If you could only make one change to the way you mix your songs I would tell you to mix in mono.
And I’m not the only one who swears by it.
As it turns out, Kendrick Lamar’s latest (and award winning) album To Pimp A Butterfly was mixed primarily in mono. Go figure.
Mono Helps Define The Mix
One of the most intriguing mixers in the hip hop world today is Derek “MixedbyAli” Ali.
He’s only been at this 7 years but already has recorded and mixed chart topping albums, working alongside guys like Kendrick Lamar and learning directly from Dr. Dre.
In a recent Sound On Sound interview, Ali shared a surprising fact about how he gets his mixes to sound so good:
About 80% of my time mixing [I spend] listening to just one Auratone speaker, so yes, in mono! Dre always told me that if I could get something to sound amazing on crappy speakers, it’ll sound brilliant on normal speakers. So I try to get a great mix on the Auratone, and then I’ll go to the NS10s. – Derek Ali (Mixer, Engineer)
There you have it people. If you don’t believe me, just listen to one the industry’s youngest (he’s 25) and most successful mixers right now.
He spends 80% of his time in a mix, listening on one crappy mono (mid rangy) speaker.
Why?
I mix on just one Auratone, because I like specific elements of the mix to pop out, and listening in mono on that speaker really helps me define that. It’s difficult to assess your balance [in stereo], whereas when you listen in mono, you can gauge the true value of how everything sits in the mix. – Derek Ali (Mixer, Engineer)
Two huge points about mono – it helps you get the right elements to poke out in the mix, and it helps you get a truer perspective on the balance of everything.
And remember – you can sum up mixing in just one word, balance.
Two Mixing Hacks In One
What Ali is describing here is really two of my favorite mixing hacks put together.
First he’s mixing in mono.
Second, he’s mixing on a crappy mid range speaker.
If all you do is mix on nice studio monitors (or nice headphones) then you likely don’t have a good gauge of how your mix will hold up in the real world.
Most people tend to playback music on low quality systems (laptop speakers, iPhone, bluetooth stereos, car speakers) that are plagued by a common problem: lack of top and bottom end.
So the mid range becomes really exposed.
If you mix on a crappy, mid range heavy speaker then you’ll hear things you likely would have missed on your “nice” speakers.
This can help you really fine tune a mix so it sounds good not just in your room, but everywhere.
You don’t need an Auratone speaker to do this. I’ve shared before the best $99 you could spend to instantly get better mixes and that’s a great alternative.
Even cheaper would be a small bluetooth speaker or computer speaker. The concept of the crappy speaker for a reference is tried and true.
Ali takes the power of mono, and usefulness of a mid range focused speaker and puts them together by doing 80% of his mixing on a single Auratone.
It’s a powerful combination!
Have You Tried It?
Two of the most powerful things you could do to improve your mixes: mix in mono and on a crappy speaker. The results will speak for themselves. So let me ask you:
- Are you currently mixing mono? And if so for how long in your typical mix?
- Do you have a “crappy” speaker to check your mix on?
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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. 
These are really the top benefits I got from all the phantastic stuff you have been providing through the years. I followed the Beritone mono mixing advice with a huge boost in my mixing quality, I took courage to mix on with headphones (attention to the core elements that you gave in the respective tutorial on headphone mixing) and from your paystuff the vocal mixing series. These were able to overcome my shortcomings of years and years of endless as well as fruitless struggle with no audible progress.
I am sure everyone can find on your and Joe Gilders website what is lacking so far and be able to correct it. I am satisfied with my overall sound now, where I used to be disappointed before. And my expenses have gone down considerably for plugins and devices and have turned to a much more exciting field: Instruments. The good thing, their value will remain or even increase……..
So pumped for you Mike!
i have been trying to mix in mono…. my only problem is, once i come out of mono my guitars are usually too loud… i pan them hard left and hard right… especially if i use a stereo widener. what would cause this? am i doing something wrong? my balance seems perfect in mono by the way.. but in stereo, they over-power. help please!
Yes, I’m mixing in mono. I don’t know how long I mix in mono, but mostly I leave the monosphere after EQ (sometimes after using compressors). Maybe I will try to mix a song completly in mono, just to see how I can use it in my workflow. Until this point I’m really happy to mix and EQ in mono, it’s helping a lot and I hear that my mixes getting better 🙂
And my only “crappy” speakers are my laptop speakers.
I now mix in mono for roughly 80% of the time. And in doing so my mixes have improved sevenfold. I am better able to determine more accurately where each instrument sits, and masking frequencies are more exposed. Thanks for the tips, Graham!
You’re welcome Andy!
I mix in mono, since I follow your tutorials and the one hour mix series! I produce songs mostly for the dub sound system community, and that is 98% of the time… mono systems!
