While doing all the reading I did before engaging in the hands on of production, I remember, here and there, reading that this should be in stereo, and that should be in mono.

Could someone, or people, shed some light on key areas of producing electronic music were one would want mono not stereo, and vice versa? Is it during recording, or mixing , or what have you ...


thanks

It just depents on what you want. If you want something to have stereo information, then have it in stereo (and vice versa). From the mixing point of view, it's good to have kick & bass in mono so their volume is even on both channels and you most likely get more headroom. Besides it doesn't sound good if the bass department isn't "solid" imo.

I don't think many people record leads, arpeggios or basses in stereo (unless they have/use stereo effects on the synth). But mostly spacial effects are added afterwards.

bass and kick in mono and centered panning is the key.
Most drums are in fact kept mono (except when effected) and while it sounds sometimes better solo in stereo, it's sometimes prefered to keep some elements mono.

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mcprog style basses are stereo right?

* mcprog = tunes which markus schulz plays so i heard

keep all low freqs mono and everything else stereo. the track will sound a lot more interesting and allows stereo effects/panning to properly take affect.

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Keeping low frequencies mono is also VERY important if you even anticipate the track making it to vinyl. Records don't deal with aysmetric bass very well.

The other key thiing with the mono / streo debate is the concept of "Mono Compatability". Even if you are doing lots of stero sounds it is wise to check your mix in mono on a regular basis, as out of phase L/R can produce some nasty sounds (or level changes, right up to parts totally disappearing).

Again if you are writing for the iPOD crowd not so important, but i you are hoping to have something played out in a club it's a big concern.

One last point on this oo, is remeber that most club systems are far from being accurate stereo, and have a wide variation L/R delay accross the dance floor (Sound only travels so fast). Soo much stero will lead to mushy mixes, which is not good for the crowd's buzz.

Keeping low frequencies mono is also VERY important if you even anticipate the track making it to vinyl. Records don't deal with aysmetric bass very well.

The other key thiing with the mono / streo debate is the concept of "Mono Compatability". Even if you are doing lots of stero sounds it is wise to check your mix in mono on a regular basis, as out of phase L/R can produce some nasty sounds (or level changes, right up to parts totally disappearing).

Again if you are writing for the iPOD crowd not so important, but i you are hoping to have something played out in a club it's a big concern.

One last point on this oo, is remeber that most club systems are far from being accurate stereo, and have a wide variation L/R delay accross the dance floor (Sound only travels so fast). Soo much stero will lead to mushy mixes, which is not good for the crowd's buzz.

quote:

Originally posted by Diginerd One last point on this oo, is remeber that most club systems are far from being accurate stereo, and have a wide variation L/R delay accross the dance floor (Sound only travels so fast). Soo much stero will lead to mushy mixes, which is not good for the crowd's buzz.

in fact, much club systems are mono

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Not just that they may be mono by hooking up jus the right or the left channel of the mixer. This can produce som very undesired results if you have hard panning (typically a problem with Delays as well as parts).

As a guide it's useful to only ever pan to 50% as opposed to 100% hard left or right with any signal. That way you at least won't loose everything should something not be configured how you expect.

quote:

Originally posted by Diginerd Not just that they may be mono by hooking up jus the right or the left channel of the mixer. This can produce som very undesired results if you have hard panning (typically a problem with Delays as well as parts). As a guide it's useful to only ever pan to 50% as opposed to 100% hard left or right with any signal. That way you at least won't loose everything should something not be configured how you expect.

Yup, I experienced lots of problems with extreme panning at various bitrates.
For example I got a track that got a synth line panning fast from 100% left to 100% right, which caused some problems: In 192kbps, everything sounded fine, but when playing on a web radio at 128 kbps, that synth just dropped out as it reached the far right or the far left, which was really disappointing.

Some cheaper headphones also have a limited stereo spectrum which will cause sounds panned 100% to either side not to be played correctly.
I agree with Diginerd that you should avoid extreme panning. If you are producing ambient or anyhting focused on an intense soundscape, you can and should still use excessive panning. But for anything else (percussion, leads, riffs...), too much panning can work destructive.

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quote:

Originally posted by Thois mcprog style basses are stereo right?

haha yeah
wow, thats such a good point u brought up i wonder why i never noticed that myself..

must be cuz i hate mcprog and hardly ever listen to that shit (prefer real prog)



down with mcprog

as according to the mono/stereo discussion most things have been said.
keep the lows centered, if youre doing trance or whatever that is nowadays, u can still make your bassline sound stereo by e.g. adding a high-pass-delay to it.
as for percussion its a matter of the style youre doing. just listen to some of your favourite songs and hear it out by yourself.

Kick is always mono, bass is usually mono but if not mono then at least centered. Everything else is fair game for panning and stereo fields. Good productions make good use of the stereo field just as they make use of EQ in order to improve the clarity of all elements. For drums, I try to pan them like a real drum kit; same goes for piano, string sections, and any other instruments that are "played".

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