video and others saying “mix in mono” yet for some reason kind of ignored it. Recently I took a song of mine that I had half-way mixed for listening that seemed muddy, erased all the plugins and added the Stereo Width plugin on the mix bus in Pro Tools. I kept this plugin on my mix buss(with some light compression, saturation) until I got a rockin mix using Volume Faders, and stock Pro Tools EQ, Compression, and Reverb in MONO. Finally I took the mono plugin off and I was astonished at how clear and wide the mix sounded. It was a complete 180 from my rough mix. Also to mention I don’t have monitors just used some decent KRK KNS8400 headphones. Thanks for sharing this tip Graham, from now on all my mixes will be done in MONO first!
Nice success story! It really works people. Glad to hear you had a good experience with it.
wow….you made me realise that I don’t even know the A of audio mixing.
I really wanted to sign up for this great site of yours but whenever I clicked signup, it takes me to a page where it tells me to subscribe to your free ebook. I did. But no signup links or anything.
Please help me out in signing up.
Thank you.
Hi Richard,
Check your inbox (and spam folder) for the download link.
I use cubase and don’t have a plug to make mono I take my master buss and pan them both center. Same thing right?
Same thing!
All well, but what if you have say 50 tracks, such as a large marching band of symphony orchestra? You have so many instruments that play in the same freq spectrum that it’s almost impossible to EQ efficiently. Can you people please elaborate?
Thanks, J.
With that many tracks, I would group them by instrument if I could. Get it down to a handful of group tracks and EQ from there.
Thank you, Graham.
This is exactly what I do, however, in orchestral music one has big chords. For instance, one groups the oboes, of which there usually are 3 or 4, or horns of which we may have up to 8. Since chords are notes that are close in frequency spectrum, masking in the same group is very likely. If and when one adds in the strings, masking is even more likely, firstly among strings themselves which in itself is a huge problem and then strings and the other groups of instruments. This is why one has to limit each instrument’s frequency range and also will have to move the instrument(s) up or down, depending on whether it plays in its lower or upper range. Even this won’t guarantee harmonic cleanliness. It’s an eternal struggle and it takes enormous amounts of time to get these instruments balanced. And, when one mixes samples, problems get manifold larger.
There are lots of books out there that treat sound engineering. Unfortunately over 90% treat the rock band only. This is a fact and it’s a damn shame.
J.
but still, in the mono the guitars were muffled. even after you put the eq the guitars, in mono it was more muffled than in stereo. is it okay? or should we mix in mono until it sounds absolutely perefect?
It’s not that the guitars are really more muffled in mono – just that there is more masking happening. Everything sounds more clear in stereo. So, keep EQing till it’s clear in mono.
Hi Graham,
First off, thank you for sharing all this knowledge.
Question: are you using a mono plugin on your master fader only, or are you saying all your tracks should be in mono, whilst eq in a stereo master fader? Not clear on that.
All the best
Just use a mono plugin to pop your mix to mono while you EQ.
Hi Graham,
Have been enjoying your tutes since recently discovering them. Can relate and have learnt so much so quickly, particularly related to the video on having too many plugins and bells and whistles… What a messy unproductive period of time that was for me (and recently again when I went to 64 bit and all my songs had 32 bit plugins which no longer worked)!
Anyway, in terms of mixing to mono, I’m a bit unclear on what works the best. Should I merely center all my tracks on my DAW (this would mean any stereo effects would still be heard) or do I want to add a mono plugin, essentially cutting all stereo sounds and making everything 100% center. I ask because say I have a sound that’s panned full right and I add the plugin, wouldn’t this completely remove this sound as there is no portion of it in the center (mono) of the mix, and won’t this then mean I’m mixing tracks that don’t include all sounds and frequencies, or is this what you as you want to clear up only the overlapping ‘clashing’ frequencies?
Hope this is clear…
Thanks,
Jarryd
Hi Jarryd,
Yes – simply insert a plugin on your master fader that pulls all the audio into mono (up the center) or use a mono button on your monitor controller if you have one.
That way you can leave your stereo tracks in place, but you will be hearing everything in mono.
I’m still a bit unclear on tracks that are hard-panned left or right, though.
In my current stereo mix, I have a hard-panned track and a centered track. When I use a “sum to mono” option, the hard panned track ends up being half as loud as the centered one. Is this an issue or is it part of the “make it sound good in mono” game?
Some DAWs have different panning laws. Half as loud sounds a bit extreme to me. Maybe check your settings.
I would adjust the track back to a comfortable volume level if this happens. Mixing in mono is about correct EQ choices, so make these choices at the volumes that suit, and then once this is complete you can go back to a stereo mix and re-adjust the volumes once again to suit the track.
When you mix in mono, do you only use one speaker instead of the pair?
Both. I mainly use the pair.
Great vid! Thanks for the tip 🙂
How would one go about making their mix mono in Reason 8?
Take the stereo maximizer in the rack and pull the width to zero.
Can you recommend a mono plug in for Cubase 8.5 artist?
Graham, I guess this is a really basic question – but I haven’t found an answer in your materials yet… I just spent the better part of three days learning about frequency ranges, EQ guidelines, and built my own “cheat sheet” to help me better understand what’s where on the spectrum. I’m a home studio musician and have done a couple of CDs, and am interested in improving my mixing skills, which I’ve been learning over the past 18 months. After reading all the EQ forums, guides, and cheat sheets – the basic thing I still don’t fully understand is whether I should be focusing my use of EQ on individual tracks, groups of tracks, the sub-mix, the rendered file for mastering, or all of the above. I’m getting the why, what, and how, but not the when… Can you comment on this?
Great question John. I cover a lot of this in my paid courses. Here’s how I approach it: EQ starting on the mix buss (master fader) at the beginning of the mix to do some immediate subtle enhancing. Then address things like the drum buss or guitar buss with EQ to take things a step further. Then get to work on the individual tracks (kick, lead vocal, bass, etc) with EQ as needed – all while listening in mono to really know if there is masking going on.