It is really nice for EQing (you have to be more precise, as said earlier), and it is a good to hear which element doesn’t fix in the mix. Also you can’t really do fancy tricks, if you want the song to sound nice (such as stereo depth, etc), so no time wasted! And I guess a good mono mix will be fine in a stereo system, whereas a good stereo mix can be destroyed in mono (I’ve experienced that so many times ^^).
I have yamaha HS7 monitors, and I love them (not so expensive, and it does the work), and a really sh**** pair of low budget hifi speakers just to check my mix (every 15 minutes). When mixing in mono, I don’t really have surprises with an A/B comparaison on the two systems! 🙂
I also like to listen my mix when going to work in my car (with the rumble of the motor, you can determine what is present and what is too far in the mix).
I guess having a listen to your mix in a bad situation reveal what have to be fixed, as you just concentrate on the essentials things of mixing, so it’s very accurate! I still have a lot to learn, but this is a big step forward. So thanks Graham for all this advices and the knowledge you share everyday through your blog!
My pleasure
Question: Is there a difference between using one (crappy) speaker or using two and engaging the mono button?
if two crappy speakers with mono button shouldnt make much of a difference
After learning from REthink mixing and actually practicing the mixing in mono, my mixes really pop out, more clarity separation and punch 5hat otherwise i wont be able to get.
I did an AB test with two mixes of the same song i have done and turns up that from how subtle it can be made a huge difference more power and punch from the track and everything was jumping out the speakers after i mixed in mono.
Currently i revised my mixing workflow and goes like this : volume and pan, flip to mono, eq and compression on masterbus, highpass filters to uncover all the low end by taking out useless information on almost everything, multiband compression on mixbus (Greg Wells tip), everything clear? ok automation, anything still cannot be heard? remove all the masking in mono woth eq, after which touch compression on individual tracks or busses if anything need to stick out a bit more then automation after flipping back in stereo.
A pair of akg k712 saved my life during eq stages to fit everything, plus im not changing the sounds anymore i will just make everythinf heard, if any sound i dont like require more than a bit of processing i send back to record again.
with this technique im processing less and less making the music breath more and sound more natural and plus forces me to take action where really matters and makes a difference.
I spend much less time on a mix nowdays just by applying these few techniques explained here in this website, and I can sense that my mixes are getting better and better day by day, plus sabing me all this time i can spend more time without being sick and tired of the song on actually automating and bringing thay energy and excitment every song needs.
Its surprising that once got a static mix in stereo only by applying eq and compression in mono wothout touching volumes anynore can be so powerful.
Great post! Very inspiring!
Very cool Giorgio
Graham,
I totally agree. my most recent CD mix, I employed the Behringer C50 (Auratone copy) to make sure my balance was correct. On my stereo monitors I listened a lot in mono too. If you can get it do sound good on a crappy speaker, it will sound good in Stereo. It is counter-intuitive, but you can’t argue with results.
Yes, I mix in mono because you have been urging this for a long time and it works! Most of my mixing is done with crappy $20 earphones as well because I compose and mix at home and don’t want to disturb the household. I go to my studio speakers (not expensive ones but intended to be studio monitors) late in the compose/mix cycle.
Before I finally release, I always listen on ear pods, computer speakers, monitors and from outside the room. Each of these highlights different aspects of the mix.
Thanks, Graham, for your advice and help!
Cy
Great post, The question I have is should you Mix in Mono L / R first with EQ & Compression then pan?
I personally pan everything first and then mono-mix. But I am curious to know more about the workflow as well.
You can do either. I tend to do volume and pan first. Then move to mono and start clearing things up with EQ and compression.
Please graham, how do I mix with adobe audition cs6
I am new to mixing. I have started with a mix and it will be in mono almost throughout the whole process (85% or so). I would like to get a reference monitor like the behringer or the auratone for my mixes. I don’t like to mix on the monitors that I own, so for now I have started with some koss headphones in my mixing. Are there any other good speakers out there but not costly, maybe in the range of the behringer??? Is the Behringer Behritone C50a a good speaker? Thank you for your time and knowledge!
The C50a is great for what it is – a mid range auratone type speaker. But for normal monitors I would look at something like the KRK Rokit 5s.
I compose, record and mix mono most of the time and at the end I turn on stereo and it goes WOW! I use headphones only.
