Does mono compatibility even MATTER when mixing ambient music?

[@holosuitemastering]

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[@LuLeBe]

One of the things I hate the most is when people use a mono switch to remove width from bass. From what I understand, this doesn't fix ANY phase issues, it merely bakes them right into the music. While that does make it easier for limiters and MB comps to level out the volume in those cases, it doesn't really remove phasing issues from a wide reese bass or so. I feel like that deserves a video from someone who knows more about it!

[@holosuitemastering]

Interesting, this is something I've not thought about in detail - but certainly on paper it makes sense. Collapsing a stereo track to mono _should_ make any phase issues permanent. It does make me wonder whether the mono buttons on plugins such as Ableton's utility compensate for that - seems like they should, but I've never actually tested it out! I shall tinker around in the studio and see what I can put together 😊

[@timmarcusmoore]

One argument is that if you bake it in and still get things sounding the way you want, at least you won't get any surprises when played back on different systems. I just did some testing with the Ableton Utility plugin, and it doesn't seem to do anything surprising. It does in fact bake in the phase cancellation when you use the Mono or Bass Mono buttons. You can try it yourself by putting an Operator with a 100 Hz sawtooth drone through Utility, then hit the phase invert switch on one channel so you get perfect cancellation. If you listen through headphones, you can still hear it, but if you put a Spectrum after in L+R mode, you won't see any signal. Then hit the Bass Mono switch in the Utility and the fundamental just disappears.

[@holosuitemastering]

@timmarcusmoore nice one! I did fudge around with a few Reese bass samples and Utility in Ableton the other day, and while they did end up with some volume dips where phasing occurred, it was much of a muchness really. What I found more interesting was listening to what happens when you compare a wide phasey stereo reverb vs that same reverb narrowed vs two mono versions of the same reverb vs two stereo versions of the same reverb that have been mono'd using Utility - each sounds subtly different. Still deciding whether it's interesting enough to turn into a video. What do you think?

[@andrew4982]

Short, concise and very informative . Thank you very much

[@holosuitemastering]

You're welcome Glad you found it helpful 😊

[@DjXCENTRiC]

Always matters!

[@holosuitemastering]

✊

[@11sveden12]

Thanks for making this follow up video on mono compatibility for ambient music! I run into phase issues frequently, particularly with samples I've gotten through Splice, etc... Still working on finding ways to resolve phasing issues for samples that someone else recorded.

[@holosuitemastering]

That's pretty sucky that Splice includes samples that have phase issues by default....how unprofessional! 😮

[@DonnyKirkMusic]

@@holosuitemastering Oh man, I go through a lot of old 90s CDs and the same thing happens with those. For some reason, it seems like audio guys don't always check the DC offset lol To be fair neither do I

[@catvision777]

This is a question I have asked myself for years! Especially when it comes to pads. I think it's somebody's own fault if they listen ambient on mono devices. I mean: Who does this? Anyways, I'd say the struggle with mono compatibility is my critical enemy still, although I already to all the things you talk about.

[@holosuitemastering]

I was watching a Dan Worrall video the other day, and he reminded me that a lot of Bluetooth speakers are in mono - so I wouldn't be surprised if some people are listening to ambient without realising it's in mono! Plus anyone listening on any speaker setup where they're not perfectly in the middle is not really listening in stereo 🤔 Now that I am monitoring my phase regularly when making music, I haven't had any issues - except when I've been going back trying to remaster my old tracks, ouch 😅

[@catvision777]

@@holosuitemastering Yes, I hear you. True that. Over the years I have just destroyed so many pads by making them mono'ish. I mean, all the other instruments are fine for me and I get them to sound good in the mono mix. But pads? It's still a struggle. It always seems to be a compromise. I try to save some money so that I can get one of your feedback offerings. Maybe we know more afterwards, haha. Thanks for the cool ambient content by the way. See you!

[@holosuitemastering]

Thanks so much for your support! I find the key with pads is just to record two mono ones, rather than a stereo one, and then pan them. Also allows me to play with settings to get a bit of contrast, makes the mix more fun.

[@catvision777]

@@holosuitemastering have you seen the taches teaches video how he makes ambient with bitwig, beginning with a 10 layer pad? At the moment I try to get this mono-ish. maybe interesting for you as well? Just a tip for long, nice winter nights.

[@holosuitemastering]

I haven't, I will check it out - thanks for the recommend! I'm in Australia so it's nearly summer here haha

[@kensley94]

I love making polse widh modulations but it causes phase issues :( Do you have advice how to tackle it?

[@holosuitemastering]

That's something I haven't run into before! I assume this is for a stereo instrument? I guess the easiest way to fix it would be to run two versions of the same instrument, both in mono with slightly different PWM speeds, and pan them left and right - that way they would have a lower chance of lining up and causing cancellation (and on paper it shouldn't sound that much different from the stereo).

[@johnmccartney3819]

There _are_ those people who will play it on a Bluetooth speaker (shudder), so yes, mono compatibility is important.

[@holosuitemastering]

Haha indeed! 😋