General Asylum

Never heard a live Mono concert, acoustic or electric.

68.123.64.145

In Reply to: RE: "Mono is not music to my ears." posted by Richard BassNut Greene on May 14, 2008 at 07:10:37

I do know there is more blending as get to the back of the hall. I usually go to acoustic jazz and classical concerts but even Rock is through either a Stereo or multi-channel PA.
No Mono only exists before artists were able to record Stereo. For the last half century everything has been either Stereo or multi-channel.
Here are some of my writings on MONO:
December 7, 2007
Why I don't like MONO recordings, Part 1
I dislike the dismal sound of MONO, it's tinny midrange sound, it's high distortion level, it's one-dimentional indistinct soundfield, like an orchestra played through a tin can! Yet some people defend MONO and I have not the faintest idea why. Maybe they sound better if you have only one speaker?
Because I don't like MONO LPs I have been accused in the Vinyl Asylum of only caring about the sound quality of a recording. Sound is but 1/3 of the musical equation. I have sold many STEREO recordings because I didn't care for the music or the performance. I do not listen to something I do not like no matter how good it sounds!
I want music I love, coupled with excellent performances and realistic enjoyable sound. I'm not like some people who listen to music studiously, listen only to artists who are supposed to be mandatory. I listen to music I enjoy, not to study. If I don't enjoy the music it is a total waste of my time.
I ask three things of the music I set down to listen to:
1) I must love the music
2) I must enjoy the performance
3) It must have realistic sound quality that lets me forget I'm listening to a recording and can melt into the music.
No. 3 I cannot do with MONO, ELECTRONICALLY PROCESSED, or poorly recorded STEREO as the recording itself makes me grossly aware I am listening to a recording and not listening to the music being played.
In MONO the timbre of the instruments is wrong, one visit to a live acoustic orchestral concert is all one needs.
ALL aspects of music are important to concentrate on one at the exclusion of the others is an abomination to the composers and artists. The space the music is played in is as important as the music played as is the silence between the notes played. Music making is a natural living event! That is what some do not understand in defending the musically deficient MONO format.
On my system well made STEREO recordings are rendered in a near perfect rendition of the orchestral shell. This is comfortable and allows me to forget I'm listening to a recording and I can enjoy the music making.
I also DO NOT like MONO TV or MONO MOVIES, I prefer to watch movies and televisions shows in STEREO as the sound is drastically better.
I make for DAMN SURE any recording says STEREO before I buy it!
December 8, 2007
Why I don't like MONO recordings, Part 2
More on Mono
To me trying to listen to Mono is extremely uncomfortable and produces nothing positive much less music. With headphones Mono comes from center of my head instead of the way stereo does with it's miniature sound field spread through my head and several feet behind and in front of as well to the sides of my head. With speakers it's hard to get a lock on the music, there is no soundfield to wrap my ears around, it's all midrange with no image or feeling of space, the bass sounds strange, the treble sounds hollow, and sometimes there is too much distortion. Two channel stereo just sounds more real to me.
On one of my recent trips to the thrifts I accidentally bought a Mono classical LP and it sounded Mono. No imaging to speak of, although it had good depth. It was boxy sounding with wooly upper bass and no deep bass and very little high frequencies at all. This is how most Mono LPs sound to me. There was no Mono wording so this is where you have to be careful, before Stereo was invented Mono LPs didn't say they were Mono. So on my next trip back to the Thrift Store back I re-donated the damn Mono LP.
I find Mono a total waste of my time, and I will make sure to look for the word STEREO as older Mono are not marked Mono since Stereo hadn’t been invented yet! If it doesn't say STEREO I will not buy it!
Because of most listener's thirst for new Stereo recordings one of the most fool-hearted attempts to please them was Electronically Reprocessed Stereo LPs. These were poor attempts to monkey-up original Mono recordings to try to make them sound Stereo. This process failed badly not only did the not sound like real Stereo they actually sounded worse than the original Mono LPs. This proves you cannot fake Stereo! I also avoid these like the plague.
The one Real Mono System I've heard
The only Mono I've heard that sounds correct was played on a real Mono system using one giant speaker in the center of the room. This system had a single full range speaker system with a huge 18 inch woofer and unlike Mono through 2 separate speakers, it had a solid image and excellent depth. There was not the precise location of instruments you have with stereo but the sound was convincing and sounded very live. If you've only heard Mono through a Stereo system you really haven't heard Mono.
Could getting decent Mono be equipment related and whither one has their speakers set up for Stereo Wide or Stereo Narrow?
My system is Stereo Wide, speakers 12 foot apart, 2 feet from the back wall and 1 1/2 feet from the sidewall, toed in slightly. I find this necessary to re-create an orchestral shell about 16 foot wide and about 12 foot deep. While I can re-create a quite convincing image of an orchestra in Stereo, in Mono it completely collapses and my minds eye I cannot lock on the musicians and the instruments they are playing in my room. In Mono there is still depth but the sound does not extend beyond the boundaries of the right and left speakers as they do in Stereo. In Mono it no longer sounds like music being played in my room but a synthetic version of music.
The Double bass and cellos in Mono sound weak and thin with an almost cardboard texture. On all systems I've owned since my first Rectilinear Speakers Mono has sounded very, very strange. But I didn't grow up on Mono so maybe my ears never got used to it.

