snus
Banned
Thank you. I WILL monitor drums in mono until mix time, just like I said in my early post, then switch to stereo for mixing, just like I said. AND....I will continue to disagree that "mix time starts immediately".
Panning different EQ ranges of 1 instrument
- Thread starter AlecBeretz
- Start date
Thank you. I WILL monitor drums in mono until mix time, just like I said in my early post, then switch to stereo for mixing, just like I said. AND....I will continue to disagree that "mix time starts immediately".
CMB Studios
New member
Thank you. I WILL monitor drums in mono until mix time, just like I said in my early post, then switch to stereo for mixing, just like I said. AND....I will continue to disagree that "mix time starts immediately".
right on buddy, at least your confident.
ashcat_lt
Well-known member
Never ever say never, especially when you've never heard the tracks in question! Sometimes mono drums are exactly what the mix requires. I've read advice from a number of well respected mix engineers saying to start your mixes in mono. Get the bulk of your leveling and EQ done before touching any pan knobs. If you can get everything sounding good, with all the instruments contributing where they should, with them all piled up in the center then you're most of the way there and stereo positioning is just the icing on the cake. Stereo separation can sometimes hide problems with frequencies clashing between instruments, or phase problems which will only pop up when it collapses to mono. In mono it is immediately obvious what instruments are stepping on each other and can be a lot easier to figure out what to do about it. While I wouldn't say that it's the Right Way to Do It, I have had some success with this method, and have been doing it more and more lately.
Why do you care what it sounds like in mono? Because (believe it or not) most people do not do most of their listening on headphones even today. Almost nobody sits exactly at in the "sweet spot" at the apex of the equilateral triangle with the speakers. They listen on laptops or ipod docks or stereos that are across the room, or any number of other situations where the listener is much further from the speakers than they are from each other. In this situations your hard-won masterpiece of a stereo sound stage loses all meaning.
And this is exactly the reason that unusual panning schemes can work. As was mentioned before, a lot of the early "stereo" recordings are LCR panned with maybe drums and bass on one side and guitars/keys on the other. There's been a bit of a trend back toward this style lately. Low's album Drums and Guns has some pretty extreme panning going on, also. If you listen on headphones it can be a bit difficult, but put them up on a real stereo and walk away and the mix comes together pretty quickly. It's actually a bit closer to "real life", in the sense that if the band were playing in your living room there'd be a guitar amp over there and the drums over there and the bass amp maybe somewhere over this way. There's like more space in each speaker for the individual instruments, and the room provides the mix.
That said, google "bass management VST".
Why do you care what it sounds like in mono? Because (believe it or not) most people do not do most of their listening on headphones even today. Almost nobody sits exactly at in the "sweet spot" at the apex of the equilateral triangle with the speakers. They listen on laptops or ipod docks or stereos that are across the room, or any number of other situations where the listener is much further from the speakers than they are from each other. In this situations your hard-won masterpiece of a stereo sound stage loses all meaning.
And this is exactly the reason that unusual panning schemes can work. As was mentioned before, a lot of the early "stereo" recordings are LCR panned with maybe drums and bass on one side and guitars/keys on the other. There's been a bit of a trend back toward this style lately. Low's album Drums and Guns has some pretty extreme panning going on, also. If you listen on headphones it can be a bit difficult, but put them up on a real stereo and walk away and the mix comes together pretty quickly. It's actually a bit closer to "real life", in the sense that if the band were playing in your living room there'd be a guitar amp over there and the drums over there and the bass amp maybe somewhere over this way. There's like more space in each speaker for the individual instruments, and the room provides the mix.
That said, google "bass management VST".
CMB Studios
New member
lol i surrender... enjoy your mono drum mixes.
snus
Banned
Really dude, are you so retarded that you think everybody is saying "mix your drums in mono"?
CMB Studios
New member
no, im emphasizing the point that i have already said... yes.. monitor your drums in mono and check them... but dont mix your songs with drums in mono.
Why are you causing me retarded? have i really hurt your feelings to that extent?
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
Bleed complicates drum panning. Tones will change depending on how things are panned. If you care how your mix sounds on a mono system you need to hear it in mono, at least occasionally during the tracking and mixing process, but it may not be possible to completely resolve differences between the panned and summed version.
CMB Studios
New member
you, i like.
snus
Banned
snus
Banned
I would say that you can never fully duplicate the sound between the two!
I good mono sum almost always results from a good stereo mix. The reverse is seldom true!
CMB Studios
New member
Only YOU can cause you to be retarded!
oops, meant to say calling.
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
But you can end up with two different but good sounding mixes.
A good stereo mix could easily have major problems in mono and a mix that sounds good summed can fall apart when panned. The only solution is to check both and make a judgment based on your priorities.
snus
Banned
snus
Banned
I totally agree.
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
Mostly I see this when there is bleed in the mics. When there's no bleed you can get away with all sorts of panning weirdness and it won't change too drastically when summed.
ashcat_lt
Well-known member
Seriously?
I'm not one to jump on bandwagons but a lot of people seem to be digging mono drums lately. Everything everybody is saying is that there are different ways to skin a cat, no one correct way, that everything is subjective and that the final result is all that matters no matter how you get there.
The idea that there is one Right Way, one formula for the way a rock mix should sound is what killed rock and roll in the mid '70s, and what has kept it dead for the last 40 years. It is reaction against this mentality which has led to some of the greatest recordings ever. So maybe we should thank all of the orthodox engineers with their rules and regulations for giving us boundaries and limits to push.
I say, though, that if your "mind is made", then your mind is closed. I'm not typing for you, but for those who might actually be trying to learn, to develop their skills, who either have not yet developed their own ruts in which to stick or are looking to break out of those in which they find themselves. You can go ahead and do it the Right Way.
Last edited:
You should. You're off on this one.
CMB Studios
New member
I dont believe I am, why would you mix a song and have your drums be in mono?
I may start in mono, reference in mono and check in mono... but i'd never mix layers of a song and start EQing and sculpting the song with the drums in mono.
people can tell me i'm wrong all they want but when all they do is say "you're wrong, ha ha ha" then i tend to disregard it... so what is OFF about what i just said?