Creating the song.

[nickdrake88]

If you plan on mixing your own work, I am under the assumption its a good rule of thumb to mix in mono. Adding equalization and compression in mono before adding effects seems to be some of the general advice I get on the net. My question is, while actually creating the song, and keeping in mind that you are going to mix your own work, is it okay to go heavy on adding effects like reverb delay compression and working in stereo before mixing? Or is it safer to record in mono, be minimal with effects, compression and Eq'ing prior to the mixing stage?

[antarktika]

You'd definitely want to, at least at some point in the process, check the mix with stereo effects in place, since one of the main benefits of mono mixing is identifying phase-cancellation issues brought about by stereo effects.
You could always turn off the stereo effects, get your basic levels set, then switch them on, and check for phase issues.

[JoshG567]

Put a Utility on your Master, MIDI/keymap the Width control to toggle between 100% and 0%.

Push that button/key any time you want to check mono compatibility whether writing or mixing.

[nickdrake88]

I guess I should have been more specific, how much is too much effects before you mix, or should you add effects to anything at all before the mixing stage in your own song. IE, I like this chord progression I made with this synth plug in, I really like it even more when I add a delay, and cut out some of the low end. Would it have just been better to NOT add delay or Eq pre mixing stage? Or is it perfectly suitable to add these things as you go along, then mix?

[Tarekith]

Perfectly acceptable to do it either way, just go for it if you have an idea, don't stop yourself

[JoshG567]

I use most of my effects in the song-writing / sound-engineering phases.

When it comes to mixing I don't use much more than compression, EQ, and reverb.

Which doesn't, of course, exclude the possibility of using all 3 of those things to shape my tones before I get to mixing.

[nickdrake88]

Thanks for the feed back all, I do understand this can be a very subjective process, ive been messing with DAWs systems for a while now, for song writing purposes but I never thought id get into the mixing stages of everything the way I have. Now im looking for things to consider while in the song writing process before I do my own hands on mixing.