What do you mean by ‘turn on stereo’ Birgit? Correct me if I’m wrong but, once you’re happy with your mono mix, everything’s still set ‘straight down the line’ in the middle right? Do you not then have to go on to pan the component tracks pf your mix out L&R in the stereo field in order to get this ‘WOW!’ you speak of? I don’t really follow. (Apologies if I’ve got the wrong end of the stick here. I’ve been living under a rock and am completely new to the whole concept of mixing in mono having spent all my time to date working in the stereo field. I’m just trying to configure things this end in order to try a mono approach to mixing & find out if it is for me. As such I’m trying to read up & ask questions on it BEFORE I get physical & start pulling wires round the back of my existing set up.) CHEERS 😉
Hi Paul,
What he likely means is that he’s already done panning in the beginning. Then he flips to mono, applies EQ and compression, etc. Then when he flips back to stereo the mix really comes alive.
Yep – your DAW should have a mono button to click somewhere on your master bus. You can have your channel pans moved around, but your mix will be mono when you hit that mono button on your master.
Ahh! I get it. Thanks SO much.
Depending on the DAW I use the mono-button on the master-channel (if there) or I use a mono-plugin as the last plugin on the master.
Mostly I make ambient music using just a handful of instruments placed in the center. Then I add stereo delays and reverbs and I do all this while listening in mono. If I would not listen in mono I would not be able to check phase-cancellations that appear between the stereo-channels. And when I switch back to stereo then it goes “wow”.
Awesome stuff man.
Anybody happen to know where one can find that in GarageBand X? I see a stereo spread plugin but it’s not really putting the mix into mono for me no matter how I mess with the parameters.
Thanks in advance, folks!
Hi there! To date I’ve done all the mixes I’ve ever attempted on a trusty, reliable old set of stereo Tannoy studio monitors BUT I’d definitely like to explore (or at least try) this whole mixing in mono idea. I’ve been up to the attic & found a couple of old mid-range ‘crappy’ speakers that I’m thinking of sticking on top of my big studio monitors. So … how best should I utilise them in context would you know? Do I just switch the stereo output channel in my DAW (Logic Pro 9) to mono & play mixes back straight down the line ‘in the middle’ through both these mid-range reference speakers (ie: no panning) OR do I just try to connect one of these speakers to the back of my amp and sit it in the middle between my (semi-permanently fixed) Tannoys? I’m just trying to work out the logistics of how to try this (without messing up my existing studio ‘stereo’ set up!) Hope this makes some sense but I’m just REALLY used to mixing & listening in stereo. If I can work out how to configure a mono set up that can run alongside my stereo one then, yeah, I’d certainly be up for giving the mono approach a go …. I’m just not very sure how to work it! (My amp has two speaker channels A & B allowing me to run two different, separate STEREO speaker sets & switch back’n’forth between the two = cool! That said, there doesn’t appear to be the option to playback in ‘Mono’ just ‘Stereo’ (L&R). Should I just connect a single speaker to one of these L/ R speaker outputs? Obviously I don’t want to blow my amp or mismatch loads … I’m not very technical I’m afraid! Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this!
The easiest way to “flip” to mono is to put a Stereo Width style plugin on your master fader and pull the width to 0%. Then you can turn the plugin on and off and it becomes a “mono button.”
YES!
It’s true… and what a thrill it is when you suddenly realize your mix is working and you’re still in mono. That’s when you flip to stereo and grab your smileometer. Initially, I had a post-it note that just read MONO! But I don’t need it anymore, I’m sold (thanks, Graham!!!) The Auratone-type loudspeaker (Avantone, in my case) immediately helps make mixes more portable.
So, it’s all true. You just have to give it a chance to let the results convince you.
Love it Wade
Graham,
Starting my mix from zero (all faders down, no plug ins) and in mono changed everything for me.
I have been releasing a song a month for the last 8 months as a challenge to myself – both for songwriting and recording/mixing/mastering – and it has made my time in the studio much more effective. I have never timed myself but I know at the end of the month there will be a new song released to cdbaby, iTunes, ect, and the song and the mix will be as good as I can make it in that time.
Some people like the songs, some people don’t.
I don’t worry about that, I just go back to creating.
Thank You,
Josh
Love your mentality Josh
Great tips here man. I mix on lots of speakers especially the auratone plus a crappy speaker I’ve built into a whisky bottle box. Man that’s a great sound.
On tour with my band the Zombies in USA right now.( I’m the guitarist) let me know if you want a guest pass man. Would love to meet you,All the very best, and all blessings to you and your family!
Thanks Tom!
Hi guys, I really like these ideas. I have stereo full range monitors. I begin a mix with putting an eq on the end of my master bus chain with a 200hz high pass, and a 3khz low pass on it. I also have a mono switch to sum left and right to mono. I can then switch in and out of mono – mid to stereo full range easily.
Much cheaper than buying extra speakers, I assume this gives similar results. You’ll have to experiment with the hi/low frequencies but it’s amazing how getting the mid range sorted and fitting the top and bottom around that makes many things simpler.
