3 Reasons to Mix in Mono: Part I

I keep my session in mono for the vast majority of the time I spend mixing a song, from the moment I finish editing the tracks to the moment I bounce the song in preparation for mastering. Let me explain why I mix this way:

Stereo inherently sounds better.

When working with one speaker, you can use gain and time-based effects like reverb and delay to make elements of your song sit further “back” or “forward,” but you’re ultimately limited to one dimension: depth.

Add a second speaker, and you’ve got a stereo image. Now that the sound is coming from the left and right, you can control both depth and width.

Playing the same signal through both speakers will create what’s known as the “phantom center,” the illusion that the audio is coming from between the speakers. If nothing in your mix is panned left or right, it will sound identical to the same mix in mono.

However, when you play different signals through the left and right speakers, a physical separation is created between the two sounds, which makes it easier to distinguish between them than it would be if they were played in mono. This physical separation can be mistaken for tonal separation.

Tonal separation, which can be achieved with strategic EQ moves, makes it easier to distinguish between sounds, even in a mono mix, but to the listener, the mix already sounds better simply by panning certain tracks to opposite sides of the stereo field.

The problem with mixing this way is that the physical separation can fool your ears into thinking that elements of your song sound better together than they really do, that there is more of a tonal separation between the tracks than there really is.

For example, you might have two different guitar parts panned left and right, and you might think they sound great together, but until you listen to the mix in mono, it's impossible to compare the two guitars tonally, not just with each other, but with all the elements of the song that are panned up the middle, like bass and vocals, for instance.

Only with your mix collapsed to mono can you to tell if you’ve EQ’d your tracks properly, that they're tonally compatible, and once they have the right amount of separation in mono, you can be confident that they’ll sound great together in stereo.

Not to mention, many people will hear your song in mono anyway, so you don’t want to alienate those listeners by counting on your stereo field to serve the purpose that EQ should serve in your mix.

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Check out Part II, where I discuss "pan law."