Hi all just wondered if anyone could shed some light … i read that kicks / percussion and bass sounds should be in mono and the way to tell if theye in mono is in the wave editor -(if you have say only one waveform on the top then its in mono .) 1.) how do you get stereo sounds into mono.
and how do you keep it dead centre in the mix .
cheers egg2
Sorry im using live 7
In Ableton Live, what I do is use the utility plug in using the mono preset… Instant mono sound!!
Its in your audio effects under “utility”.
I usually use it on bass sounds and kicks as you mention but it’s not always necessary. You can use stereo files for these sounds if it sounds good.
I usually take a listen in both mono and stereo and then decide what sounds best and go with that.
[quote]egg2 (2/27/2009)[hr]Hi all just wondered if anyone could shed some light … i read that kicks / percussion and bass sounds should be in mono
cheers egg2[/quote]
I definately wouldn’t agree with the percussion, percussion is good to be in stereo for a more widened sound.
In regards to kicks, i read that the only reason it used to be put onto Mono was due to ‘back in the day’ of vinyl pressing, it would lessen any chance of the needle jumping??
It’s not really needed these days, I remember reading somewhere that Phil doesn’t put his kicks in mono either and I don’t need to tell you how great his productions are.
Just keep your kick’s pan in the center, that’s all you need. But then i’ve also seen and heard of many producers putting in two kicks and panning one hard left and one hard right… which throws the whole ‘kicks must be in mono’ thing straight out the window.
Music isn’t governed by strict rules mate, if something sounds great, then it sounds great. Don’t start restricting your music because of what is effectivly an ‘personal opinion’ of select producers over time.
As for basslines, I don’t think i agree either that it ‘has to be mono’, just really depends on the sound you’re going for. For instance, my last track the bassline was hard left and hard right to give it a wider phatter feel, it sounded freeking awesome in the club as well, so again, don’t restrict yourself to rules.
Cheers guys for input
Mono really depends on the sound you want, I tend to have two kicks, the phat kicker I will put in mono and then the less kick which is a bit more sutal I will put in Stereo. Snare in Mono, Claps in Stereo and have three of four Hats, maybe in mono,stereo, stereo panned left and stereo panned riight (this technique adds a lot of movement to rythum). But there is no set in stone right and wrong way, do what sounds best for you and track at the time
Cheers for that everyone clears up a lot for me .
sorry for the weird pm roben it was meant for paul man …
also the panned bass hard left and hard right did it feel central on a club system?
haha no worries. Yeah it sounded good matey.
I watched this dvd tutorial by the Wideboys and one of the basslines they created they did it with 3 layers. One panned hard left, one panned hard right and one in the center. That was for a track they had remixed for radio and commercial use, so you see there is no rule to having to have it in mono.
If you really are concerned then what you could use is multiband stereo imaging to mono out the lower frequencies. Probs a good idea really when you consider most club systems can use mono systems. I’m probs going to be employing this tactic from now on hah.