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Mixing in mono is one of those production "tricks" that have solidified in my mixing routine to achieve clearer mixes. It's a really easy shortcut to hearing levels and even frequencies of everything in your track without the distraction of stereo imaging. It also helps to figure out phase issues between closely tuned kicks and bass and correct your synth sound design too!

But sometimes the immediate benefit it gives us gets outweighed by a longterm one of improving your critical hearing skills. For example, if you use mono to hear frequency fighting between instruments, you're undercutting your learning experience of properly working with frequencies in stereo. After all, it's not uncommon to pan different instruments asymmetrically. Having stereo means you have two different signals that should be shaped on their own terms.

Michael is going to walk us through some of the things that mixing in mono can be used for and give some perspective on how those particular uses stack up in a more robust or specific production workflow. And, I hope this knowledge helps you in your own productions!

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[-] beep_blop@waveform.social 2 points 1 year ago

Nice explanation. Especially about drawbacks.

this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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Music Production

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This is Music Production. A place to share anything and everything you want about your music making journey! Learning is the goal, so discussion is encouraged!

We have a mirror community at !musicproduction@sh.itjust.works !

It's a general instance, and it will provide us with better redundancy in case of outages and hiatuses! Everything I post will pop up on both, and you can cross-post your submissions to the other instance if you like!

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