mixing in mono

[BrettB]

Hi all,

Right now I'm mixing a metal band and I am worried my mixes won't survive in mono

The guitars are doubled and hard panned, and while it sounds really the way I want it stereo, it seems to collapse when I press the 'mono' button. Since every guitar part contains a few tracks (recorded with 2 mics+DI) I tried experimenting with shifting the phase but I haven't had many luck.

Any other suggestions? What can be the cause or am I overdramatizing the problem?

 

[Teacher]

try adding a third track thats in mono under the 2 hard panned guitars

 

[Clit Torres]

try adding a third track thats in mono under the 2 hard panned guitars

This is what I usually do.

Also if the guitars still sound thin in mono, you could always bring them in a little, 9-3, 10-2.

 

[Massive Master]

Also, make some EQ tweaks IN MONO - If you can make it sound acceptable, flip it back to stereo and smile pretty.

 

[BrettB]

thx for the advice. I noticed better improvements through EQ'ing in mono!

 

[Farview]

If you have more than 1 track of each performance. Pan the ones with the best high end content hard left and right. Pan the ones with the meat of the sound center (or at 11 and 1 o'clock)
Stereo is not an all or nothing thing. Spread the panning around, If you do it my way you will loose some of the sparkle but the beef of the parts will not go away.

 

[Massive Master]

I really wanted to elaborate on that, but didn't (and still don't) have the time...

So I'll be brief...

The thing is, if you can get a mix sounding really nice in mono, it almost "magically" and "automatically" sounds great in stereo. You're fixing more than just the mono mix when you EQ against other tracks in mono - You're attacking EQ problems at the core, BEFORE they become problematic later.

Going at the "make it sound good" way works, but it causes other problems.

Going at the "make it sound good in mono" way actually forces you to create that "sonic space" for everything in the first place, which will almost inherently make the stereo mix sound good. Will it be the flavor of "good" that you're looking for? Who knows - That's up to the core sounds of the instruments that are already recorded. But if that "sonic space" is created and manipulated properly, you almost can't come up with a "bad" mix.