I've heard that, when mixing down a song in Pro Tools, it's a good idea to listen to it in mono. Can anyone explain to me what advantage this offers? Also, since I'm doing everything in Pro Tools (no external board) where can I go to switch the playback from stereo to mono? Of course, I can bounce everything to a mono track and listen to it that way as well...but this seems like a lot of hassle. Advice?

Thanks Mr. T. I understand now-it's like mixing a tune down so it sounds fine even on a crappy mono radio. I also agree with you about the music-most people will listen to something on a stereo system at least-but, if I wanted to send a piece for possible inclusion in a movie or TV project-then maybe checking how it sounds is mono may be a good idea. Thanks for the s'plaining.

Looks like Mr.T beat me to it, but here's my reply anyway... Checking your mixes in mono isn't just for ProTools, it's for all mixes that want mono compatibility, as well as stereo. If you have a lot tracks panned wide, they can often create do-do when they're joined together. Some people say screw 'em if they don't have stereo, but since so much music is played on single speaker computers, I think it should be taken into consideration. Also, if you ever get real famous, your mixes will already be compatible in elevators, grocery stores, etc. The way I check for mono; I put a Waves S1 on the master fader and set it to full mono, then I just command+click it to toggle the bypass.

I can only imagine...step into an elevator and I hear the file I bounced to a baby AIFF years ago. Sigh. OK-excuse my ignorance please, but what is a waves S1? Is this a plug in? Third party? Or is this something built into Pro Tools? And next question: I have some songs that were done on an analog 24-track reel. They sound great in stereo-but are pure caca in mono. Is there anyway to fix this in Pro Tools without having to remix the whole darn thing? Thanks!

Ya, unfortunately still lots of mono listening happening - clock radios, offices with those nice speakers mounted in the ceiling, computers. Could check by creating a stereo master and centering the left/right pan sliders. Bones

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by SAMP: I can only imagine...step into an elevator and I hear the file I bounced to a baby AIFF years ago. Sigh. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> If you're being played in the elevator you at least made some money for your hard work!!!!!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by SAMP: OK-excuse my ignorance please, but what is a waves S1? Is this a plug in? Third party? Or is this something built into Pro Tools?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Waves is a third party company which makes a lot of cool plug-ins which many people here really like. They sell them in packages, with the Gold package being almost everything they make bundled together. You can check them out at: But since you don't have the S1 plugin, the suggestion by Bassamp would be an easy solution for you: "Could check by creating a stereo master and centering the left/right pan sliders."

Rock groups in the 60's would take a lot of time to mix to mono and then leave while some engineer made the stereo mix. The mono mix was the thing since that is what was played on AM radio. Stereo LPs cost more than the mono LPs and were not thought of as that important. No one mixed for stereo and then summed to mono because of the 3 db increase in loudness for center panned sources. Different mixes were always made.