mono-compatible for tv?

P

pietro79

New member
hello

I'm sure some of you are recording music for media other than CD music albums

Specifically, I'm wondering, those of you involved in film/tv music, mono-compatibility... is it something to worry about? Should I be using mono-compatibile stereo micing techniques if I know the music will be used in a film that could eventually be shown on tv?

most tvs these days are stereo... so even then, i feel like, if someone is watching a film on a mono tv, they probably don't care much about the sound anyway... too cynical?

and any music I record could theoretically be chosen to be used for something, after having recorded it for a (stereo) album... so what, am I supposed to never use ORTF again!?


-pietro
 
To all your questions, yes and no....


Certain micing techniques work better for mono naturally, but don't bias yourself for it. X-Y gets used alot for it, but that's not always the case.

The reasons why are better explained just practicing and applying it, but when you're talking about making things mono compatible, you should really be thinking about that full time. Even if it's intended for stereo.

It dosn't mean that your mix has to be mono, but it does mean you should be in the habit of breaking your mixes down to mono (occasionally) to make sure it translates about as well as stereo, surround, whatever. If you A-B that and you hear nearly zero difference, then you have a great compatible mix no matter what.


I think it's a perfectly reasonable concern to have, but don't make it harder than it really is. :D


The other route is mixing purposly for TV or a medium into that. That means that you may not pan things out as much as you would a full album release.

But I think if you get into the habit of A-Bing between mono and stereo when you mix a song, you'll start to get better results. Beyond that, it's in the mastering engineer's voodoo magic.
 
My personal opinion is that, regardless of what medium the songs will be played, mono compatibility is important. A lot of people would probably disagree with me on this though.

It's especially important on systems with bad stereo imaging. True, that most TV's are in stereo, but how good is the stereo image? How far apart/close are the speakers? How close/far away is the person from the TV?

One major thing that improved my songs on systems like boomboxes, or some car stereos (systems with bad stereo imaging) is making sure everything sounds fine in mono, which usually resulted in it sounding great in stereo.

Just my 2¢.
 
I wouldn't worry so much about the mono compatability for it's own sake but mono checks are a good way to find mix problems. A good mono mix usually means a good surround sound decoded mix.

Mixes that are too wide with weird stereo expansion effects can end up sounding very weak through a surround decoder if not enough of the music gets sent to the middle speaker.
 
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