In my system I have never found a Mono recording that had decent bass. Indeed the only Mono recording I've heard with any deep bass at all are from the mid-1950's to mid-1960's. The Mono recordings from the 1930's to 1940's have almost no bass whatsoever! I also do not find any Mono LP sounds as dynamic as the stereo version. In my system to my ears Mono sounds wrong in both tone and timbre, very wrong! Simple stereo mic'ing techniques get me closer to the tone and timbre I hear in live acoustic music in a good concert hall.

Mono in My Collection
I have sold or given away all of my full Mono LPs. But I do have a few greatest hits collections which have a few Mono selections mixed in with the much better sounding Stereo ones. On these greatest hits collections from performers that spanned both the Mono and Stereo era's the only cuts that sound poor and distorted are the Mono cuts and when a Stereo cut comes one the whole soundfield opens and the music comes alive, there's more ambiance and the sound is fuller.
My greatest hits collections that have mono songs on them include Elvis Presley's 30 #1 Hits; The Sons of the Pioneers' Legendary Songs of the Golden West; Songs of the Singing Cowboys; O Blues Where Art Thou and Country Guitar.
Some Mono No longer in My Collection
The 100 LP set Franklin Mint's "Greatest Recordings of all time" which was about 1/3 Mono. A lot of the Stereo stuff was fabulous but I sold the set because there was way too much Mono and chamber music. Toscannini's performance of Dvorak's New World Symphony from this set is the best Mono LP I ever heard, still it sounded like Mono.
Some of the other Mono LPs I've owned include Paul Robson Sings; Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass: The Lonely Bull; HELTER SKELTER: A Concert in The Park by the Band of the Welsh Guards; GERSHWIN: Rhapsody In Blue & American In Paris / Leonard Pennario (Piano) Felix Slatkin, Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra. As well as a few mint Mercury Olympian and RCA LM Classical LPs. Plus a few Mono LPs picked up by accident at the thrifts and then re-donated.
Also on Mono SACD: Ella Fitzgerald/Louis Armstrong: Ella & Louis; Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus and some of the early Rolling Stones titles.
Sonny Rollins' "Saxophone Colossus" is not Stereo!
I was really upset when I purchased Sonny Rollins' "Saxophone Colossus" SACD on Analogue Productions the sticker on the front proudly proclaimed "Hybrid Stereo SACD" I put it in my SACD player with high expectations of this classic in glorious Stereo and instead I got low resolution one-dimensional Mono.
I was heartbroken as I had heard how great the music was supposed to be on "Saxophone Colossus" and here was a chance to have it in real Stereo and that hope was dashed by an incorrectly labeled SACD. This was a followup purchase to Sonny Rollins' superb sounding "Way Out West" Stereo SACD.
I am totally shocked that "The Tape Project" chose this Mono recording for their extremely expensive 2 Track 15 IPS Reel to Reel tapes. Why not the Stereo "Way Out West" instead?
Believe it or not Classic Records has been releasing 200 Gram versions of Mono LPs. I don’t know what is this obsession of Audiophile labels of late reissuing Mono LPs especially ones available in stereo!
Conclusion
STEREO has been in use for over 50 years and I have millions of STEREO recordings in every format to pick from. So why should I listen to a Mono recording when I cannot tolerate how they sound? My leisure time is much more valuable than that! No matter what anyone preaches Mono is a crippling of sound. I am quite happy now that I have traded in or given away most of my Mono recordings.
They had Stereo when I was a teenager, my first recordings were on Stereo 8 Track cartridges. If it was still the early 1950's I would have to listen to Mono as I would not know STEREO existed. I likely wouldn't enjoy music near as much.
We are very lucky indeed to live in the STEREO age.

Music is love,
Mono is not music to my ears.
Give me stereo or give me silence!
Teresa

My Musings (Open in New Window)

Edits: 05/14/08

Follow Ups:

Post a Followup:

FAQ

Post a Message!

Forgot Password?

Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
	Remember my Moniker & Password (What's this?) Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:

Message:	(Posts are subject to Content Rules)

Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:	Automagically notify you when someone responds.

To view your new posting or follow-up, click on the RELOAD or REFRESH button on your browser.