Dubstepforum.com

I'm working on this house tune and my mixdown sounds pretty good imo until I put "Utility" on my master track and convert the song to mono....pretty much all my synths that are stereo-widened etc. kind of disappear or drop down a lot in volume and has a phasing type of sound...

So I compared it to another house track and when I put that one in mono, it sounded really similar volume -wise even though it went from stereo to mono. The synths were stereo-widened too.....



Solutions
1. I need to clean up some bad frequencies/synths etc. because it sounds like my shit is fighting for frequency space.
2. ????

How the hell do they have stereo-widened synths that sound exactly the same in volume when I mono the track? The volumes change in mine when I mono my track

Maybe they're just less wide than yours? It sounds like yours are too wide.

I have a mono plugin wired to a button on my midi keyboard, so I can just press it and check mono instantly. I do this a few times throughout the production process and find it helps give me an idea of how wide my synths can go. I've found that if I go too wide, it'll cancel out and go quieter in mono.

oh boy, i dont think ive ever checked a mixdown in mono in my life, which is probably a terrible thing. i may be wrong, but by setting utility you are in essence REMOVING everything that is not dead center. that is just what i have gathered and by no means is what its actually doing. there may be a better way to go about changed the master to mono that im not aware of.

Man I have this same problem. I widen loads of stuff too much I think. Recently asked Rob Swire for some feedback on a track and he said the side information (as in mid/side) was way too harsh and wide. I guess it just takes practice and a good setup to really hear how wide you're making stuff.

How are you stereo widening your synths? Choose a different widening approach. Detune, L/R EQ, different fx chains for L/R, etc. Or fuck with the delay or a phase rotator until the volume comes back in mono.

There are types of widening that will still sound perfectly fine in mono. I find that whenever I widen with delay (by delaying the left and right channels by 5 - 30 ms) it sounds exactly the same in mono. Widening with detuning or effects like chorus and phasing tend to give you problems when you convert to mono

mthrfnk wrote:Man I have this same problem. I widen loads of stuff too much I think. Recently asked Rob Swire for some feedback on a track and he said the side information (as in mid/side) was way too harsh and wide. I guess it just takes practice and a good setup to really hear how wide you're making stuff.

I honestly have never checked for mono lol being the rebel i am i just dont care about mono systems. I run my rigs stereo and every time ive played out its stereo rigs (even in our small bars).

I feel like the further we move into the future the less mono compatibility will matter.

my 2 cents.

maybe because the synths arent widened by delay effects, could be two slightly different synth sounds panned left and right, when summed they wont cancel cos they arent the same thing

blinx wrote:

mthrfnk wrote:Man I have this same problem. I widen loads of stuff too much I think. Recently asked Rob Swire for some feedback on a track and he said the side information (as in mid/side) was way too harsh and wide. I guess it just takes practice and a good setup to really hear how wide you're making stuff.

I honestly have never checked for mono lol being the rebel i am i just dont care about mono systems. I run my rigs stereo and every time ive played out its stereo rigs (even in our small bars).

I feel like the further we move into the future the less mono compatibility will matter.

my 2 cents.

Tbh I agree, I don't change my mixes much for mono compatibility, but I do worry about stuff being too wide, ends up sounding shitty on some setups.

mthrfnk wrote:

blinx wrote:

mthrfnk wrote:Man I have this same problem. I widen loads of stuff too much I think. Recently asked Rob Swire for some feedback on a track and he said the side information (as in mid/side) was way too harsh and wide. I guess it just takes practice and a good setup to really hear how wide you're making stuff.

I honestly have never checked for mono lol being the rebel i am i just dont care about mono systems. I run my rigs stereo and every time ive played out its stereo rigs (even in our small bars).

I feel like the further we move into the future the less mono compatibility will matter.

my 2 cents.

Tbh I agree, I don't change my mixes much for mono compatibility, but I do worry about stuff being too wide, ends up sounding shitty on some setups.

Seriously?? After being told it's too wide by Rob Swire? Mate, I'd listen to every word that guy told me, he's seriously talented. I'm impressed that he gave you feedback tbh!

daeMTHAFKNkim wrote:I'm working on this house tune and my mixdown sounds pretty good imo until I put "Utility" on my master track and convert the song to mono....pretty much all my synths that are stereo-widened etc. kind of disappear or drop down a lot in volume and has a phasing type of sound...

So I compared it to another house track and when I put that one in mono, it sounded really similar volume -wise even though it went from stereo to mono. The synths were stereo-widened too.....



Solutions
1. I need to clean up some bad frequencies/synths etc. because it sounds like my shit is fighting for frequency space.
2. ????

How the hell do they have stereo-widened synths that sound exactly the same in volume when I mono the track? The volumes change in mine when I mono my track

I check stuff in mono sometimes, but usually when it's something I'm mixing for a band.
The problem you're probably having is phase cancellation from the stereo widening plug in. I'm assuming it's using the HAAS effect to widen the synth, so try massing around with the delay time and see if you can get in in a zone where there's no phase issues.

mono checking is such a important step, big rigs play out in mono for the most part, so learning to master this stage of production where MS comes into play is key

ms EQ is nothing new and often missed in production

know many users miss using it in live as i did for a while, EQ8 has a ms function but always used proQ from fabfilter.

also using the bx2 from brainworx is a great MS limiter to add a bit of punch to mid or side frq

my useless 2 cents added

mono checking is such a important step, big rigs play out in mono for the most part, so learning to master this stage of production where MS comes into play is key

ms EQ is nothing new and often missed in production

know many users miss using it in live as i did for a while, EQ8 has a ms function but always used proQ from fabfilter.

also using the bx2 from brainworx is a great MS limiter to add a bit of punch to mid or side frq

my useless 2 cents added

4 cents