Graham,
Yes, I mix mono and always have after I tried your suggestion. I also use a blue tooth 808 in different rooms and outside on the back deck. I also mix in 2 different rooms using VNC to tie into my MAC mini. I am very happy to say that you have made my life more rewarding with what I get from your tips n tricks. A Huge Shout of Thank You to You for your efforts. Anyone can visit my site blindfret.com and give a listen. May not be the best, I may have a long way to go but as a musician that plays and writes, also co-creates with others it is a site full of what I hear in my head and soul as to the music coming out of my studio with my band and the collaborations I do. Old School, New School, Actually I call it Any School… I am just looking for what the song is begging for.
Rock On !
Raphael Slagg / Blind Fret band / Blind Fret Studio
I have always mixed in stereo and I do some production music work on the side. A nice little extra income thing.
However I have always produced, and mixed in stereo. I just now tried flipping the mono switch and mixed a track I am working on and right away I could hear things that I had to fix. When I did that and flipped that switch over to stereo again I could hear a difference. A good one I might add. 🙂
But I was wondering, are you supposed to just mix in mono or also do it during producing? I tend to kind of produce, mix and do a lot of things at the same time…
Anyways, thanks for great advice! It really helps! 🙂
No real rules on this – but I only work in mono when mixing (EQ and compression).
I mix in mono now since you have graced us with the great knowledge you share here. I spend my first session completely in mono. I balance my levels, EQ and compress everything in mono without ever visiting stereo in the first mix session. I spend about 20 minutes doing this.
Then, on my second session, I come in with fresh ears, switch the mix to stereo and listen from there. Usually, I am very happy with my mix and I just have to make minor adjustments. I then come back one last time with fresh ears and try to listen from a ‘listeners’ perspective. I listen to the song in its entirety without nitpicking. Just see how the songs affects me. I take a few notes, pop it on my iPod and then listen int he car and on a blue tooth soundbar. I also work on a really cheap pair of speakers I bought for about £15.00. I refer in my studio monitor headphones.
So far, with your tips I have really bettered my mixing process I am building my own way of doing things now based around your foundation. Very pleased so far. Still lots to learn but that’s why you are here. Your website, yay!!! It’s my audio Bible 😉
Awesome to hear!
I get the idea of mixing in mono. What hasn’t worked for me is monitoring mainly on midrange speakers.
NS10’s and Auratone’s have a huge lift in high mids, therefore setting levels and making eq decisions can be a problem if you don`t know very well these speakers or if you`re not constantly checking on references. Starting a mix on this kind of speakers and then switching to a full range speaker showed me that I didn’t set a proper volume for vocals (lower than it should be), that harsh guitars now sounded weak, that drums weren’t cutting through the mix and had too many holes in the mid range, that I added unnecessary low mids to the bass guitar, and so on.
What I do find useful is starting a mix on full range speakers and checking later on mid range speakers for those exposed nasty mid range frequencies. I find this dangerous although, cutting holes in the mids + phase distortion from eq ends up in an amateur sounding mix.
The whole point here is mix translation, and in my opinion, I don`t think that modern consumer level speakers sound as mid rangey as NS10’s or Auratone’s, if not with hyped lows and highs. What I would do (haven’t tried this yet) is set a band pass filter on my master, filtering 100hz and below, and 10k and above. This way you would get rid of these “magic” frequencies and focus on what almost every speaker can reproduce, but maintaining a flat response in the mid range .
I’d like to hear how working mainly with mid range speakers works for other people other than “if you make this sound good on crappy speakers it will sound good anywhere”, because for me, it hasn’t led me to better results or working faster.
What are your thoughts on EQ’ing the master bus to simulate mid range speakers, like the Auratone preset on the stock Pro Tools EQ?
I’m with you Rama. I start on my regular studio monitors, but as soon as I get a good level balance with just the faders I switch to the mid range speaker to see if anything jumps out. Same with EQ – I do it mostly on the full range speakers, but then switch to the mid range speaker to see if anything stands out. So I’m going back and forth. It also wakes up my ears.
Yes Rama and Graham, before I set up accurate (not expensive) monitors, my mixes did not translate well to a wide range of sources. The accurate monitors (with careful placement and room treatment) rarely mislead me into making bad EQ decisions – BUT – I do much of that with the master set to mono – thanks to Graham’s blogs. Maybe this method has been around since the early days of mixing, but Graham’s blogs highlight these important concepts in such a way that it drives it home for those (many) who haven’t been exposed to pro studio environments and don’t pick up on these fundamental details elsewhere.
I also try to do as much as possible at lower SPLs, much of it under 80dB, but that is a different subject…
I render the mix to other formats to listen to it on other sources (car, home stereo, PC, etc.), but maybe I should do this earlier in the mix. I’m still hesitant to make too many decisions based on a poor speaker. That’s what led me to make poor EQ decisions before I set up the accurate monitors.
