AFAIK, it’s a pain to set up alternate routing in Cubase in order to monitor in mono. I’m hoping someone will tell me an easy way, which will render this thread moot.
Until then, they should bring back the mono button. Truth: nearly all pro mixers, if not all, check their mixes in mono. The reasons are manifold, but chiefly because most of the time, nobody is actually listening in stereo… what I mean is, most of the time we are not sitting in the “sweet spot” – if there is such a thing – and are more or less hearing music for all practical purposes monaurally. Major exception: listening using earbuds, which is of course quite common today. But most of the rest of the time – in our homes, in a bar, in our cars, over the radio – we’re not situated in such a way as to completely enjoy the benefits of stereo. I haven’t even mentioned the other benefits of checking in mono, for balancing, center image stability, checking phase, and maybe most of all, due to the way speakers are designed, it helps to focus on the midrange, where 90% of the battle takes place
You could use the built in plug-in ‘mono to stereo’ as an insert on the master bus, you’ll find it under ‘spatial + panner’ in the drop down menu. Another way to do it is using the control room feature but you need to set it up first.
Also I have an RME audio card and the Totalmix software allows that pretty easily. Check your audio card software, maybe you can do it from there too.
I’d say…f*ck that button, anyway…
If you can’t hear it…you’re lost or… learn some lessons…
AND what kind of “audio-medium” is playing mono today !!! (exept a kitchen radio ) ???
It’s irrelevant what format or medium a piece of music is played back on. How we experience it is. And much of the time, we’re hearing things in de facto mono. That’s why it’s smart to see how a stereo mix sounds in mono, even if it’s via two speakers.
you should use the control room module. It’s actually the functions of a real desk that weren’t there before. - i.e the monitor features ( including mono monitoring, PFL, etc )
Okay, I see where this isn’t actually a mixer, but I also understand why they kept the two separate. Activating the “mono” button significantly attenuates the volume – is that normal? Anyway, thanks guys for the direction. Seems like every time I want to be able to do something in Cubase, ya’ll show me that can already be done
if it’s really lowering the volume then you’ve a lot of non-mono stuff that’s cancelling. try starting your mix in mono and only enabling stereo when you’ve a solid balance.
Right – on the mix I was experimenting with, I’ve got two acoustic guitars panned left and right… in mono I can barely hear them. I suppose that means that since they’re the same guitar playing the same part with the same eq settings there’s some out-of-phase stuff going on, cancelling them out?
Yup and that’s why it’s important to check mono compatibility regardless of any excuses that the majority of systems are stereo these days. Even with stereo systems not every listener is sitting in the ideal position so you can get cancellation there as well.
I don’t totally agree with Lenny or his guru, because most of the time, we ARE hearing music that’s coming out of two speakers… but as Paul said we’re usually not situated as to perceive the timing/panning differences of stereo. So monitoring in mono but over two speakers replicates more closely what we actually experience. However, I think it’s also important to check in mono on one speaker as Lenny suggests because there are many instances where that’s how we’ll hear a piece of music – clock radio, boombox, TV set, department store, etc etc
I’m wanting to order one of those Mix Cubes because I’ve heard they emulate the old crappy Auratones C5’s that so many used to mix on… because they were quite midrangey, and that’s where we need to focus. I only want one, however, for mono
- i.e the monitor features ( including mono monitoring, PFL, etc )
