Agreed.
Mlib,
I canât thank you enough for walking me through these steps. Also, I am sorry for the late response; the heat knocked me sideways for a few days.
I am so glad you said all the things you did, because they reaffirm all the advice I have previously read and seen both online (YouTube), and here on this forum. At this point I have left the backing section of the piece (drums, bass, pads, piano, strings etc) alone, because harmonically and texturally they âseemâ to fit together well.
But I have stripped the Trumpet and Sax Vstâs bare, removing all plug-ins from their channels, and I will now place a stereo to mono plug-in on the master bus.
After which I will gain stage the piece all over again, and listen at a low volume as well to make sure everything sounds as clear and transparent as possible.
I will then test a mix down of the mono version on my speakers, (maybe some headphones as well just because). If the two solo instruments stand out more in the mix as intended following these steps, then I will start to process them again using the common techniques, i.e. EQ, Compression, Reverb and Saturation.
Iâll let you know what happens!
Thanks again,
Cliff
Glad you found value in some of what I wrote.
Just a quick heads upâŚ
There really isnât a need for a plugin. Just switch the channel panner to Stereo Combined Panner and center both left and right side.
Happy mixing!
Hi Jonny_Moneto, Thanks for stopping by!
yes, I did manage to get a stereo to mono converter from Plugin Alliance, the BX_Solo. Iâll use it on the master bus to sum everything to mono that is panned in the mix.
But I have a question please. I assumed that the kick drum, bass, snare and lead instruments were already in mono because they are panned centre. Is this in fact not the case, and do I need to place a stereo to mono plug-in on those individual channels as well to make them truly mono in the final output? (I find this topic so confusing.)
Thank you for the tip about the Supervision plug-in, as it seems really useful for checking mono correctness, But I will also listen to Reco29, and not trust fully in what I see using this plug-in. Rather, Iâll try to trust my ears more, as this seems to be the most consistent rule.
As a side note: I have just purchased a book called Step by Step Mixing, which so far chimes with everything both Googly-Smythe and mlib have outlined (almost work for word). It also walks you through how to mix using the 4 most common stock plug-ins, and so this should assist my workflow I hope.
There is one thing the author mentions which confuses me, he recommends âpanning in monoâ, to assist the balancing/levelling process. Does anyone know if this is really a thing, or is it just his terminology which could be slightly different to the norm and he really meant something else? How can one pan in mono???
P.s
I canât afford Cubase pro at the moment, and I am still on Artist 11. I do intend to upgrade however. But if I can struggle through this project with what I have and still manage to win, then Iâll be overjoyed! 
Thanks guys,
Cliff
Is that really possible? because there seem to be a few differences between what you can achieve using the various versions of Cubase. Could this be a feature found only in the Pro version?
Thanks
When someone doesnât divulge what version they use, I always assume itâs Pro.
Reco29 and Wickham_Sky
Thank you so much for the idea of learning how to use compression to enhance and strengthen my two instruments. I recognise that the use of compression takes a lot of time and patience to understand and be successful at.
This is why I bought the book I mentioned before, which explains this technique in great depth I believe, without being too scientific.
I am not going to compress every instrument channel for sure, because I have worked hard to gain stage and level each individual channel in the first place. I believe that only the two lead instruments could benefit from either in-channel compression, or parallel compression to make them stand out the mix? And so, I will test these methods over the coming days.
Thanks again,
Cliff
Yeah, sorry about that, I should have made that clear right from the start 
I think the reason the mono-ing was bought up in the first place was not for you to create a true mono mix as final output. More for you to check what monoing the stereo out is doing to your mix when it gets played on mono speakers.
You ideally want a stereo mix that sounds great in stereo but doesnât fall apart in mono. Sometimes things will obviously recede in monoâŚif making it mono (temporarily) in the DAW does not show the same problems as the portable speakers then the mono thing isnât really the issue. If it does show those issues then you may need to narrow the stereo fieeld or monoize the sax and trumpet tracks so that there is less difference between hearing it in mono and stereoâŚbut I wouldnât mono the entire thing.
Enabling them to become more present in the mix (and not just in the headphones) please?
The thing is if you make them more present on the portable speakers, they could well be too present on headphones or good quality speaker. Without hearing what you have all of us are guessing what may or may not be going on here.
I think someone could likely tell you exactly what the issue is if you felt comfortable posting a short clip?
Re panning in monoâŚitâs weird one, Iâve seen it said. Waves for example say this
By panning the out-of-place elements across the stereo field while listening in mono, youâll more easily find the point where they sit neatly; this is where youâll leave the element.
But panning a mono item listening in mono is simply changing the level of it (because of pan law) so as far as I can see youâre finding the point where the level is correct not the pan. If you turn it up a bit and then pan in mono surely youâd pan it wider so it got quieter.
I am a big advocate of using the ears over the eyes - except for Correlation. There it is all eyes, if you run a stereo signal through it and want to see already if everythingâs gonna be ok for people who listen on mono devices.
Every studio and every radio station in the world runs a correlation meter. Reco is correct, a few dips below zero wonât hurt too much. A couple of seconds in the negative is already not cool.
There is a difference between the quality of the signal in regards to mono/stereo and the channel configuration. You can send a signal that has a mono quality (like drums or bass) onto a stereo channel. In fact, that happens on basically every song because you listen to them on a pair of speakers of headphones (stereo configuration) but they have a kick drum or a bass sound on them.
