Is "mono" a bad word?

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nate_dennis

nate_dennis

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Hey guys,
When it comes to mixing down drums . . . is mixing them down to a single mono track a bad method? I know that usually the stereo image is not panned that wide so I'm wondering if it would matter at all to go mono?



also, and maybe this should be a seperate thread . . .

What are your thoughts on the "recorderman method" of drum miking? I've never recorded drums at all so I'm just trying to get infor. Thanks again!!!
 
If you want your drums to sound one dimensional and assy, sure, go with mono.

Look up recorderman. It's easy and there's about ten jillion posts and videos out there on the subject. I loves me some recorderman.
 
Greg_L said:
If you want your drums to sound one dimensional and assy, sure, go with mono.

Look up recorderman. It's easy and there's about ten jillion posts and videos out there on the subject. I loves me some recorderman.
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assy?
what the hell does that even mean?

theres nothing wrong with going for mono... sometimes using weird techniques actually helps a song...

like panning a bass guitar left and a cello right

hehe

dont stay within the parameters, feel free to experiment.

i cant think of any beatles tracks that had stereo drums until abbey road...
 
Assy means sounds like ass.

Yes, experiment, and then realize that drums in stereo sounds a million times better. I'm saving you some time. :D

Everyone wants to go back to the Beatles to defend their points. Fair enough, but blech. Once the Beatles figured out stereo, they used it. Everyone did. Who wants their recordings to sound 45 years old? ;)
 
Greg_L said:
Assy means sounds like ass.

Yes, experiment, and then realize that drums in stereo sounds a million times better. I'm saving you some time. :D

Everyone wants to go back to the Beatles to defend their points. Fair enough, but blech. Once the Beatles figured out stereo, they used it. Everyone did. Who wants their recordings to sound 45 years old? ;)
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drums in stereo sound great, and make sense.

But you are making some broad generalizations, when in reality it depends on the style of music... and the context of the song. Who would want to hear drums in mono on a metal song?!?!! but then, on something radiohead-esque or raw (marilyn manson's 1996)...

if you wish to follow all of the conventions of recordings by rote and follow the leader, thats fine, you have the free will to do so.
 
I often have the individual drum mics panned mono, but the overheads are always stereo. If the overheads are mono, you completely lose any sense of space and depth.
 
Listen to the old Motown stuff when stereo first appeared. Their idea of stereo was all the drums in mono, but moved to one speaker. It wasn't until later that panning the drums from the stage or player perspective started happening. The stereo to one side had absolutely no punch as percussion goes. It does provide and interesting sound, but is in no way modern.

Generally the snare and kick are dead center for most recordings anyway. The spread of the toms and cymbals is what translates in stereo. If it's a small kit, it really won't matter much if their panned or not. If the other instruments are panned, you'll get a stereo image. There is a difference in the space of the sound for the kit though.

Basically, if it works - it works.
 
Make up your mind.

So, if an artist wants no not have a sense of space and depth, that's OK, but if the artist wants to pan all the drums to the left, that sucks?

It's a good thing you are around to tell us all what art is acceptable and what isn't.
 
Farview said:
Make up your mind.

So, if an artist wants no not have a sense of space and depth, that's OK, but if the artist wants to pan all the drums to the left, that sucks?

It's a good thing you are around to tell us all what good art is...
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errmm....

battery-500x361.jpg



and i think its pretty obvious my point is that unless its simply irritating to the ears, theres tons you can do differently... no sense in following these strange rules all the time...
 
Drumming with Mono...you will be sluggish...but the kissing part will be fun.

I have a few recordings where I went lo-fi and recorded drums with a single mic 5 ft in front (Ive even added laugh tracks from old TV to those for an old effect)...and Ive recored a whole band just going with the mix through the overheads...some of this stuff can be pretty cool. but the best stuff is with the stereo image to make the drums stand out.
 
recording in mono!!!!! guess what you have to make up for it by creating good music....limitations breed creativity.:)

thats one of the reasons why all those classics from the 60s were so great ...they were forced by the lack of technology to make up the difference ...i would say imposing some of those same aspects on recordings today would concentrate the effort where it most matters rather than cheap tricks that make an average drum track sound more than what it acctually is.
 
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Yeah. I've had to get creative while breeding because of space limitations.:D
 
If you can record stereo, why not?
That being said, I've heard a lot of Led Zep drum recordings were done with only one mic.


Mike
 
It sounds like some of you are getting the word panning mixed up with stereo.
They are not the same thing.
And why is it that Drums need to be in stereo but most if not all of the other instruments are recorded in mono.
Also Recordermans way of recording drums would not be considered stereo would it?
 
Herm said:
It sounds like some of you are getting the word panning mixed up with stereo.
They are not the same thing.
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Well, in this case it implies stereo since panning means to the left or to the right, giving a perceived "stereo" image. A mono mix means equal through both speakers.

I think your definition means "as perceived by someone sitting in the same room".
 
Herm said:
And why is it that Drums need to be in stereo but most if not all of the other instruments are recorded in mono.
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A drum set is unlike most other instruments because of the various sources of sounds, and because of how it is set up physically. If you stand in front of a guitar amp, you hear the sound coming from the speaker. When you stand in fron of a drummer, you hear the toms go from left to right, the hi hat more on one side, the ride more on the other. Different cymbals coming from different places,etc....It is, in essence, a stereo instrument.
Also Recordermans way of recording drums would not be considered stereo would it?
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Yes, Recorderman and Glyn Johns are stereo because of the overheads.

As has been mentioned, the kik and snare are "usually" (99.9999% of the time) in the centre. But the overheads are panned. It's not only so that a fill goes from left to right on the toms. It also places the hi hat and cymbals off centre...Pretty much the way a kit is set up, physically.

Stereo isn't something I'd call "advanced technology" or a "trick". It's simply re-creating how we hear naturally since we have TWO EARS.
 
I record everything to individual tracks, mono for my drums...then pan things until they sound about right. If I were to mix the drums down seperately, I'd do it in stereo, but generally there are are guitars, abss and vocals also, and I do mix all that down in stereo.
 
jasonbmerrill said:
drums in stereo sound great, and make sense.

But you are making some broad generalizations, when in reality it depends on the style of music... and the context of the song. Who would want to hear drums in mono on a metal song?!?!! but then, on something radiohead-esque or raw (marilyn manson's 1996)...

if you wish to follow all of the conventions of recordings by rote and follow the leader, thats fine, you have the free will to do so.
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I wish to follow what sounds good and that's stereo drums. You can pretend to be retro avant-garde all day long. Your mono drums will still sound like ass. ;)
 
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