Monitor out is stereo, why listen in mono?

W

White Light of Death

Power User
A buddy told me to get a 1/4” stereo out to 1/8” mono cable to put into the monitor side and he told me its to listen in “mono” mix.
I said to him why would you do that?
He said are you kidding? You must be new? didnt you hear of the Roland cube
So i said i heard of it but what is the point if everyone listens in stereo
He said not EVERYthing is stereo and mixing in mono can let you hear things you usually cant

So i hooked up the cables and listened to my headphones and it sounds like both channels are the same.
So if I’m monitoring the same thing in both ears , whats the difference than lets just say panning the stuff first center and finally mixing it in stereo after?

Like whats the point of mono cube by Roland?

Also, should i get a 1/4” stereo to 1/8 “ STEREO cable for the headphones monitoring as well, or instead, rather, whicehver, i have high def headphones (Astro a50 and beats solo3, not ideal for mixing but very good for reference to see when people listen on their iPad and iPhone devices)
Thanks for the help
 
no idea what "mono roland cube" means.

this all depends more on what YOU want. are you recording or playing live?

why did you use the term "monitor out"?

please explain more about the general use of the gear and we can help better.
 
If you are playing live you must be cautious when playing in stereo. It is fantastic under ideal circumstances however 'ideal' circumstances are sometimes hard to come by. You may sound fantasic to a certain section of your audience while other areas sound weak or inbalanced. The size of the venue is more critical as is indoor vs outdoor. Playing in mono solves some of these problems.

When recording 'I think' what he is trying to convey is you should always check your mix in mono to make sure it doesn't collapse, instruments don't disappear, volumes remain as desired, etc.

Not sure what the Cube reference is unless it is his opinion that this amp sounds good and is a mono amp.
 
I’m using the headphones out(front jack)>-TRS 1/4”-1/8” jack -> aux in of my wireless amp

So I am now monitoring from headphones that way but also

Using the cable directly into the stereo input of my other headphones to monitor

I also successfully Paired Bluetooth with CPU then made it my monitor for axe in the daw and monitored that way

Just tryin ways to hear mixes in different ways so when people download on their iPhone iTunes I can get an idea of what they hear rather than just perfect sound from 2k monitors that we hear when making it

IF u get me?
 
White Light of Death said:
I’m using the headphones out(front jack)>-TRS 1/4”-1/8” jack -> aux in of my wireless amp
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If it's wireless, how are you connecting a cable?

Also, how is that making it mono?
White Light of Death said:
Using the cable directly into the stereo input of my other headphones to monitor
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Do you mean you're plugging the headphones into the Axe Fx headphone jack?
White Light of Death said:
IF u get me?
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Nope...

Also, if you want to monitor in mono, you don't need all the hoops. You can set Output 1 mode to "Sum L/R".

Also, your DAW might have a mono monitor button.
 
This is probably going a bit off script for what you're asking, but mixing in mono is a technique that many people use, including myself. Mixing in mono makes you focus on EQ and separation of the instruments in the frequency space because stereo can sometimes trick you into thinking you've got good separation when you don't. This applies to entire mixes - drums, bass, guitar, etc. If you get a mix sounding good in mono, you can be relatively assured it will sound great in stereo and should sound okay when played through inferior sound systems - phones, tablets, car stereos. There's more to it, but that may be what your friend was talking about. I use it to start and establish my rough mix and then I go back and forth between stereo and mono to check it. But, I only do this when mixing, not practicing or performing a single instrument.

 
a.
Solo3 It’s a wireless headset. I set the Bluetooth to monitor wirelessly and set the DAW to output the to windows audio driver/Bluetooth device

b.
Then i reconnect afterwards i finish, and i connect the cable i bought from HOSA to the input on the Beat Solo3 headset

c.
The other process is the aux In on Astro a50 has stereo in and a again the Hosa cable to the wireless amp transmiiter

(Just google Astro A50 mixamp input/aux in and beats solo3 aux in, you’ll see)

