Getting stereo synth parts into mono?

[Alchemist3k]

Hello, long time no post but I finally have time to get back into my recording again so hello to all those I've not seen in a while.

Anyhow, my problem is that I use a lot of soft synths and these almost always have only stereo output. Lots of stereo sounds in the mix are a real problem for me with sounds fighting for space.

Anyhow, I have found my mixes improve dramatically when I pan some of the stereo sounds however I only do this, not by taking true mono signals but by merely setting the pan of the signal I want less of to the other speaker so that it sounds less. e.g. normally a stereo signal has one panned hard left, the other hard right - e.g. if I want most of the sound on the left speaker I leave the left signal as it is but pan the right signal more towards the left. (I know, it's hard to explain but you know what I mean if you've ever used a computer recording system).This appears to have the same effect as if it was a mono signal.

What i want to know is am I doing the best thing? Would it be better to bounce the soft synth parts down to two separate mono signals? I tried this once before but with poor results, the synth sound didn't sound right when both signals were combined.

I make music a la Depeche Mode or NIN, so the idea is to have lots of little mono synth parts coming in, and liberal use of panning positions and panning effects.

 

[sjjohnston]

Your method probably works okay.

The other obvious ways to deal with a stereo output that you don't want "in the middle" would be:

1 - Sum to mono and pan the mono where you want it. This is often not a good idea with synths, because some of them do some funny phase tricks to make the stereo sound "cool," at the expense of mono compatability.

2 - Just take one of the two stereo outputs and pan it where you want it.

3 - Take the two stereo outputs, and keep them panned hard left and right, but just adjust their relative volumes to get the result you want.

4 - Adjust the patch(es) with the synthesizer's own editing parameters.

The last two (3 and 4) are probably what I would most commonly do; sometimes number 2.

Your way is, if I understood it correctly, is similar to 3: take the two stereo outputs, pan one hard left (or right) and pan the other one wherever sounds right. In effect, this is sort of a hybride of 1 and 3. You're actually taking some of the right output and putting it in the left stereo channel (assuming one's panned hard left and the other is variable).

 

[Alchemist3k]

Yeah, that's what I do. To be honest so far it seems to have been quite effective.

I am realy not sure how to adjust my synths to give mono output, it's not very easy to do on the Dynamo anyway...

 

[TexRoadkill]

Stereo synth patches are usually just a mono sample with some chorus or delay so it is beneficial to just use a mono sample and add any stereo ambience during the mixdown.

I don't know how to program your softsynth but there is probably a way to do it in the patch editor.