Guitar solo in mono vs stereo mix

Mr. Cachi

Member
Hey guys, in the last couple of mixes I´ve made, I find myself struggling to get the guitar solo levels right. When I hear the solo in the full stereo mix, it sounds ok, but hearing it in mono makes it super loud in comparison with the other instruments. I haven´t found a good solutions to make it sound good in both mono and stereo. Any advice? I´ll leave a mini song I made where the solo heard in stereo sounds low to me...

Random Metal Riff & Solo VIII by Ezequiel Cachi | Free Listening on SoundCloud
 
Are you mixing on headphones or with monitors that are set much wider than your distance from them?

I'm mixing with monitors, they are at an appropiate distance. The thing is, I check my mixes through other speakers (Phone, smart TV, etc.) and the results are the same: loud solo on mono, normal on stereo, or normal on mono, but low on stereo
 
Could you could have possibly some things in your 'music bed' out of phase?
It would sound fine in stereo but when put in mono, things would cancel out.

If this was the case it would 'seem' like the solo was louder, when in fact the backing tracks were getting lower in volume.
 
The only thing getting lower in volumen in mono are the rythm guitars, which are panned hard left and right. Flipped the phase and they seem fine. Is this something that just "happens"? should I just find the balance (cause I´m never satisfied with how it comes out)?
 
This is normal if you have a solo in stereo it's going to increase in level when mono'd. For me it is preferable to consider guitar solos like vocal solos and just keep them mono. If i want to add any effects that might "widen" the image to stereo i put them on an aux bus and then i can control the volume separately. IMHO there is no real reason to have a stereo solo. You can do ping pong, offset delays for excitement on an aux and to my mind, a solo instrument should be somewhere i can "point to" in a mix. IOW not diffuse through the whole stereo field. YMMV

On the other hand, if you double the solo by playing/recording twice, there is usually enough difference bertween them that splitting them side to side wont result in as much increase in level when in mono than a single stereo track collapsed.
 
The only thing getting lower in volumen in mono are the rythm guitars, which are panned hard left and right. Flipped the phase and they seem fine. Is this something that just "happens"? should I just find the balance (cause I´m never satisfied with how it comes out)?

Ah, now it makes perfect sense. Anything out of phase between left and right will drop in volume when combined. How did you create the left/right difference?
 
this makes me think. I tend to record everything in stereo, because ... why? I guess because I can, DAWs make it so easy. Going try doing some mono and see what that brings to the table.
 
I tend to record everything in stereo, because ... why? I guess because I can, DAWs make it so easy. Going try doing some mono and see what that brings to the table.
If it is a single point sound source (a bass DIed, a mic on an amp, a vocal into a mic, for example,) there is no good reason to record in stereo.
 
this makes me think. I tend to record everything in stereo, because ... why? I guess because I can, DAWs make it so easy. Going try doing some mono and see what that brings to the table.

In the simplest terms, stereo means some difference between left and right. So the question becomes, what difference? I wonder what the difference there was in your solo recording. Could you post an audio file of the isolated solo? Could you describe how you recorded it?

I wouldn't want to discourage you from recording stereo solos, but at the same time I do encourage trying it in mono.
 
You need your "stereo" (which is really just two mono sources panned wide - that's important to note - although in many cases it's a single source with effects that simulate another source via time and modulative effects) guitars to sound more "different." Certainly - double-tracking (playing twice) will equal far less cancellation. But having a reasonably unique tone from one side to the other will also. Notice how most metal acts have one guitar that sounds "crunchy" and the other more "fuzzy" (for lack of better terms)...? That's a big deal when summing to mono.

I get the "want the super-tightness of a single take" thing -- But in that case, reamping or using two different amps with unique tones - That'll getcha where you want to be.
 
If it is a single point sound source (a bass DIed, a mic on an amp, a vocal into a mic, for example,) there is no good reason to record in stereo.
But it makes no difference either way except you end up using twice as much disc space.

I had the idea that we were talking about the whole mix being mono or stereo. I didn’t think the OP was asking whether the individual guitar track should or shouldn’t have stereo content.

I would suggest to err on the side of the mono sum. Figure out why those rhythms seem to disappear, they’re probably just not loud enough because when they’re way out wide they can seem really big. That might have something to do with EQ, too. Likewise, the solo guitar, which I imagine is just right up the middle(???), probably actually is too loud. I would bet that if you really spent some time getting the monoized mix better, you’ll find that the stereo mix really is noticeably better also. And then it should be acceptable pretty much everywhere in between.
 
Yep, solo quiet in stereo mix. Playback in mono, it sounds louder.

Look at BSG and Massives posts. I bet it is the way you got the width of the rhythm guitars that is causing this.
 
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