Reply To: Q/A with State of Mind..
stateofmindnzThis is a good question. Yes mono is very important and often overlooked. I would strongly suggest having a monitor controller with a mono function. Often sounds with a lot of stereo spread, especially synths made with multiple unison voices can sound really messed up in mono, some even almost cancel. Serum is pretty bad in this regard in my opinion. Its really crucial that while you re doing your sound design you continually check how things translate. If a sound translates pretty evenly between mono and stereo you will get better results overall. Key parts of your mix like vocals, mid basses, snares, you really want them to sound right in mono at all costs. The human ear is subconsciously pretty good at detecting frequency cancellations in the mid range… As sounds become less important to the track overall, you can begin to worry less about mono/stereo change. Working in mono also challenges you with respect to having sounds balanced frequency wise, as you can’t simply move competing sounds around the stereo field.
So having said that would i produce ONLY in mono? No. You need to check how the mix is spreading out. A big wide mix is impressive. If you work only in mono, its impossible to accurately gauge the stereo field. If you work only in mono, your tunes might sound great in mono yes. The frequency spread and phase will probably be smooth, but they might also sound super narrow, dry and less interesting. Or they might have some seriously weird stereo stuff going on that you just didn’t pick up.
So my advise, invest in a monitor controller where you can mono/stereo with one click of a button.
