Mixing in stereo probably does have some advantages when it comes to Tonal balance in a mono environment. For example, the high end of drums in a wide stereo sound much more crisp. Even when mixing in stereo one should also check the mix in mono to ensure not too much is lost.

Mrgeeze I think even if playing back in mono use your Logic Pro to mix each channel include some panning as well as level adjustments. Then listen in mono to see you have the sound you want. Logic Pro will most likely have a button to test mono/stereo. It will not take all that long to master. (I’m lucky my little PA is stereo so I have the backing sound coming from across the stage. Even then I still need a fair mono mix as not everybody is in the ideal stereo listening position.)

I think the best tool for getting overall levels close is a LUFS meter. This will show the average volumes for each song. Personally I do that then convert 320kbs MP3 then as a final check run them through MP3gain just to be sure. Usually MP3gain does nothing to the files as the files coming from the LUFS meter are pretty much the same overall level. However there is still the odd song that seems louder or quieter but that is more just a feeling. A really calm ballad seems too loud and a heavier rocker seems too quiet but they are the same overall level.

Because I am going to convert to MP3 I set my limiter to a true peak level of -1.3 dB. The actual limiter does very little “limiting” in my case as most of my stuff is country/easy listening (if listening to me could be easy) so I really have only drums (snare and kick) and maybe the odd bass note getting compressed by the limiter. The true peak level of -1.3 dB pretty much stops clipping when using MP3 at 320kbs.

Tony

Last edited by Teunis; 05/28/19 04:59 PM.
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