By Joe Gilder: Does This Mix Make Me Look Fat?

[Brother Charles]

This is a re-post of an article written by Joe Gilder, that I received via email.

Today I'm going to share with you something that could possibly be the SINGLE best thing you can do for your mix.

It's something I've talked about before, but I can tell you it's something that most people are going to ignore. Why? Because it it hurts.

It's uncomfortable...maybe even awkward.

What is it?

Mixing in mono.

There are few things that make you as happy as a big, fat stereo mix that sounds wider than your speakers. But do you know what happens when you pop that mix back to mono?

Well, do you?

Here's the thing...mixing in mono is kinda like asking, "Does this dress make me look fat?"...and actually EXPECTING an answer.

See, I'm convinced that some women don't want you to answer the question, but some of them do.

Even if it hurts.

Even if the answer is "Well..."

If you don't want to know the answer to the question, don't ask the question.

And when it comes to mixing, if you don't REALLY want to know if your mix sounds good, don't listen to it in mono.

Because I guarantee you that listening in mono will hurt your feelings at some point. That mix you think sounds amazing will sound muddy and boomy in mono. What does that mean? It means your mix is muddy and boomy, and you were just "hiding" it behind a wide stereo image.

See, mono sits all the tracks on top of each other. There's nowhere for them to go, because they're all panned dead center.

And this can expose all sorts of issues in your mix.

Issues that you can then address.

Issues that you can FIX.

Fixes that will make your mix sound pheNOMenal when you flip it back to stereo.

I'll be honest, mono ain't for the faint of heart. If you enjoy lying to yourself, stay away from the mono button.

[dalor]

Fully agree. On the master channel I also have EQ settings to isolate bottom end, mid range and top end for monitoring.
Also Vogengo MSED to monitor mid (mono) and side.