Two different devices, but three different processes unix....i didnt mean all 3 at once NOR the same device
sorry for confusing
Point is:it works and i can kinda play wirelessly into my headphones now lol so not as to disburse sleeping people in the house

BUT USING THE SUM i can forego the loops, thanks! And ill look into the mono monitoring, i dont see it but I’m lookin in Manual atm (NB I went from PT 10 to Studio One v4)
 
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Strumzilla said:
This is probably going a bit off script for what you're asking, but mixing in mono is a technique that many people use, including myself. Mixing in mono makes you focus on EQ and separation of the instruments in the frequency space because stereo can sometimes trick you into thinking you've got good separation when you don't. This applies to entire mixes - drums, bass, guitar, etc. If you get a mix sounding good in mono, you can be relatively assured it will sound great in stereo and should sound okay when played through inferior sound systems - phones, tablets, car stereos. There's more to it, but that may be what your friend was talking about. I use it to start and establish my rough mix and then I go back and forth between stereo and mono to check it. But, I only do this when mixing, not practicing or performing a single instrument.

Click to expand...

Thanks, thats what i was kind of referring to

Ok so the mono cable doesn’t work on the solo3, but the Astro a50 does, so i could like I said, use the headphones stereo jack from the front of the Axe unit to the MIXAMP aux in and then just jam or reference i guess

And yes unix, sorry about that, i mean the stere out headphones jack in the front of the axe 3

I’m getting my terminology confused from my kemper/11r lol my bad yo
 
It's always a good idea to check your presets in mono, to make sure that they translate correctly. If there are phase problems created by the Enhancer plugin, etc, your "killer" tone might could sound hollow, thin, or wimpy if your stereo output was summed to mono... but a stereo y-cable to mono would not be the best way to check it...
 
mwd said:
If you are playing live you must be cautious when playing in stereo. It is fantastic under ideal circumstances however 'ideal' circumstances are sometimes hard to come by. You may sound fantasic to a certain section of your audience while other areas sound weak or inbalanced. The size of the venue is more critical as is indoor vs outdoor. Playing in mono solves some of these problems.

When recording 'I think' what he is trying to convey is you should always check your mix in mono to make sure it doesn't collapse, instruments don't disappear, volumes remain as desired, etc.

Not sure what the Cube reference is unless it is his opinion that this amp sounds good and is a mono amp.
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I'm not that clued up regarding the monitors scenario, I tend to use just a single mono wedge sat in front of me. From a FOH / PA point of view there really isn't the need for any 'caution' as such when playing live. I have done so for many years, and as a matter of fact many pro live bands do too, be it for guitar or keyboards etc. It's a useful tool when using effects etc., so I would advise anyone to at the very least, try it and see. Nobody ever died going Stereo.
From a personal perspective, it's fair to say there have never been any issues regardless of the venue size, indoor or outdoor. I have played 2 x outdoor festivals this month so far, and in both cases, the sound man commented that my DI'd stereo guitar sound (2 x XLR's panned L&R on separate desk channels) helped us be the 'best sounding' and easy to mix band at both those events. Of course, when you relinquish a degree of control over to the sound guy, you have to hope he does a decent job. We've been pretty lucky in that regard.
 
mwd said:
Of course. I fully agree. I've played live in stereo since the Ultra came out about a decade ago. Indoors and outdoors. Just sayin' it has it's own set of circumstances. Especially when you have 2 stereo guitarist competing for the same stereo image.
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Agreed. The benefit of a stereo signal is to take full advantage of the effects. So, if there are two guitarists, the prospect of both guitars swimming in effects might be a potential nightmare, so in that scenario, it could get messy. Luckily, I'm the only guitar player in our band and I can cover a lot of sonic space without imposing on any other instruments, so in that case it works perfectly.
 
Larry Kehl said:
Do you mind If I borrow you insightful pic?
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It was a pic I came across generically one time Larry. I'm sure you're welcome to borrow it the same way I did. I saved it because it's so stinkin' true and to question myself 'how critical do I need to be on this project for those 10 dollar earbuds' ....lol. I'm picky when it comes to music quality but there also has to be a 'let go' point.
 
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