Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
abort
Posts: 1501
Joined: Sat Aug 04, 2007 6:37 am
Location: Rockford, IL

Re: Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Post by abort » Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:38 am

RIGHT ON re.mark!
WE should start an anti-mono campaign for sure! I'm serous we should.

or maybe some genus out there could make a plug that would convert EVERYthing perfectly to mono., stupid I know, imposable probably.

monobeach
Posts: 290
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:03 am

Re: Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Post by monobeach » Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:51 am


knotkranky
Posts: 4336
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2006 7:08 pm
Location: la

Re: Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Post by knotkranky » Tue Jul 14, 2009 4:00 pm

Clubs are mono for practical reasons. Even if they have all the money in the world, It simply sounds better.

Think about all the people in the club and where they're standing. Lots of people will not hear whats going on at the other end of the club. Or systems with tons of satellite speakers where a two channel system is impossible.

ethios4
Posts: 5377
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2003 6:28 am

Re: Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Post by ethios4 » Tue Jul 14, 2009 4:20 pm

Also, most fancy stereo effects that sound bad in mono also lose most of their effect unless you are listening in just the right spot.

If my final intended medium is home listening or DVD, I'll use stereo effects I wouldn't use if it's going to be played at a club or party on a big soundsystem.

leisuremuffin
Posts: 4721
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2004 12:45 am
Location: New Jersey

Re: Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Post by leisuremuffin » Tue Jul 14, 2009 11:40 pm

find me a respectable club that plays any kind of electronic music on a regular basis that has a mono sound system and i will lick the floor of it's bathroom.

really.


some dance clubs even have multichannel systems with joystick style panners. love in nyc for instance.





.lm.
TimeableFloat ???S?e?n?d?I?n?f?o

ethios4
Posts: 5377
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2003 6:28 am

Re: Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Post by ethios4 » Wed Jul 15, 2009 1:19 am

An interesting test would be to take several favorite tracks, esp ones with great stereo effects, and listen to them in mono. Get to hear how seriously accomplished producers take the mono compatibility advice.

knotkranky
Posts: 4336
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2006 7:08 pm
Location: la

Re: Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Post by knotkranky » Wed Jul 15, 2009 3:02 am

fact is, venue specific since designs can be all over the map, but ya gotta be mono compliant. There's no other way around it. needless to say, if stereo tricks are defining your musical weight, your fucked.

leisuremuffin
Posts: 4721
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2004 12:45 am
Location: New Jersey

Re: Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Post by leisuremuffin » Wed Jul 15, 2009 3:24 am

actually you don't have to do anything.


one of the things i love about performing electronic music is that i'm my own sound guy during the show too, so i can really fuck it up however i want to. Shit, you can even bring you're own powered monitor, hide it in the audience and send fucked up sounds to it. glass breaking, gun shots, sloppy wet sex sounds, farts, y'know --> standard fare.


but yeah, makin records for the kids you probably want to be mono compliant. or you can not care and still make a brilliant record.



.lm.
TimeableFloat ???S?e?n?d?I?n?f?o

knotkranky
Posts: 4336
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2006 7:08 pm
Location: la

Re: Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Post by knotkranky » Wed Jul 15, 2009 3:29 am

yup, yup I think basing ones set in a strange club should stay mono, but if ya got some balls and are familiar with whats gonna happen, throw some ear-bending shit in there and go for it and jump in and out of the stereo pirotechnics.

IntotheBlue
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2009 1:36 am

Re: Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Post by IntotheBlue » Wed Jul 15, 2009 5:25 am

What i'm a little confused about...if i put a mono VST plugin on my kick drum or a bass track (or the utility plugin and set width to 0%), it obviously centers the sound and grounds it right up the middle of the sound field. If i put a mono plugin on the master channel, is this a true summed mono? Is the EXACT SAME information coming out of both speakers? I ask because the effect you get when you make only the drum+bass mono seems like it relies on the two speakers to put the sound right in the center of the sound field.

I'm looking to get only ONE Avantone Mixcube as a reference monitor while using my Virus TI as my soundcard. Would i be getting a true mono of a song if i plug the one mixcube into either the R or L channel output, and throwing a mono VST or utility plugin on the master? Or does this method still require me to have 2 speakers and sitting inbetween them?

(i appologize if that was all a bit confusing, couldn't think of a better way to ask the question)

djsynchro
Posts: 7471
Joined: Thu Jun 23, 2005 9:06 pm
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Post by djsynchro » Wed Jul 15, 2009 10:13 am

When you check mono you should do it on ONE speaker (connecting a speaker to L or R and summing to mono using a utility is fine obviously.

IntotheBlue
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2009 1:36 am

Re: Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Post by IntotheBlue » Wed Jul 15, 2009 1:46 pm

djsynchro wrote:When you check mono you should do it on ONE speaker (connecting a speaker to L or R and summing to mono using a utility is fine obviously.
Hmm...you answered my 20 sentence question with 1 lol. thx, i knew it had to be easier than i was making it.

leedsquietman
Posts: 6659
Joined: Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:56 am
Location: greater toronto area

Re: Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Post by leedsquietman » Wed Jul 15, 2009 9:57 pm

Mono is still used in many clubs. Also on the radio, mono is used more often than you would imagine, all AM broadcasts have to be in mono (no bandwidth for stereo), FM while mostly in stereo often reverts to mono in poor weather conditions, or poor reception by default. Many TV sets (especially the older kind) are mono, or use pseudo-stereo which is closer to double mono than stereo.

And DjSynchro is correct, that you should check mono in ONE speaker. Some top mixers, including Michael Jackson's mixer Bruce Swedien, quite often do their stereo panning in mono on one speaker because a) they can tell if there will be phase issues or b) sometimes when the sound just pops out in mono, it translates to great positioning in stereo too.
http://soundcloud.com/umbriel-rising http://www.myspace.com/leedsquietmandemos Live 7.0.18 SUITE, Cubase 5.5.2], Soundforge 9, Dell XPS M1530, 2.2 Ghz C2D, 4GB, Vista Ult SP2, legit plugins a plenty, Alesis IO14.

leisuremuffin
Posts: 4721
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2004 12:45 am
Location: New Jersey

Re: Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Post by leisuremuffin » Wed Jul 15, 2009 10:23 pm

in playing live electronic music and djing pretty regularly for almost 15 years i've encountered a mono system maybe 5 times.



.lm.
TimeableFloat ???S?e?n?d?I?n?f?o

knotkranky
Posts: 4336
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2006 7:08 pm
Location: la

Re: Mono Summing etc. (help please)

Post by knotkranky » Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:31 am

leedsquietman wrote:sometimes when the sound just pops out in mono, it translates to great positioning in stereo too.
gold

i often mix in mono for a while before I start positioning.

Post Reply