I'm sure being involved in this side of the music industry you've heard about mixing in mono by now?
You may have heard some of the benefits it has, right?
Well, mixing in mono can actually do a lot for a mix & that's because it's harder to get things sounding good in mono, but if you have it sounding good in mono, chances are it's going to sound good in a lot of other places!

•••••••••••••

How often should you mix in mono??

I usually start off the mix in stereo & get my general session prep all complete. I'll make some volume adjustments while still in stereo too.

Then I flip over to mono for about 30-40% of the mix. This is where I find most of my balance with volume & EQ.

I'll go back to stereo for majority of the rest of the mix & every once in awhile I'll come back to mono, just to make sure!

• Exposes frequency clashes better. Especially between the kick & bass or vocals & pads. You'll hear crackles & distortion in mono if there are any issues. Just make the volume & frequency changes until it goes away!

• You will hear dynamic processing better. When you're in mono, you can hear if the compression is pumping, doing too much, or not enough compression a lot better than you can in stereo.

• Quickly spot phase cancelation. That's because when collapsed to mono, things will start to disappear or become silent when phase cancelation is happening.

• Helps you spot clipping issues that you may hear on cheap speakers. Cheap speakers have a lot of characteristics of what mono sounds like & mixing in mono is a great way to spot them!

• Helps you balance instruments more accurately. Since you will hear dynamic processing & clashing better, you will also be able to make better volume & gain decisions when mixing in mono.

• Helps you find the sweet spot when panning to avoid clashing. Believe it or not, panning in mono is a thing & it's actually highly effective! We often pan to move things out of the way & create room in the mix. Panning in mono will help you find the right areas to pan in!