Many night clubs run their sound systems in mono, so this what happened to our track. Widening effects (like choruses, phasers and flangers) can sound GREAT in stereo, but if you sum (combine) the left and right channels together into mono after applying the effect, sometimes these phase issues can arise, as the effect has duplicated the sound wave and spread it left and right. This is exactly what happens with equal and opposite audio waves. They cancel each other out and both waves stop. It happens when they roll into a harbour wall and bounce back into the oncoming waves. Using the sea analogy, imagine two waves hitting into each other.
However, what happens when they are PERFECTLY OPPOSITE from each other? If they identical, the audio sounds mono. If the left and right waves are different from each other, the audio sounds stereo. If sound waves can be visualised as the waves of the sea, a recorded stereo signal has one set of waves on the left channel, and one set on the right channel. Sounds fancy, but bear with me I’ll break it down quickly and simply, then let you know why mixing in mono is great.Īn audio signal is made of sound waves. It turned out (as I later discovered), that the issue was something known as “ phase cancellation”. Everything else is there, so where are the vocals? I’m sure I checked this mix a hundred times before leaving the house, and I spent SO LONG getting these vocals sounding FAT. 4, 3, 2, 1, aaaaaaaand: *NO VOCALS WHATSOEVER* So the tension builds (if you don’t know about the darth-vader-style importance of tension, check this post), the drums roll and the sweeps sweep. The crowd seem to be loving it…they’ll go nuts!” (In this particular track the singer belted out the chorus on the drop). “The breakdown is building up and we’re about to hit the first drop. I had a weekly Friday night DJ residency in London at the time, so I burnt it to CD, slipped it in the set-list and dropped it at peak time. We were stoked, and really excited to hear it on a club system. I know what you’re thinking: “That’s it? Why? Mono sounds rubbish and stereo sounds great.”Ī few years ago (OK, I admit….over 10 years ago) I had just finished a new track with a singer. Well, this is one of them, and it may surprise you…īefore you start ANY mix (or, actually, any new project in general), do this ONE thing… Mixing in MonoĬreate a keyboard shortcut in your Digital Audio Workstation for quickly switching your mix from stereo to mono, then PRIMARILY MIX IN MONO. Download my 30 Essential EDM Mixing Tips by clicking here
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