Mono Panning

In the Mixing Engineers Handbook, the author discusses monitoring mixes in mono to listen for phasing and balance.

Mixing Engineer, Don Smith says, "I check my panning in mono... If I want to find a place for the hi-hat for instance, sometimes I'll go to mono and pan it around and you'll find that it's really present all of a sudden, and that's the spot."

How would you do this in SONAR? Send everything to the Master Buss and set its pan to mono and then tweak the pans on the individual tracks?

Is anyone here doing this?

I read that book and, taken in context, interperpreted that section as:
1)route all tracks to master bus set to mono
2)establish relative channel gains prior to any panning
3)pan tracks to the places that they gain clarity (in mono)
4)re-adjust track gains if neccesary as needed
5)change master to stereo, and begin applying effects
6)check mono often

That said, I like to do it more like Slugbaby said (which is not all that different). Because, I like to place my tracks on an imaginary stage, develop positions, effects, and depth, and then adjust to make them work in mono.

3)pan tracks to the places that they gain clarity (in mono)

But, Dave, if you are monitoring in mono, then panning won't do a thing until you switch back to a stereo reference.
Monitoring in mono means that you are summing the stereo buss(es) into one output. Everything tracked comes out of both speakers, with no panning separation.


Hmmmm I'm not getting this either.


I understand the advantages to switching to a mono reference, I used to do it all the time, especially when checking for phase issues... drums were often a culprit because generally there were so many mics in one given area...
Checking a mix in mono was also used for "compatibility", although these days that's become less crucial because so many people have stereo TV's, radios, CD players, etc.

But I'm not getting how you would monitor in mono and be able to hear any movement whatsoever.

Solo- in -place, or "SIP", would allow you this luxury, but SIP is a stereo monitor mode, not a mono one.

Unless... ding ding ding!!... (the light just went on).... he is placing his hi hat track at center detente and then panning it, while referencing in stereo, to a spot in the spectrum that he likes.


Is my bet.

FWIW

Yes, Randy's got it right. He's saying pretty much the same thing as explained in the book.

Now that I think I know how to do it, I'll give it a whirl on my next mix.

Thanks!

one thing I see repeatedly in books and posts is using a single speaker to monitor in mono as the "ghost" image from stereo speakers running on a mono input is not the same thing... I have a spare JBL Control 1 monitor I use for this purpose as it has a range similar to my main monitors so the quality is relatively good but its pure mono... it mostly eliminates position and room influences as well since it is a true single source... as Randy pointed out, the mono panning does alter the relationship of the mix and I prefer to do this instead of eq'ing if possible.