I've been trying to get a better understanding of it recently, because I've noticed that a lot of my songs sound very bad on things like phone speakers (which are typically mono). However, I don't understand how to make my mix sound good in mono AND stereo with the resources in Audiotool. Anyone got any advice?
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The problem I'm mainly coming across is making chords sound good, since a lot of what I make is chord based. When I widen them up, they're super lush and full sounding, but when those widened chords go to mono, they sound bad. However, mono chords aren't as nice to listen to. I've been experimenting with some techniques in an upcoming track of mine, and I've found that having a clean chord layer that is mono mixed with a layer that is super wide and detuned (making it stereo) makes the balance much more favorable to both. I'm sure there are better ways than this, but it'll do for now.
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This sounds like a phase problem, and it's fixable. How wide something sounds depends on how different the left and right channels are. Many techniques to widen sounds involve delaying one side in respect to the other. The problem is that, depending on the specific amount of delay you apply, the right and left channel might end up in phase opposition (crests and valleys in the waveforms happen at the same time). This isn't a problem in stereo, but when you fold that to mono, the waveforms of the left and right channel will cancel each other due to their phase opposition, resulting in a weak, bad sound. Even if you leave your mix in stereo, listening in less than ideal conditions will also hurt your mix because of this problem.
The fix is to find a delay (phase offset) that creates the least amount of phase cancellation. For example, if you use the StereoDetune to widen your sound, listen to its output in mono, set a value for the "Tune" control that you like, then slowly change the "Delay (ms)" control. You will hear that some positions weaken your sound and others don't, or at least not so much. It depends on the base frequency of your sound and its harmonic content. Each sound will behave differently. Try to find a position (other than zero, obviously) that gives you the maximum clarity in mono. Then switch to stereo. You should have then the best compromise between stereo width and mono compatibility.
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Mono compatibility is done during the mixing stage, not the mastering one.
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The idea behind mixing in mono is that having all your sounds "on top of each other" in the centre helps you make better EQ decisions and reduce masking between sounds on similar areas of your frequency spectrum. Basically it's a great way to improve the clarity of your mix. Usually you don't notice masking so much in stereo, especially with a very wide mix, because of the stereo separation between sounds. But if your audience doesn't listen to your music in ideal conditions (which is often), they will perceive your mix as coming from one point. And if your EQ isn't good, it will sound muddy. Even if you enjoy listening in proper conditions, making your mix sound clear in mono will also benefit it when you go back to stereo.
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Lots of DAWs allow you to pop the whole track in and out of mono, which is prob why many people say to mix in mono. I'm sure you could use a panorama on the master for that on here, but you'd have to keep deleting the device and ctrl z-ing. I'm not very experienced with mixing in mono myself
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For convenience, you can split the signal going into your MasterOutput in two: run one of them through a Panorama set to mono, leave the other as is, then join them with a merger. Then you can use the merger control as a switch to go from mono to stereo. This is convenient especially if you add more devices after the Panorama to further degrade the signal (like a Slope set to band-pass around 1 kHz) and see if your mix still sounds clear.
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what I'd usually do is put a stereo enhancer on the whole track and set it to mono, and then I'd just mix it and delete it when I'm done (also making slight adjustments again if needed in the normal mix)
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I started mixing in mono thanks to Ollie, and it rlly helps
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You have to stop thinking about using a lot of stereo and approach thinking from a perspective of mixing for mono first, then adding the stereo after. Instead of using big wide delays, reverbs, chorus etc, keep your elements more centered. A possible solution for your chords might to be to arpeggiate them instead. Without stereo it's more important to keep your instruments minimal, and not have two lines clashing with each other in the same octaves. If your mix is sounding good mono, then start adding the stereo widening things, and keep the range about 11 o clock to 1 o clock, as opposed to what you would normally do ( which is a bigger spread 3 o clock to 9 o clock ).