“Without sucking in Mono”

[globet]

Have heard of mixing engineers talking about have the mix sound good in Mono. Question is when would someone actually listen to your track in Mono? Thank guys!

[David Nahmani]

Many (most?) bluetooth speakers are mono. 

Phone speakers are mono. 

Some mixes uploaded to YouTube are closer to mono than their original stereo mix. 

Etc etc...

So it's always a great idea to check that your mix is compatible in mono. Compatible means that it doesn't sound drastically different in mono than it does in stereo. Obviously you'll lose the width of the stereo image but you shouldn't have an instrument completely disappear from the mix when summed in mono. 

[globet]

What’s a good stock Logic plugin to check Mono compatibility? Correlation Meter?

Phase issues will cause Mono compatibility issues? When I put my project Stereo Out in Mono, it sounds a lot quieter than on Stereo. 

[fuzzfilth]

Try this:

https://www.toneboosters.com/tb_goniometer_v1.html

[David Nahmani]

The correlation meter can help, yes, and there's also a built-in goniometer in Logic's MultiMeter plug-in:

[analogika]

Beyond the goniometer and correlation meter, the real test is switching your master bus to mono and listening. If the mix goes to s#!+, save the last stereo state and start fixing it in mono in a new version. Switch back to stereo to find the most acceptable compromise. 

[David Nahmani]

Just now, analogika said:

the real test is switching your master bus to mono and listening.

I completely agree. The goniometer is just there to alert you that you need to do that test and listen carefully in mono when you have a lot of phase differences. 

[globet]

So to mix your track in Mono, all you have to do is put a Gain plugin on the master bus and set it to Mono? You don’t have to change every track and every plugin on every track Mono?

[fuzzfilth]

Your mix is still stereo, until it hits the mono Gain plugin, so you're monitoring in mono.

To really mix in mono, you set all pans to center and stereo width to 0.

[globet]

6 hours ago, fuzzfilth said:

To really mix in mono, you set all pans to center and stereo width to 0.

So need to add a stereo width plugin as the last plugin in the chain on every track?

Something like:

Edited March 17 by globet

[David Nahmani]

It really depends what your goal is? 

[globet]

2 hours ago, David Nahmani said:

It really depends what your goal is? 

Mix the track so it sounds good in Mono. Like you mentioned all mobile devices have it in Mono as well as Bluetooth speakers.

With a Logic project of over 50 tracks, not sure where to start in terms of mixing it in Mono. 
 

First is adding a DirMix plugin and narrowing the Stereo width for all tracks?

[David Nahmani]

Ok, then just insert a Gain plug-in on the last insert on the Stereo Out channel strip, and turn on its "Mono" button: 

[globet]

5 hours ago, David Nahmani said:

Ok, then just insert a Gain plug-in on the last insert on the Stereo Out channel strip, and turn on its "Mono" button: 

I was going to do this but all the tracks are still in Stereo. 

As mentioned by @fuzzfilth

19 hours ago, fuzzfilth said:

 

Your mix is still stereo, until it hits the mono Gain plugin, so you're monitoring in mono.

To really mix in mono, you set all pans to center and stereo width to 0.

 

 

[David Nahmani]

8 minutes ago, globet said:

I was going to do this but all the tracks are still in Stereo. 

It doesn't matter. 

8 minutes ago, globet said:

As mentioned by @fuzzfilth

Yes however to mix the track so it sounds good in mono, all you need is to monitor your mix in mono. So the gain plug-in solution I gave you is fine. 

[fuzzfilth]

Agreed

[globet]

Is this an example of phase cancellations on the Kick? They put the Kick in Stereo when it should be in Mono. Hear the kick drum coming in at the 0:05 mark.

 

[analogika]

2 hours ago, globet said:

Is this an example of phase cancellations on the Kick? They put the Kick in Stereo when it should be in Mono. Hear the kick drum coming in at the 0:05 mark.

I think a random video recorded on a cell phone from a front row position at some large stage show with no front fills to be seen is about the worst imaginable way to judge phase issues on a kick drum. 

[globet]

4 minutes ago, analogika said:

I think a random video recorded on a cell phone from a front row position at some large stage show with no front fills to be seen is about the worst imaginable way to judge phase issues on a kick drum. 

What would phasing issues sound like on a kick or any low end below 100hz? It’s cancellation but it’s not the sound of complete silence.

[analogika]

6 minutes ago, globet said:

What would phasing issues sound like on a kick or any low end below 100hz? It’s cancellation but it’s not the sound of complete silence.

Try it! 

create a drummer track in Logic, solo the kick drum, and use the Sample Delay plugin (in "Delays") to delay one of the channels. 

It's completely pointless to use a cellphone live recording from a concert to diagnose anything like that, because the effect is *exactly* what happens when you move sideways between two large speaker arrays as primary sound sources: one of the signals takes longer to reach you than the other, so it's delayed by a couple of milliseconds.