It makes sense that other sources would “wake up your ears”, though. Perspective is so important – just like reference tracks. It also makes sense that a decent midrange heavy speaker would act like a microscope to examine details in that area. Thanks Graham!
Cool, thanks!
I hate and love mono at the same time. It’s no fun to hear your song in mono while mixing, but man the payoff is huge! I would say I mix in mono about 80% of the time also. It’s amazing what a little thing can do.
I too hate it (while I’m doing it). But it always rewards me with a better mix 🙂
Yeah I mix about 20% in mono on an Avantone (Auraton clone). Funny thing is that after about 30 seconds it doesn’t sound crappy at all. The ear gets used to it. I use the Auratone to get the midrange properly done. It is like a microscope. I can also hear base and kick. And if I don’t I make them audible (EQ, compression, saturation). It is always a big moment when I switch to my stereo pair (Genelec 8030), because then – booom – the mix unfolds like a peacock and simply sounds awesome. Having said that I should mix even more in mono shouldn’t I?
Dr. Max
“Like a peacock” – that’s a new audio analogy 🙂
Peacock – that’s so good! It’s really like that – all of the dimension and color that you’ve worked to perfect comes to life…
My answer is yes. I mix like 80% or even more in mono (in good headphones: Beyerdynamic 880 Pro, Semi Open for a better stereo field).
Also, after finishing I listen to it on my smartphone and laptop speakers. I am trying to pay attention to what pops out and what should be improved (for example: bass, to be audible in a range higher then 100 -140 Hz). If it sound good there, I am sure it will sound good everywhere.
One more thing I do is to put an additional EQ on a mix bus, that cuts the lows and highs and puts the accent on 500 – 3000 Hz. Somehow it helps me define what should be audible and how. 🙂
Thanks a lot for the article, Graham. God bless!
You’re welcome!
I do a lot of my initial mixing in mono. I then turn on stereo, and do some panning to set the stereo stage. Then, I re-engage mono and don’t turn it off again for a good while.
I most often mix in headphones, and do all my headphone mixing through a virtual room simulator, which allows me to easily switch from “crappy mono” to “flat” to “laptop” to “phone” very quickly. I often check each mixing move across several of the VRM settings.
I set up my sessions so that channels 3+4 go through the VRM and to my headphones, while channels 1+2 go to export and studio monitors. That way, when I print the session, I don’t have to worry about whether I remembered to turn the VRM off.
My DAW has a monitor section that, among other things, has a mono button, so I can listen to any VRM setting in mono or stereo quickly.
This is actually one of the greatest things that I have learned from you Graham! Since I started mixing in mono it’s taken my mixes to a whole new level and I absolutely love it! if you can get your mix to sound great in mono and on cheapo speakers then it will definitely shine everywhere else! It’s the only way I mix now and I switch back and forth throughout the session between mono and stereo but normally do my initial mix solely in mono and when I get it where I like it I’ll switch to stereo and get blown away. Lots of times I don’t even need to adjust a thing! Thanks Graham!
You should be thanking the engineers who originally came up with the process.
After working with NS10’s for many years I have come to hate those speakers because they sound so crappy. However every mix you do just sounds so good on all other systems. I also have some nice pair of Genelecs which sound amazing but my mixes done on those speakers are not as good, because you always settle for less during the process. So following on from this logic taking mixing on one crappy speaker in mono will make you work even harder to get that right balance.
This is kinda funny. Engineers have been doing this for as long as there has been stereo mixing. Geoff Emerick (Beatles, Elvis Costello….) stated that they would concentrate on getting the mono mixes perfect. The stereo was just an afterthought.
This post makes it sound like Derek Ali came up with this revolutionary new way to mix. You really should give credit to the people who came up with the stuff. Over fifty years ago.
Don – I’m not saying Derek Ali invented this concept. Quite the opposite.
I’ve preached “mix in mono” for years now because it’s an old school practice that works. What I’m doing here is showing that it’s not just the old school guys who get it – the new school guys are figuring it out as well.
I mentioned it because this article was brought to my attention by one of my students. The fault most likely falls with SoS for making it sound like Derek discovered this new technique.
I guess the wording could use a little work. 🙂
How to connect that type of monitor to a regular interface? My interface have four output points. So do I connect one monitor to the left point on the interface then turn my daw to mono? I’m loss please help.
I say the method is just to make a good song. Good music is the key. All of the mixing should just be a good coat of icing at the end of desert. Listening to Riston Diggs song unbothered goods I realize that this song was mixed and mastered but I can also tell the artist Riston Diggs provided a good song before the mix. The same thing was put in place for his song Ungrateful Bitches another amazing song on his album entitled PTSD. Riston Diggs music is the example I chose to use because I have been enjoying listening to it as of late. Recored and Blvd Sly studio Downtown San Diego. Riston Diggs album PTSD is a great example of a independent recording artist making a quality record.
