When you do a mixdown, do you make your mix elements mono and then create a stereo image out of it for a mix, or do you use stereo panning and no mono elements or both?

I make sure everything below 200 hz is in mono , and everything else I give a big stereo image with reverb chorus and flangers

just have a nice balance between mono sounds and stereo sounds - no need to overthink it

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Mix everything in mono then slash everything stereo than i have perfect headroom after that i golden connecter thunderbolt drive for extra bandwidth and quality,

I was wondering when someone would ask this again. It had already been geeze like what, 4 days.

quote:

Originally posted by LoveHate I make sure everything below 200 hz is in mono , and everything else I give a big stereo image with reverb chorus and flangers

Used to do that, not anymore tho

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I heard this approach, relating to EDM specifically, was due to the physical limitations of vinyl records--anything below a certain frequency not mixed in mono would cause a needle to bump out of the groove of the record and skip.

Maybe it doesn't matter so much anymore with the prevalence of CDJs and DJ software?

For me, it's more based on the individual sound selection and what collectively sounds correct in the end. Kick drum usually mono, but not adverse to bass being wide stereo.

If I'm right, I think what most people are missing what the OP is asking:

Not do you mix to accommodate mono (i.e. LF being mono), but do you make all the stereo elements (so L & R separately) mono and then mix them as individual channels?

I work mainly with score mixing and there's no such thing a stereo track; you get everything as individual tracks, even when the composer has used stereo synths - everything is bounced down to individual tracks (so LR, or LCR, or LRLsRs or LCRLsRs or LCRLsRs + LFE) and you mix all of them as individual tracks to build the stereo (or surround) image.

In EDM, it's not quite intuitive for several reasons: So much of what we do relies on stereo FX or built in FX on stereo synths, so then splitting them or bouncing down to mono tracks is another stage.

Furthermore, in EDM most of us do a lot of things (such as mixing) on the fly as part of the production process, and many don't have a separate mixdown phase. I'd actually love to find a logical and swift way to write a track, then take it to a proper mixdown phase later, but it ends up usually being twice the work and fucking my workflow during producing.

I'm trying to set up as much of my hardware as mono as possible. I need to grab an ADA8000 which I'll use to route the Supernova outputs as mono channels. I can also run the Virus as 3-4 mono channels although in reality that may well be used as more of a stereo 'wow' synth. Same deal with the Blofeld. The AN1x can be mono as well, but the JV1080 is probably best left stereo.

It's funny, after speaking to a pal of mine I came to the conclusion that mono was the way forward just about the same time this thread was put up.

When everything is stereo, nothing is stereo

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quote:

Originally posted by tehlord When everything is stereo, nothing is stereo

truth ^^^

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quote:

Originally posted by tehlord When everything is stereo, nothing is stereo

Amen.

To be honest, stereo channels don't really exist in the puritanical sense - stereo groups etc do but if you look at all the mixers on the market, they're mono channel desks.

When you get in to recording or working with real instruments, there's not such thing a stereo instrument; only the way your record it's output and even with a stereo mic, they are two discrete channels.

It's only really that computers have allowed stereo channels to be included in a mix. My current aim to get away from any stereo tracks (apart from groups) and do everything as discrete mono tracks to build the stereo image.

This is true.

I do however see a place for the 'stereo' VA's as it's a valid tool to use these days. I do like the mixer in Cubase where you can switch to dual stereo to narrow or expand the field as well.

I actually read something interesting though, in that if you want a true mono synth signal, you need to synthesise it in mono to start with rather than just making it mono in the mix.

Much experimentation to be done.

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