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this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2024
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I'd be perfectly fine if everything was just mixed mono. I see little value in stereo. I'm weird like that.
In electronic music you often slightly detune the left and right of a synthesizer to make it sound "wide", you can't do that in mono and if you mix the stereo down to mono it sounds boring.
However most clubs are going to be playing mono so always bounce to mono and test mix.
Cant you do that in mono with two oscillators? Also aren't analog synths mono most of the time?
I don't think so because the effect is perceived by the time difference each ear receives. The same way we perceive direction of a sound by our brains automatically calculating how long the sound took to get to either ear.
like @zaphod said, its mostly to make it sound wider. in mono, everything sounds like its in the center of your skull. in stereo, some stuff it a few inches from my ear (wherever the drivers are), some stuff can be in my head, some can even be in my throat if that makes sense
Things like Spotify or your phone/earbuds themselves usually have a mono setting. I use it all the time when only wearing one earbud. Beatles songs are notorious for splitting vocals to one ear only.
The solution is already right there. But let me guess, "No, I want to use my old wired earbuds from 1995 and they should accommodate me in my archaic niche use case instead of me upgrading my earbuds to enjoy the new features developed like forced mono"?
FYI, you're listening to the wrong mix then. Beatles albums (particularly those before The White Album, or maybe Sgt. Pepper/Magical Mystery Tour, I forget exactly) were never recorded with stereo in mind. The tech was pretty new, and the stereo mixes of those songs/albums were more of a novelty.
If you're listening to the 2009 Remasters, make sure you're listening to the mono versions if it's an album prior to 1967-1968 or so, otherwise you're gonna get this "fake stereo", panning a mono signal between L and R, bullshit.