Mono Mix (further understanding)

I do this all the time and I'm sure you're mistaken. I guess I'm not trying to argue that you're not seeing (or hearing) what you say, but there's got to be something...shall we say "special"...about your setup to make it happen. It doesn't matter how many crazy stereo FX are in the mix. You click the Master mono button and what comes out the Master IS mono.
 
ashcat_lt said:
... but there's got to be something...shall we say "special"...about your setup to make it happen. It doesn't matter how many crazy stereo FX are in the mix. You click the Master mono button and what comes out the Master IS mono.
Click to expand...

Yeah...that's what I'm thinking...that there may be a separate bus that the FX are hitting...some "special" setup..?
Otherwise, it would make no sense that when you send a bunch of panned tracks to the master bus and a bunch of stereo FX to the master bus...and then you press mono, but only the tracks go mono and the FX stay stereo.
Never heard of that before....?

Maybe some other Reaper users can chime in.
 
Reaper's routing lets you do almost any damn thing you want. There are all kinda of ways to get to your hardware outputs that have absolutely nothing to do with the Master track itself. By default, though, everything that's on the left channel of a top-level track gets summed to the left channel of the Master and likewise all the right sides. It has no way of knowing (and doesnt care) whether that's what you recorded or the FX you put on it. When you click the Master mono, those two channels get mixed together, attenuated 6db, and output to both channels which then get routed to whatever hardware device you've assigned.

I have a couple different setups where the Master doesn't actually do anything but meter - it has no hardware outputs of its own. In those setups, the mono button won't change what I hear, but does still affect the metering.
 
I agree with the many posts regarding using mono at various times (and as works for you) to check on a mix. For me, I find it essential as I am 85% deaf in one ear. I use mono to gut check my basic mix once I have it pretty far along to ensure the volume of panned instruments is appropriate. I don't adjust my studio environment (like turn down my right monitor where my ear works best), instead, I just do lots of referencing to produced mixes, and "make it sound like that".

It's actually amazing how much you can do with one ear by turning your head, and getting a sense of the balance across the field.
 
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