If you have a signal of mono quality (a correlation meter would just show the value +1 all the time) and you send it onto a stereo configuration channel (speakers, headphones) you have to decide how much power of that mono signal shall be distributed to the left and how much to the right side, ie. you have to place the signal within the stereo domain.
You could decide to have it in the center or move such a mono signal away from the center,e.g. all the way to the right side.
This is actually an easy topic and at the same time a fairly complex one. Since you bought the book already, have a go at it first.
I agree that rendering out a mono mix doesnât seem very beneficial. At least I canât think of a good reason to. But there can be other benefits of starting your mix in mono. Especially if new in the game. Balancing tracks by means of EQ and dynamics processing can feel easier if you remove one dimension. Frequency masking can become more apparent when everything has to share one single output channel. At least, this is the reason I brought it up.
Mono compatibility isnât something I worry too much about these days and check it mostly out of old habit.
I second all the things above. Focus on a few aspects and take it from there.
Gainstaging
After trying these helpful suggestions you could try the pink noise mixing trick to get a feeling for levels. Gain stage every separate signal against pink noise until itâs barely audible. Works pretty well, even more so if arrangement and masking frequencies have been taking care of.
Panning
Also a nice and often overlooked vintage technique to understand the power of panning in a mix is LCR panning (either dead left, center or dead right). Itâs a really cool exercise.
Both the Pink Noise Mixing Trick and LCR panning will sharpen your ears to listen for two specific dimensions in the mix. Just search the internet for more info - very easy to find.
Addendum
About mono compatability: I recently heard an international 80s smash hit accidentally in mono. A complete and utter collaps, stripped down to the bare neccessities⌠I immediately checked all inserts because I was gobsmacked!
Sometimes doing it all wrong is exactly the right thing to do. Thatâs the beauty of it
I wouldnât be surprised if youâd be able to find more contemporary examples of this phenomenon.
PS. LCR, by nature, will sound quite different in mono as well.
Haha, there are examples all over the place. Like the chorus in âHappyâ by Pharell Williams. Not nearly as drastic as the example I was talking about. I really thought I had an insert somewhere that muted the side signal altogether.
LCR - I shouldâve added LCR in a stereo mix - it will sound different if turned into a mono mix, of course.
âŚI wouldnât focus too much on mono compatability issues TBH - thatâs not the biggest issue if you start to get into mixing. But thatâs just my personal opinion. As you said - checking correlation is more some kind of duty reflex or habit 
@C_Black Just to put things in perspective because it might have come across that I downplayed correlation issues a tat too much:
I am completly on board with @Johnny_Monetoâs statement - thatâs something you should avoid although mono compatability might not be as important anymore as it was back in the days. I was just trying to shift your attention towards other things first instead of worrying too much about correlation, thatâs all
Exactly.
Thank you both.
Grim I certainly intend for this to be a full spectrum stereo track, as I enjoy how all the elements work in there own space in the mix. However, I will use the mono exercise just to examine possible frequency masking, or to perform more accurate gainstaging and processing of the Trumpet and Sax to get to the bottom of why they are basically dead when played through portable speakers.
BTW, They sounded okay in the studio monitors, but I guess this is why one must play a mix down through as many different output media as possible.
So after going back to basics just with the Trumpet and Sax, I will then re-gainstage everything, although but the drum bus, and instruments bus donât need to be messed with (I think), as the backing section altogether sounded great (imo) even through the problem speakers.
I will look into pink noise (YouTube) and hopefully this may be something I can also employ along with RCL panning.
Thanks once again guys, I appreciate you all very much!
But do check that if something sound particularly bad on one system but not on others that itâs not a playback fault rather than a problem in the mix.
I once spent weeks going back and forth with a bandmate telling me my mix didnât have enough oomph and tweaking and resending before they sheepishly admitted a connector somewhere wasnât pushed fully in and all centre was being cancelled.
âŚand that was the moment someone from Steinberg came up with the idea for their Underwater plugin 
Thank you Grim,
I have played the piece through the Soundcore Motion Bloom Plus, portable speaker and a new system I purchased called the Bugani Brief Plus speaker, this is a mono looking device apparently configured specifically for a good response to jazz on all frequencies.
Both of these units are functioning properly as far as I am aware, and the level issue with the Trumpet and Sax is kind of similar on both systems. Thank you for pointing that out however, because I know it could have been a factor.
There is one more thing Grim; I heard what you said when you suggested my posting a clip of the piece here and I am very appreciative of your offer.
If I were to do that, what would the process be? would I have to try to export the stems, or could I just export an earlier save of the project as an Mp3 and then upload that somehow. I wouldnât export all of the piece, but maybe just the intro start where both the Trumpet and Sax first come in, as you can hear from that point whatâs going on problem wise.
I am so impressed that you guys have well enough trained ears that you would be able to spot a problem in a mix just from listening to a version of the mix down without even seeing the stems or channel information!!
If you could let me know how to go about the process, I might give that a go whilst trying to get up to speed with this trouble shooting adventure.
Thanks again,
Cliff
If I may be so bold to answer on Grimâs behalf regarding the sample: An mp3 snippet will do. You can upload an mp3 directly into your reply, no need for complicated workarounds.