Riston Diggs Music – PTSD
What a coincidence! When I first got interested in recording I had a DAW and interface but no monitors. My drummer had a crappy pair of monitors he brought over and one ended up not working. He never wanted them back. Eventually I got a really good pair of Adams but my desk didn’t have a stand so my good speakers have been sitting on top of the crappy speakers (to elevate them) for years now. This hack was like “Woah! No way! I happen to have one crappy speaker that’s been sitting in front of me for years! Yes! The Lord provides!”
When I look back on that single speaker recording the drums were awesome sounding! Never got that snare sound again. This makes sense.
hi graham
long time fan of your work and try most of what you teach, to great benefit.
not been mixing to long compared to some but i love it and recently my mixes took a leap in clarity and quality regarding the final mix. still a long way to go but definate improvements, which i’m putting down to 2 things primarily most recently, mixing in mono and referencing my mix through a cheapo bluetooth speaker, i recall it was £10.00 and the 2 together have made a considerable difference. the other biggest change i noticed over the time was getting the gain staging right,
the three methods together i am starting to be a lot more content with my mixes.
cheers graham for doing what you do.
Great to hear Kent!
Thats how i have been mixing for a while now. In all my pro tools sessions i have a Stereo aux track which i pan to dead center and then i route everything through
Ok so my question is….How do you mix in Mono when you have FL Studio that only has stereo mixer?
Look for a stereo width plugin and put it on the master fader, and pull the width to 0%
Here’s a free tool that will improve all of your mixes. It’s simple. You can do it in mono or stereo (sorry; no cans). All you really need is an spl meter (not in your DAW, as you can only measure SPL coming from your speakers.
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=29283&page=1
I remember reading an interview with Ted Nugent once, and he said he listens to his mixes in his jeep, where there’s one speaker blown out. He figures that most of the time his fans will be listening with a similar setup, so why try and be clever about it! If it sounds great cranked through that, then it’s a good mix, period!
At first I didn’t get his meaning, lumping it in with his ‘If it’s too loud, you’re too old!
With the knowledge I’ve gained from this site, and my own experience mixi, I can see his point now. Imay not agree with some aspects of Ted’s life, politics and so on, but the man has sold countless records, so he’s obviously got something that works!
He’s got a point!
Just bought a pair of brand NEW Pyle PCB3BK “bookshelf” speakers for just $23.00 – DELIVERED – on eBay, which are actually the PERFECT substitute for the $400-$500 Auratone or Avantone speakers – they’re rated at 100 watts peak, and you can find a used Crown D60 (35 watts per channel at 8 ohms) on eBay all day for about $120. I use a Presonus Central Station to distribute the signal to my various monitors, and it has a button which allows me to check my mono mixes easily. I don’t think you can do better for UNDER $150, TOTAL.
Hey Graham,
Love this article, although you already got me on the mono mixing train. It makes so much sense. I normally switch back and forth throughout the mixing process to check things and make EQ adjustments accordingly. I almost test through a little Bluetooth speaker that sits next to my computer, and it really does help me balance things much more accurately.
Thanks!
Fro a long time now i have been so worried about releasing my Songs due to their poor balance and bad translation on other system out of my studio… but now i am able to release a hit song with few days after recording (….ITS due to MONO mixing ….)mixing in mono real saved my thousand hours which i was spending to perfect a single song ……….. God bless you Graham…………………… (Victor a.k.a J-los…….from Dar es salaam Tanzania) pamoja sana
So glad!
I actually mix my dubstep productions in mono and switch to stereo to apply any post production effects and it helps tremendously
Nice.
I’ve mixed my last 2 songs in mono and have been surprised by the results when I go to stereo. The concentration is more focused on my part (in mono) and changes in eq or compression really pinpoint where things can get muddy or when ‘textures’ are not working. I have some Alesis Point Sevens which are fairly accurate for me to work on. I used Auratones for years and these are similar in some ways. I also reference on my car stereo as well as a Bose Wave Radio. All totally different and if my track sounds good in all 3 places it will translate on most listening situations.
I’m always switching between mono & stereo every step of the way. I don’t have a crappy speaker but I made a crappy speaker eq curve that I switch between – it looks something like this ../”’..
Seems to do the job.
I tend to switch between mono & stereo to check overall balance and dynamic layers.
Really enjoying the updates! I’ve found a new spark for things audio again!
Thanks Graham keep up the great work! Bless ya!
Thanks Alan!
