General Asylum

RE: Stereo vs mono

108.89.246.6

JURB

In Reply to: RE: Stereo vs mono posted by J. Phelan on October 18, 2016 at 10:03:08

"Why is this better ?"
Cross echo. Some components of the mix are fed to an echo machine or reverb during the mixdown and fed to the output out of phase. Therefore that part of the signal nulls out if the channels are summed by switching to mono.

Edits: 10/19/16

Follow Ups:

RE: Stereo vs mono - J. Phelan 14:28:30 10/19/16 (2)
Interesting. But this improvement also occurs with vocal music from the 50s.
Were they 'mixing' back then ? What was wrong with straight-stereo, as it was just coming out.

Edits: 10/19/16
- RE: Stereo vs mono - JURB 18:40:58 10/19/16 (1)
  "Interesting. But this improvement also occurs with vocal music from the 50s."
  Do you mean to listen to it from one speaker, or to just feed the stereo with mono ? There is a difference. However we already know that mono records sound better on a mono cartridge or a stereo one wired for mono rather than playing it in stereo.
  "Were they 'mixing' back then ? What was wrong with straight-stereo, as it was just coming out."
  They were mixing in the studios even before stereo came out. When stereo came out, for the beginning at least, the recording engineers tried to make sure the music would still sound good on a mono system. One of the major reasons was that most people were still listening on AM radio which was not stereo at the time.
  I really have trouble thinking of "straight" stereo. Do you mean with no effects like echo or whatever ? No separate EQ for the channels ? No pan pots or digital delay ? I would say that there is nothing wrong with that and a bunch of musicians who are either dead or older than dead would agree. I think Les Paul started it all. (my Uncle took guitar lessons from him) Paul pretty much invented overdubbing. And the electric guitar was not intended to be an acoustic guitar with a microphone in front of it, it was a different thing. Similar like a harpsichord, piano, accordion and so forth are quite different. (reminds me I have to get an amp)
  What I want mono is movies and TV shows. Frikken turn it up to hear the dialogue and then a car blows up and the neighbors call the cops. And even then you still can't hear the words. Plus it sounds like the sound is coming through a fifty foot drainpipe sometimes.
  Yes, mono is alright with me. Mono is the way it should be. Someone write something with a plot dammit ! These days all it is is effects. I used to own a Moog synthesiser, I have an electric piano (88keys, weighted and touch responsive and sounds like a real piano), three guitars, a trumpet, an accordion, a violin, and I think that's it but to be sure I would have to look. OK there is a mini keyboard down in the basement. I think that is all. I can make sound.
  Enough rant. Suffice to say I am sick of it. Even my Grandfather was, saying "How come the music is so loud in these movies ?". And he has been dead for a long time. The fact is that even back then Hollywood treated movies like a sort of opera where the music is important. They have ALWAYS been wrong. Movies used to be made from good selling books that people read. Yes, people used to read books. And every one of them who did has said the book was better than the movie. In all my life, seriously.
  Now it is special effects to dazzle the kids. It seems music, if you can call it that, has taken the same direction. One vestige is hillbilly music but I can't just listen to that and nothing else.
  The RIAA whines about losing money over P2P. Bullshit. I have had good tape decks for most of my life. We could always record this stuff and the quality was not so bad. I have had three head cassette decks with Dolby HX and adjustable bias. You could not tell the tape from the original.
  The problem is not that we have lossless recording, it is that they are not putting out anything worth buying. The mixing board is more musical than what they promote as artists.
  
  Edits: 10/19/16
  - RE: Stereo vs mono - J. Phelan 10:46:07 10/20/16 (0)
    Feeding (1) speaker with stereo sounds more 'open' than a mono feed (to that same speaker). To add, vocals have more 'clarity'.
    Even on headphones - compare Sinatra-stereo vs. Sinatra-mono.
    And yes, 'straight' means no echo, no EQ. It looks like stereo needed help, much like digital 'needed' dither (in the 80s, before 20-bit recording).
    
    Edits: 10/20/16 10/20/16 10/20/16

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