It's a common practice to set low frequencies to mono. Stereo bass can become muddy and lack of cohesion. And you're certain you don't have phase problem in that area. That beeing said, it can be done in the mastering process too.

I did this for the first time and was amazed how tight and focused the bass and kick became! Wow. I understand this was a necessity for mastering vinyl but wondered if ME still do this and if they find it to be a big plus/ trick of the trade per-say? So are you saying, assuming we don't have any phase issues, would you do this all the time?

I do it on mixes with excess LF panning, but not on conventional mixes with centered bass and kick. I generally mix LF center, mostly to have more speaker area on playback.

What program do you use and where do you set the roll-off?

In Sequoia, depending on M&S settings, I've noticed a few db lift in the bottom end when selecting this option. But its more like a focused LF lift. I've been experimenting with the Bricasti's hall verbs. I'm thinking of using one at the end of a master rather than as an insert so the large space reverb isn't effected from any LF mono option. I would then roll-off the LF on the Bricasti to taste and print. The sound is amazing.

The few times I've done it I used [[url=http://[/URL]="link removed[/]="link removed[/] with the transition around 150-300Hz (determined by listening) and the slope set to 6dB/octave. It also has a Width control in case you want to partially narrow rather than totally sum the LF.

Basslane (cool name) sounds similar to Sequoia and the width control is definitely a nice option for fine tuning. Thanks for sharing!

This is what we are using when doing mastering for vinyl.

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.nugenaud…"]NuGen Audio Monofilter – Transparent Bass Enhancer Plugin VST & AU[/]="http://www.nugenaud…"]NuGen Audio Monofilter – Transparent Bass Enhancer Plugin VST & AU[/]

Thanks Thomas,

In general, are you ever using this for pop or electronic music ( not just vinyl)?

I'm wondering if there is a plug /processor that I could use to do this on the 2 mix, pre mastering. Any thoughts?

audiokid, post: 406325 wrote: Thanks Thomas,

In general, are you ever using this for pop or electronic music ( not just vinyl)?

Yes and it works GREAT!

Cool, thank you for clarifying Thomas because I'm doing this all the time now :)

Donny, Samplitude/Sequoia has this option. I was actually thinking about re mixing a song of yours that I did a while back to tighten up the bass. I think this would really kick ass.

See Stereo/Phase plug-ins or this is also automatically part of the master bus section.

audiokid, post: 405798 wrote: I did this for the first time and was amazed how tight and focused the bass and kick became! Wow. I understand this was a necessity for mastering vinyl but wondered if ME still do this and if they find it to be a big plus/ trick of the trade per-say? So are you saying, assuming we don't have any phase issues, would you do this all the time?

I simply never mono the bass because it's the best way to kill the space in a mix. Some may prefer impact to spaciousness. But 260Hz is a crazy high value for monoing.
Even vinyl don't need it except when searching for super hot level.
Early Lee Scratch Perry vinyls are some interesting examples where instruments are hard panned including the bass despite it's roots Reggea. Not to mention the Beatles in the hard panned department.

Hi Laurent

I agree, 260 is too high for me ( most of the time) so I go down to 125hz or there about and might only blend it half way mono. I like stereo bass but a mix is always punchier sounding, easier to control and seems to produces louder final mixes. I could change this concept but currently, if the bass is dead center and mono on the subs, the mix just sounds tighter. So many people in the remix department are phasing out the subs and it sounds weird to me. Never translates well on mass either. You don't find that?

IMHO, cheap 2+1 computer speakers are the source of this urban legend because any stereo information in the bass hurts the bass translation.
But for a regular stereo system, stereo bass are the best source of spaciousness.
A punchy audio can be achieved without killing the stereo width.

Not necessarily at the end of a mix but, I admit you have much more ME experience than me so I could be way off.

Some people have so much going on that the only way I hear it improving is by mono the subs on the master. If I can mix a track, get deeper into it than stems, I will fix or tighten up the bass before it gets to the 2-bus and may never do it on the master. But still, I personally think mono bass sounds punchier dead center. I know its not wider but I tend to like the more focused subs.
The vox and majority of instruments are never down there anyway.
I especially like the kick in a mix done like this.

I realize some people would be choked hearing this done to their synths but I think thats more because they don't get the bigger picture. ?

Something else I might do is add a processor after the mono is set to re establish the stereo sub field in a gentle way. I'm finding there are a few ways to do this.

Yeah I do this in Ozone 5 pretty much every time. It also makes life a little easier for the limiter.