Why check your mix in mono?

[KevinAllen]

I've read a few threads where people have mentioned it. But why do it?

[Sturphy]

Biggest reason: to check that you don't have any phase cancellation issues.

Invariably, your material will end up played back mono somewhere, somehow.

[strangeLoop]

Check mixes in mono because at some point down the line your mix might get combined to mono and if there is anything out of phase between Left and Right channels it can disappear. Also some things that are in phase between Left and Right can build-up and jump out.

[KevinAllen]

How can you tell exacly?

And how do you o about fixing it? Just eq?

[001tony]

Some people still listen to music on mono sources and cancellation is sometimes noticed by a drop in the amount of reverb, and certain frequencies so listening in mono is just one of the checks that people do.
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Another check:
Off point but another thing to bear in mind when mastering, listening at very low levels to see if bass dissapears, psycho acoustics (equal listening curves) are affected by volume, so when listening at low levels bass can dissapear which obviousely most people would want to avoid.

All this stuff was explained to be by better people than me who used to work for EMI in London.

[systemexclusive]

Originally Posted by KevinAllen

And how do you o about fixing it? Just eq?

You can figure out by "playing" with MS codec or plug with MS functionality (like "Flux Stereo Tool" free-ware plug).

[1ace1]

Comb filtering is the main issue. Can sound washy and wierd.

As Sturphy said at some point the audio is likely to meet mono.

To be honest it is more of a hangup from the days of broadcasting when there were a lot of mono systems still on the market.

It is more likley that people will (now-a-days) be listening to one side of a stereo image rather than a summed mono when listening to one speaker but it is always good practice to check your mono summing before any release/airplay.

A:)

[Majorek]

Some people still listen to music on mono sources, really? How can that be possible today and what are these sources? I have never listened to something in mono since 1983 or something like that.

[TOM@METRO]

An example would be the sound system in a public place like a restaurant where multiple speakers are place throughout the room or area. These are typically summed to mono.

[Jay_uk]

A lot of Youtube is in "Mono"...... depends how it was encoded to upload it... i think.
Is this correct?