kicks & bass : recording MONO vs STEREO -> MOTHER DUCKER

U always here people talking about recording MONO vs STEREO

When I was running ableton with a fancy interface, I did a bit of this but my MPC live has ableton collecting dust [the laptop that was running it actually died;-( ]. I find running my bass synth one 1/4 directly into my MPC input1 does not “sound” as good. Furthermore, the MPC LIVE only has 2 ins & often need 4-6 ins. Now I run all my machines thru an old yamaha mixer into my MPC. I find this works well for getting basic compression/EQ so all my tracks come in pretty solid. I then do basic mixing with the MPC standalone tools with YA master at the end of that chain. My beats are pretty basic 2-6 audio tracks [see example below].

https://reverb.com/item/37977591-c11691 ... 82cx-mixer
https://reverb.com/brand/yamaha?product ... ition=used

Because everything runs thru my Yamaha mixer, all the audio signals come into my MPC stereo. I run 2 ¼ cables from the mixer stereo out into the MPC ins. My old mentor told me I should record kicks & bass mono. Will this make the motherducker sidechain work better ? Any thought on this

I assume panning that track all the way to left should make track MONO? Am I wrong ?
In my MPC I do panning, I usually leave the kick dead center, pan bass primarily left
I do weird panning with my high hats usually to the right

TRACK layout Example:
1] DRM - kicks [mono ?]
2] drums main [snare here]
3] DRM - percussion/overheads [hi hats here]
4] SYNTH bassline [mono ?]
5] MPC LOOP
6] adlibs / XYFX chaos

You can make a sample mono in sample edit...

NearTao wrote:You can make a sample mono in sample edit...

will it make the mix better ?
what is the true advantage of mono for kicks/bass ?

A traditional reason to make Kick/Bass mono is because on most high end concert systems they have a single sub woofer for output or all their woofers are crossed over and summed to mono. If you output a stereo bass you run the risk of phase cancellation, causing you to output either no bass or heavily distorted bass, which is incredibly hard to compensate for.

A second reason for moving to mono for Bass/Kick is because they tend to take up a lot of headroom for your track, so by making them mono it is much more clear how to mix/master for them, as you have less of a moving target (ie the sound field changing per channel).

A third reason for moving to mono for Bass/Kick is if you were going to press your audio to a record/vinyl, it is quite possible to cause the needle to hop and skip because the low end could literally throw the needle by vibrating so much. Honestly, with modern record player and needle technology, this really isn't a problem... but people would still go with mono.

A fourth reason I've seen a lot of people mix in mono for any given sound was due to lack of resources (ie CPU or memory), and by switching to mono you can increase your sample time, polyphony, etc... on older devices. This is not a problem in modern platforms, but for things like bass and really low kicks, you feel it more than you hear it, so making it mono doesn't really impact the 'listening' experience.

At any rate, know what you are mixing/mastering for. There are tons of reasons to mix in mono or mix in stereo. This is just me personally... but I think you're asking the wrong question "does it mix better"... nobody can tell you. What are you comparing it to, what process are you trying to emulate, have you even tried it? Seriously... use your ears, and do an A/B test yourself and see if it sounds better, not some goofy stuff you've read somewhere. Music, just like any other art form only really takes value from the producer when they use their own sensibilities to make their own decisions. While I think it's cool that you're thinking about mixing and mastering, and different techniques, none of it is going to give you a magic bullet to make your sound "better" out of the gate.

I’m gonna print this out & chew on it for a bit.

Thanks NEARTAO, people like you make this forum a goldmine.

Well written, NearTao!

NearTao wrote:A fourth reason I've seen a lot of people mix in mono for any given sound was due to lack of resources (ie CPU or memory), and by switching to mono you can increase your sample time, polyphony, etc... on older devices.

Just a brief addition: This is also true for recent MPC‘s memory, since a project‘s samples get loaded into RAM (hence the request for disk streaming).

I recently sampled a 1961 film - I watch them and rewind at sampleworthy places - and nearly ran out of memory. I accidentally sampled it stereo although the source material was mono. It was tedious, but I converted them to mono - BAM, memory usage halved.

ok, so i totally understand bass being mono with kicks/snares, but what if your synth has stereo effects? it would have 2 outputs. I know lots of synths have that these days... So would you just record it as stereo then for the use of the effects or convert it to mono after? gotta ask cause i had someone else ask me this.
I do undertstand as the frequencies get higher, you should be widening. Like as if its a funnel... bass and drums on the bottom in mono, as you go higher its gets wider, so like pads and synth stuff should have some panning and width added to them.

Can anyone add anything to the fact alot of synths have stereo output for effects. Like i know my synth is still mono(1voice) but with 2 outputs.... im just used to mono having 1. Any insight?

Thanks.

“BAM, memory usage halved.”

My beats are relatively simple & short, so my audio clips are relatively short 8-32 bars. Since I use the same bars over & over, I rarely hit 60% memory.

At this point, I am still recording to my FOSTEX 4TRAK when I do longer sets. I will keep this in mind as I build more elaborate sets to be contained in the MC.

BeatWilson wrote:
Can anyone add anything to the fact alot of synths have stereo output for effects. Like i know my synth is still mono(1voice) but with 2 outputs.... im just used to mono having 1. Any insight?

Thanks.

I was talking strictly about "textbook analog synth" bass and real bass guitar. My electribe patches have elaborate LFO panning/PONG delays that must be recorded in stereo.

So there are a ton of synths out on the market, so I'm not sure which one you are asking about in particular, but, for example, the Moog Voyager is a mono synth, but it has stereo outs. These stereo outs are there because you can run the Low Pass filters separately, which can help give space to a sound.

If you were so inclined, you could choose to just record the Left or the Right channel, instead of having to use the stereo outs if you wanted a mono signal.

As a rule Kicks must be mono though i have one objection bout bass..In my Access VirusTi there are many patches that use Unison + Pan spread that gives you that extra 3D fatness which sounds huge if mixed properly..
So it’s a matter of taste..
Everything else is ok to be stereo..

This was very informative guys. I thank you all.

Lampdog wrote:Anytime something has panning, it should be stereo and from there you workout whatever you need.

Kick drum is mono. Effects that are seasoned onto the kick may be stereo fx thus requiring stereo sampling of that kik.

If kik AND it's fx are mono then mono sample.

LAMP sums it up for me.

I don’t pan my kick but I do pan my synth bass to the left.
I assume most of the effects are stereo, so MONO recording is very limited to If I get some1 to drop a bass guitar line in & keep the MPC FX sparse.


I will also keep it in mind if my memory space is taxed.