Mixing in stereo is the easy way out

[Bobbsy]

You got there before me, Bouldersound guy.

In Audition (which I use) you can set the pan law to be whatever value you favour--though I tend to stick with 3dB. There's an interesting article HERE giving the whys and wherefores of pan law--it gets a bit Audition specific at the end but the history part is interesting.

Anyway, all this is why I said I aim to get my mix "nearly there" in mono before I start panning. There's always going to be tweaks needed when you move to stereo but a workflow that starts off in mono just seems to work for me. Certainly, I'm generally happier if I get things like EQ right in mono. However, as I said, perhaps I'm more attuned to the need for mono compatibility since most of my mixes are destined for use in theatre settings and the coverage of most FOH systems can better be described as "L/R mono" or sometimes L/C/R rather than stereo since not everyone in the audience hears the output of both sides anything like equally.

 

[guitaristic]

I always start mixing in mono and don't pan a thing until everything enjoys a reasonable amount of clarity.

If a mix sounds good in mono, it will sound good when spread around. The opposite isn't necessarily true...

Yep, same here.

 

[instatic]

I made the mistake of mixing in stereo for my first demo album thing which I made over the summer. I think the stereo sound is okay but when you listen in mono it just collapses. It's the guitars that are the main culprit for this. Double tracking or even worse simulating double tracking makes it sound thick, but overdo it and it ruins the mono mix. It's all a learning process though, so next time I won't do the same!