It's basically making something that is mono sound stereo. You can do this by slightly delaying one of the 2 channels (left or right). It's a cheap trick IMO and not generally recommended, unless of course you are using it for special effect.

Ah. Like stereo enhancement.....yeahhhhhhhhhhhh.

I don't recommend too much of that either. Maybe for strings, or maybe a little bit on a piano or such, but definitely no drums.

I have been in situations where I was limeted to 8 tracks when recording live and I have been forced to reord only a kick track, snare track and a single overhead mic ... NOT STEREO for sure.

When I mixed, I added a short room reverb to the overhead track, effectivly "stereo-izing" it ... It really worked quite well.

Just another trick from a "pissed off old timer to recording".

I had read that this is where you have a bunch of pseudo-stereo sources (like keyboards and drum machines) that are panned hard left and right, resulting in BIG MONO. This effectively robs you of stereo definition and depth because all of these tracks are panned on top of each other. Best to toss out one of the stereo tracks and create your own stereo patch, either with a pitch shifter or delay. Or pan them at a point other than hard left/right.

Chuck

Big Mono is also a name you can call someone who looks very uncomfortable... okay, I just made that up, but think about it... they may just need to go to the bathroom really bad! You never know. Big Mono often introduces a un-easy feeling in the bowels. I nearly vomited, and shit my pants, the last time I tried recording a keyboard who's stereo out's were mearly Big Mono-fied.

Big Mono = Mic the same source two different ways and pan hard L-R

i.e. guitar cab with two 12s:
Mic one 12 with a 57 mic the other 12 with a 57 same location same distance. The best way to set location is to send pink noise through the cab. Run a headphone line and monitor the cab in the phones while you are placing the mic. Find the brightest spot (or darker to taste... no rules you know) and place mic 1 there. Mic the other speaker similarly. Match the pink noise in both mics as best as you can. Go into the control room and listen in mono. Flip phase on one mic... most of the sound should disappear. Flip phase back to normal. Match levels as well as you can. Pan hard L-R an track your guitar. Congratulations, you now have "Big Mono"

Good Luck!

KungFuLio: ummm, isn't that just a stereo/multi-mic setup? Surely the exampel you give can result in something sounding "Big Mono" but that doesn't mean it really is by definition. Or maybe the definition has changed recently to include this guitar mic technique.. anyone know for sure?

...and, don't the different cones of a guitar amp sound differently on purpose? Doesn't that just just not make any sense? Where/who did you learn this from?

that's fine, but I don't think this is what most people are referring to when they say "big mono".

"Big mono occurs when you have a track with a lot of pseudo-stereo sources that are all panned hard right and hard left." - The Mixing Engineers Handbook by Bobby Owsinski (1999)

(it's not illegal to quote a book like that is it?)