How do you mix in Mono in Sonar? Best approach?

At the track level only. Channel Tools can do almost anything to do with stereo and mono. You can use it to make a stereo source mono. 

Because once you've got your mix working in mono you can then start panning things to the sides.
 
Seeing as you have Channel Tools inserted on every (stereo) track it's easy to place each track EXACTLY where you want in the stereo field. Mono tracks don't need this.
 
 

I do this always outside the DAW after the audio-interface.
 

I throw Boz Digital Labs' Panipulator on my master bus. It's free and hardly uses any cpu.
 
http://www.bozdigitallabs.com/product/panipulator/

By far the best way to do it is outside your interface.  I use a spare headphone output on my digital mixer and there will always be one on most interfaces as well.
 
The best way to do it is to sum the L and R channels in a small passive mixer perhaps and feed a single channel amplifier and a single mono speaker.  The speaker can be smaller too eg Auratone type size.  NOT your two main speakers in mono.  That is nowhere near as effective as one speaker.  Mono means one not two producing the same output.  Even two speakers producing mono will give you some stereo imaging due to the nature of sound arriving at both ears at slightly different times.  It adds to the mono confusion.
 
A different mono speaker also increases the number of systems you are hearing your mix on which is never a bad thing.  And a small speaker shows up all sorts of mix issues too.  It is also good down at low volume too but that is another story I guess.
 
The reason why this works is you never have to put anything on your masterbuss or switch it into mono etc.  It is just a simple matter of turning up the headphone level feeding the mono system.
 
All your sounds now will line up behind each other in the small mono speaker.  If they are too similar in sound and musical parts then they blend and will not sound separated.  If you want to similar parts to be more separated then making them that way in a mono speaker goes a long way once they are panned etc..in stereo.
 
Any wide chorus effects etc may also sum badly in mono and therefore you will know you have to rectify that by possibly doing polarity reversals on one side and checking again etc.. Some very wide synth sounds don't collapse well in mono either alerting you to make adjustments etc..Using tight delays to create stereo width (which IMO is a slack thing to do) often performs badly in mono too. eg comb filtering etc..
 
You never know when you music will be summed to mono.  It happens all the time.  Be ready for it.  Never just assume your mixes will always be heard in a wide stereo situation.
 
You can also use it very creatively too.  I have heard some great mixes that start out in mono (and sound great) then they just smoothly spread out to stereo over time. They can jump back into mono for a short period etc..
 
 

John

FreeFlyBertl
 
 
May I ask how often you (or anyone else reading this) really applies the full blown mono-first-on-track-level mixing approach considering most consumer devices are stereo these days?

Are you talking about recording? If so I recommend keeping them stereo. Its really a matter of a mono source stays mono and a stereo source stays stereo. 

No, I was refering to mixing. The way I read Bristol_Jonesey's post was that he folds stereo recorded tracks to mono when starting out to mix, gets the mix going and later uses Channel Tools to allow the stereo tracks a dedicated space in the stereo field ... I may have misread it, that's why I was asking ...
 

Jeff Evans
...  NOT your two main speakers in mono.  That is nowhere near as effective as one speaker.  Mono means one not two producing the same output.  Even two speakers producing mono will give you some stereo imaging due to the nature of sound arriving at both ears at slightly different times.  It adds to the mono confusion.
 
You can also use it very creatively too.  I have heard some great mixes that start out in mono (and sound great) then they just smoothly spread out to stereo over time. They can jump back into mono for a short period etc..
 

Thanks, Jeff, for joining. I always learn from your explanations.

I avoid recording anything in stereo to begin with. The only thing stereo in any of my projects tend to be vsti's that are stereo and samples that are stereo and most of the time i convert those to mono. I tend to run into issues when I try to get cute with choruses and delay effects or when I get sloppy with eq and introduce phase issues.

dubdisciple
I throw Boz Digital Labs' Panipulator on my master bus. It's free and hardly uses any cpu.
 
http://www.bozdigitallabs.com/product/panipulator/

Sure would be nice to have a ProChannel version...

To add to what Jeff said, the "quick and dirty" option is just to set all the interleave button in the Console to mono. You can do all of them at once with ctrl+click. The object of starting with everything in mono is you can see which tracks have problems (e.g. the chorus issues Jeff mentions) and which tracks "step on" other tracks in terms of frequency response so you can do some creative carving with the EQ.
 
If the mix checks out well, then you can move on to stereo and the space it creates will be very wide open.
 

Basic question that may sound stupid for many of you.
 
Talsking about recording. Not mixing. Since we all hear in stereo, shouldn't we record every instrument in stereo? If I am facing a band/orchestra I hear the whole thing in stereo but also each instrument. What should be recorded mono and why ?
 
I often thought about that but never figured it out. 

mcouture1961
Basic question that may sound stupid for many of you.
 
Talsking about recording. Not mixing. Since we all hear in stereo, shouldn't we record every instrument in stereo? If I am facing a band/orchestra I hear the whole thing in stereo but also each instrument. What should be recorded mono and why ?
 
I often thought about that but never figured it out. 

No. A Saxophone is a mono instrument a piano is a stereo instrument. Actually none are but we wont be far wrong in thinking in those terms. Stereo is a recording technique. What we get with a multitrack DAW or recorder is a simulated stereo sound. To get "real" stereo you need to have two mics place some distance apart and going to a two channel recorder. The stereo file will have more than just left right info in it but also space/time as well. A sense of location is recorded with the two mic technique.  
 
Blue Note records recorded using the technique outlined above to a two channel tape recorded. No mixing was done.  Their recordings sound fantastic. Position of instruments is clear. 
 
When we record a guitar for example often its done with a direct in and a single channel. The same for most instruments. When close micing became a possibility multi-track recordings could be made. Thank Les Paul for that. Bing Crosby also helped develop tape recording.
 
What we have now is the ability to record any way we wish.  

mcouture1961
Basic question that may sound stupid for many of you.
 
Talsking about recording. Not mixing. Since we all hear in stereo, shouldn't we record every instrument in stereo? If I am facing a band/orchestra I hear the whole thing in stereo but also each instrument. What should be recorded mono and why ?
 
I often thought about that but never figured it out. 

I'm no expert but the only time i record instruments in stereo is:

1) Recording live performances where individual recording is impractical or impossible.

2) In conjunction with individual tracks (ie drum kits where you have individual plus overhead and room.

3) I am limited by equipment on hand.


Most of these conditions rarely occur in the studio for me since the instruments or situations that could be argued for stereo recording seldom appear. 99% of the time i am in studio with musician not using VSTi involves guitar, bass, horn or other solo instrument best recorded in mono. Even with backup singers who prefer to harmonize together, I create a stereo track and then record each individually,typically tossing the stereo track

I love blue note recordings too

dubdisciple
I throw Boz Digital Labs' Panipulator on my master bus. It's free and hardly uses any cpu.
 
http://www.bozdigitallabs.com/product/panipulator/

Thanks! Just downloaded and will try tomorrow.
 
Walt

dubdisciple
Reading tips from Jeff has really helped my mixing a lot.

I'll second that !
 
I've become a disciple of Jeff's.  Everything he says just makes sense.