Do you pan before going to mono? I noticed I would choose different levels if I use panning before or after setting faders. Correct me if Im wrong, but I think there is a -2.5/3db change when you pan one track to one side 100%. Sounds also sound much more defined when they come from one speaker than both (panned center)
Just depends on your DAW’s pan laws. I tend to do panning at the beginning, before going to mono, then adjust after if need be.
Thanks to Graham for the post and Thank You to all who posted so far. I learned a a lot just by reading about everyone’s setup and styles. Hopefully I can add to the forum, I personally mix and mastering mono about 75-90% of the time, switching back to stereo briefly after each move to check. I like to keep going until I can barely tell a difference then I may switch to mostly stereo (sometimes I forget if it’s really good). I may add a few coloring moves after the mono mix but not much is ever needed.
As far as the monitoring, I do a majority of my mixing on old analog Kenwood speakers pushing through a Sony receiver that allows my to turn the treble and bass pretty low. I feel like this gives me a couple of perspectives, I’m used to and love the EQ curve in this setup since I’ve used them personally years before I got into engineering plus I can always turn a few quick knobs just to get an idea of the moves I gone to make in the DAW. I move to monitors around the same time I’m moving to stereo. I have also fell in love with headphones recently, after I get to my sweet spot on the speakers, I switch back and forth with my cheap Skullcandy over the head headphones, I don’t know but I really like these cheap headphones and even with better options at my disposal I gravitate back to them. I also check then check on laptop and car. The final listen is ALWAYS earbuds , they always reveal the truth no matter what the monitors or other speakers are saying. I know none of my monitoring is “traditional” except my monitors but I’ve been able to better results using my setup than with monitors only so I go with what works. Peace, Love & Light!
I don’t consider Auratone 5c speakers ‘crappy’. They are purpose-built monitors that do a fine job doing what they were designed for. The lack of lows and highs removes the ‘boom and sizzle’ distractions. Get your balance together first, in mono, on your Auratones… then switch to the full-range monitors. Thanks for the blog and videos, Graham… wonderful stuff!
Great points Don. That’s the big win – remove the “boom and sizzle” distractions.
im working on protools hd 7.1
how do I set the mixer to mono?
I have an mci jh636 that im finding my feet with and theres a mono switch on the master section which is for the mono mix purpose?
I don’t have a crappy speaker. BUT last year. I had to move into a very small room for producing and mixing for a while, and I hadn’t read the tip about crappy speakers (but I had heard about the auratone thing).. However, my Yamaha 8″ monitors were too bottom heavy and the room was just flooded with bass..
I gifted myself a pair of KRK VXT4’s… These aren’t crappy by any means, but they are small and very mid range oriented.
Since starting rethink mixing a few weeks ago, I have started listening to my current track that I’m working on in mono (just finished first draft of the arrangement). (that mono button on my desk is now getting quite a workout)
Now that I’m in a much better room, I am also switching between the 2 sets of speakers. I’ve been doing this on the practice mix I am doing with Rethink Mixing, especially since I got up to the drum and bass lesson.
This 2 speaker types setup has my interest piqued, and I’ve listened to older mixes of mine, some sound great in the Yamaha’s but not so great in the KRK’s.. These ones don’t tend to translate well to other sound systems.. One in particular was very bass oriented, and in the KRK’s half the song was missing. I’m going to redo that mix after I finish the course and see what happens.
Wonderful article graham … I’ve been following your articles and vids and have learnt so much from them. I know you have been preaching this technique for quite some time now, would you mind doing an update tutorial on the concept of mixing in mono? This would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Graham,
Yes, I started mixing in mono a couple of months ago, using a single Avantone Mix Cube. These were purposely designed to somewhat replicate the old Auratone speaker’s. They absolutely do the trick. I do about 80 to 90% of my mix, then still using the Mix Cubes, I switch to stereo, start working on my panning. Once I have things solid there, I switch to my KRK Rocket 8’s to dial in the high end and may tweak the panning just a bit. Then, I switch on the 10″ sub to check the low end and make sure it is tight and not too muddy. I used this workflow on my last two songs and they turned out better then I could have hoped for. They have the “professional” sound that I’ve been wanting for so long.
Ok I’m a little bummed. I wish I would have read this a few weeks ago. I’ve listened to Graham about mixing in mono and have followed that advise for awhile now. But I just made an upgrade in my gear.
My at home studio surrounds my couch in 5th wheel trailer. So I mix 99% of my projects in headphones. So I had a $20 pair of Phillips noise reduction headphones-sorry to offend you professionals. After reading Graham’s reviews I went out and bought a set of KrK 6400. Absolutely love them. The difference in sound is incredible. So I threw out the junk Philips.
I can speak to the difference of the mid range verses the full tone just by these set of headphones. I wish I would have kept the junk ones now. At least for reference.
