The Merits of Mono

While we'd prefer to have our new music heard over high-fidelity systems only, the fact is most folks we share with are likely to be listening over their phones, laptops and the like, rather than positioning themselves midway between a pair of good stereo speakers at home. What's more, many of them won't even be wearing earbuds-meaning that your mixes need to sound compelling through the teeniest of portable devices.

Which is why it can't hurt to periodically check your stereo mix in mono-or, for that matter, make a mix specifically for the mono medium, focusing in particular on proper equalization, up-front vocals and good bass presence (but not too much), using a single speaker or even your own phone as a sonic checkpoint. Here are some pointers.

Benefits of Mono
Why bother with monaural? First of all, listening in mono allows you to hear potential frequency conflicts within the individual tracks (known as "masking"), which stereo tends to let you hide through panning. Instead, mono forces you to focus on the tone and balance of each component-vocals, bass, drums, and so on-and how to make them all fit together when stacked in the center. Furthermore, you'll have a mix that works better on devices that are essentially mono or have very little stereo spread, be it FM radios, smartphones, laptops as well as Bluetooth speakers. And along the way, you might get a sense of why mono was actually the industry standard during the heyday of pop radio-and how much effort it took to make those records sound as good as they did back then.

All for One
If mono is simply the process of stacking everything in the center, then what's the big deal? By comparison, standard mixing requires that you place all of these individual parts across the stereo field in a way that sounds full and balanced and makes sense sonically. Isn't that a more difficult task? Not really. In fact, the intricacies of mono are such that bands like the Beatles spent most of their time making suitable mono mixes of their songs, letting their engineers toss off stereo versions almost as an afterthought. Like their peers from the time, the Fab Four knew that these mono masters sounded good when played over a small transistor radio or inexpensive turntable-not unlike your smartphone and laptop crowd today.

It's true that creating an excellent stereo mix takes time and patience, and, in the end, is what listeners will ultimately hear. The point isn't to necessarily substitute one method for the other; it's more about how mono can help you find your way to the best stereo mix possible.

Checking in Mono
Let's say you've put an acoustic guitar part in the middle of the mix with some drums, and now it's time to add the bass. As soon as you do, the whole thing begins to sound muddy, the result of too much low-end in the center. However, if you just move the guitar slightly right or left, you've regained some clarity. The thing is, you didn't actually fix the issue-you just rearranged the instruments in stereo, so it wasn't as noticeable.

If you flipped the mix to mono, you'd hear that right away. Which is why it's never a bad idea to do just that-on most DAWs there's stereo/mono switching capability, allowing you to put everything in the middle without moving your existing pan positions. Now you just need to make it sound right using only your EQs and channel faders. That beefy acoustic guitar track that's getting in the way of the bass? Trying reducing the low end by as much as one-third or more, perhaps boosting the mids just a bit to allow the instrument to punch through. If necessary, repeat the process for the bass and drums. When you switch back to stereo positioning, don't be surprised if the mix sounds better as a result of your mono tweaking. This approach can also help determine if the vocals are loud enough in the mix, as well as ensuring high frequency instruments such as tambourines and hi-hats are properly leveled.

Mixing in Mono
Whether you use it or not, everyone should try their hand at making a separate monaural mix from time to time, just to understand the skill involved. As mentioned above, the goal is to use your EQs and volume faders to create a unique sonic footprint for each track, sometimes radically so-essentially, you're looking for combinations of loud and soft, bright and muted sounds, which is what gives your mono pancake its depth and clarity. The same goes for effects-rather than throwing one coat of echo over everything, use your effect-send controls to set different levels and/or types of reverb for each channel, perhaps using your EQs to adjust the sound of the effect per instrument.

Monitoring in Mono
To hear how a mix would sound over a cheap car system or portable radio, engineers would often keep a single, no-frills monitor atop the console (such as the infamous Auratone 5C "Super Sound Cube"), the idea being that if it worked over something inferior sounding, it would be awesome everywhere else. You can accomplish the same thing by wiring in any inexpensive speaker or mono device, though in a pinch you can always use your smartphone, small Bluetooth speaker or anything else with limited bass and treble response. Also, don't forget to reduce the overall volume level when listening back-you'll actually hear things much better that way.