Thanks GC for another solid bit of info
Glad you got the KRKs!
i have tried to mix in mono multiple times and in the end i findout that i have made extreme EQ decisions because of that. mixing in mono is just not for me
The key is to make sure that you’re not doing extreme EQ in the first place. When you find the right frequency to boost or cut, dial it back to 3db to 6db chunks. It all still helps!
So true! A stereo mix can sound excellent, but when you switch to mono, sometimes some instruments can get lost… Especially when you have a ‘wide’ stereo image. It seems (although you are unaware of this), you tend to listen more to the left or the right speaker from time to time.
When I mix, I first place all sources in the right place between left and right, then I switch the monitoring to mono and decide about the balance.
If the balance is good when listening in mono, it will also be good in stereo. But not always the other way round!!
Hi all-
Anyone try using Panipulator to mix in mono?
I have heard of that plugin being used to flip things into mono on the masterbuss.
Also, if you want to use just one mono speaker, how would you connect just one to your
interface? I’m new to this stuff, so excuse my cluelessness 🙂
-R
You can use a Y cable. It has two TRS connections at one end and sums them to one TRS cable at the other end.
Hey Graham,
I’m currently using Reason 8 as my primary DAW. Unlike DAWS such as Studio One 3, Reason doesn’t have a quick mono switch. How would I most efficiently set up a mono mix channel in Reason?
Reason has a great option – the stereo maximizer or whatever unit can be in the rack on your master output. Simply pull the width to 0%. Now you can bypass that on and off for mono. I did this on my most recent EP which was done in Reason.
Graham,
I am mixing on headphones, because my living room studio is not treated for sonic reflections. I assume it does me no good to mix on crappy speakers in an untreated room.
There is a ‘mono’ button on my Mbox2, plus I could temporarily zero the pan on my mix bus.
QUESTION: If I were to temporarily put an equalizer set with high pass and low pass filters on the mix bus, would this simulate crappy speakers well enough for me to benefit from your advice?
Thanks,
Will
I simulates that, but I would rather you hear your mix on a totally different speaker. Like your smartphone speaker for example.
Not to burst anybody’s bubble but this guy Ali is a deadbeat. He rented a Sony C800G in LA and totally ripped off a shockmount. Weeks earlier he was looking for a proprietary cable for the same microphone becuase apparently he lost his. Is anybody else missing a power supply or maybe just a microphone? He may be talented but he’s far from Honorable.
Your bashing somebody over a shock mount ? Deadbeat & far from honorable ? I would think someone like Ali would be far from that. I mean, he is giving up his process, techniques and secrets in this very article. I doubt a deadbeat would be willing to do the same. He seems pretty honorable in my eyes. You’ve got some issues & too much time on your hands, sir.
On Another note, Ali keep doing your thing. You are an inspiration to myself and a lot of up and coming engineers.
There’s a clue in that picture as to his character.
If only we knew what it was.
Is it ok to mix in mono with a typical setup of two monitors with the signal summed to mono or is it better to use only one single driver speaker like the avantone? i’m thinking in the impact of phasing and the crossover network. In case of using one avantone-type speaker, should it be placed in front of you (difficult in my case because of the iMac screen) or is it OK to place it on one side?
Ok; mixing in mono.
I’m trying to clarify this. I think it was here I read about converting most tracks to mono before beginning the mix, with the exception of the drums. That’s to get better separation of the different elements in the mix. Am I right on that? And, I’m assuming you are talking here about once that is done, you do the composite mix in mono. Is that correct?
I have some parts in most of my songs assigned to software instruments that I can’t seem to convert to mono. Does it matter a lot if I have to leave them as they are?
Hope I made sense. Thanks for what you do and for your reply.
Man, Im mixing on one speaker too,! crappy m audio AV40. This tehnique is even better than two speakers in mono
This is stuff I learned years ago from different engineers and from reading about mixing techniques from producers like Dr. Dre who stay involved in the mixing process. I also make sure to take my mixes and listen to them in different speaker/sound systems. So after my first ruff mix, I would then take that mix and play it in my car system, someone else’s car, in a home stereo, a home theater system, a laptop, desktop speakers and in places like Best Buy or a car shop and play that mix in different systems and pay attention to various aspects of the sound to get a great balance. Take a notebook with you so you can write down what stands out.
Mind you I wouldn’t do this everyday, but at least once or twice a week depending on what projects I was working on. It helps that Best Buy was fairly close to my home. Lol
This is a great thread. I recently mixed a record in 100% mono and I was blown away by the incredible low end – I do minimal techno with lots of bottom end and simple samples mixed in. While I’ve forsaken the movement of stereo panning – the sound is so much better than the mix in stereo – which sounds cold and lacks depth. Proud to fly the mono flag proud