Here ya go! This is a good article that explains the difference!
Mono vs Stereo; a general guide for anyone who doesn’t know the difference.
In light of the recent news that a box set of Beatles albums in Mono is being released, and noting the amount of questions that pop up regarding Mono, I thought it might be good to do an overall guide on what Mono is and why it’s being used.
DISCLAIMER: This is intended to HELP people here who are not aware of the difference between Mono and Stereo, and to help dispel any myths of misinformation (of which there is a lot floating around.) The dates I’m using are rules of thumb. So if you find any errors in here, please do not down vote, instead, leave a comment with the correction and I will amend it where possible. Let’s see if we can create a definitive guide for people to refer to.
Also, I’m skimming over some details, especially regarding the way Capitol released this stuff in the US. That’s a whole ‘nother kettle of fish I’m not going into, for the sake of clarity, and to refer to the new Mono box set being released, I am talking about the UK releases of these albums only.
What is Mono?
Listen to any album from the last 40 years, and notice how each element (instrument, vocals,) are coming from different points in front of you. This is called a Stereo image (or soundstage.) and is made possible by having two speakers separated by a space between them. Before the early 60’s, this didn’t really exist in the common household stereo set up, and your average listener had one speaker. This is what we know as Mono. Therefore all music was mixed without any concept or need of panning (left and right and everything inbetween in the soundstage) and was listened to and mixed with one speaker. Therefore, Mono wasn’t the exception, or an alternative to Stereo, it was the only thing that existed for listening to music since the invention of the gramophone, up until the mid 20th Century when Stereo started to be used.
So a basic rule of thumb to identify each when listening –
Mono = All instruments and vocals centred in the mix Stereo = Instruments and vocals spread from Left – Centre – Right to give the illusion of a soundstage in front of the listener.
Why Stereo?
At first, Stereo was something of a novelty. It wasn’t commonly listened to, and therefore was a bit of a gimmick. The first Stereo mixing consoles were typically 2 track or 4 track mixing desks. This meant you were limited to separating only 2 or 4 individual elements in the Stereo image. Using The Beatles as an example, the first two albums in Stereo were 2 track, so if you listen to them, you will notice all instruments are on one side, and all vocals on the other. This is what people mean when referring to ‘hard panning.’ This even continued when they started using a 4 track desk (I Want To Hold Your Hand on wards), and even the incredibly dense sounding Sgt Pepper was made using a 4 track desk. Mixing huge instrumentation arrangements was possible on 4 track by using a technique called ‘bouncing.’ I won’t go into that here, but you can google it to find out more.
Because Stereo on commercial pop records at this point was a novelty, and a new exciting technology, and because engineers and producers of popular music were new to the idea, early 60’s music in Stereo generally sounds quite primitive. When you have only 2 track Stereo, hard panning is the only option to create a crude Stereo image, and is essentially redundant. But even with the advent of 4 track stereo, you will find that instruments were still hard panned (i.e the drums all on one side, vocals one side, guitars in the middle etc….) It is only towards the latter part of the 60’s, and with 8 track or 16 track becoming more common, that Stereo mixes started to sound like what you would hear today, with instruments placed in a realistic and pleasing stereo image.
Going back to The Beatles; from The White Album on wards, 8 track was the standard, which allowed greater versatility in creating a convincing and satisfying Stereo image. By the time Let It Be was recorded, Mono had become obsolete, 16 track stereo consoles were the norm, and that is why you will not find a true Mono mix of the last two studio albums (and Yellow Submarine.)
(p.s - Those Brazilian copies of Abbey Road and Let It Be people go on about are Mono fold downs. i.e the same mix as Stereo, folded down into a Mono mix, so do not count.)
So, why do people still listen to Mono?
Well, coming from my own experience, I listen to a lot of music from the 1920s- to early 1960’s and generally speaking, I find 2 and even 4 track stereo unpleasant to listen to. There is also the problem of ‘Fake Stereo’ also called ‘Duophonic Stereo.’ This is something that labels like Capitol starting promoting when Stereo became the go-to listening set up. Music from the previous 30 years was primarily recorded in Mono, and so to try and re-sell that stuff, and to modernise it, they would create a fake Stereo mix by splitting the Mono signal between two speakers, putting a slight delay on one side, and adding a whole bunch of reverb. This would create a rather crude facsimile of a Stereo image that quite frankly sounds terrible. Some labels even went so far as to do this to Blues ans Jazz music from the 1920’s - 1940’s. Stuff that was one man and his guitar in a room with one microphone. Imagine listening to Leadbelly or Robert Johnson like this! It’s terrible and should be avoided at all costs. By always buying Mono mixes of this early stuff, you are guaranteed to avoid fake Stereo.
The other thing to consider is there would be different mixes done for Mono and Stereo. It wasn’t always a case of taking the Stereo mix and folding it down to Mono (although this was done a lot) So, again using The Beatles; Sgt.Pepper is a very different experience in Mono. She’s leaving Home is about 1/2 step faster, John’s vocals of Lucy In The Sky has a huge amount of ’flange’ processing are just two examples. There are different little bits here and there. That’s because they did the Mono mix first, then started again for The Stereo.
This means that Mono can also be a way of experiencing a familiar album in a different way. Some Mono mixes are said to be superior, and this adds to the appeal. They are marketed as exotic items when reissued (which is ironic given how that is how Stereo was initially marketed.) Generally speaking these days, when reissues are done in Mono, they are aimed at the relatively small audiophile market, as it is seen that the casual listener doesn’t give two fucks if it’s Mono or Stereo, and probably doesn’t know the difference. This, generally, is quite true. Sales of The Beatles Mono CD box set in 2009, although better that initially expected, still pale in comparison to the Stereo sales.
Does Sir Paul want me to listen in Mono?
The other thing usually touted out regarding The Beatles in Mono, is that this is how they truly intended the music to be heard. There is much anecdotal evidence that The Beatles only cared for the Mono mix, and spent days on it, and left the Stereo mixing to some assistant whilst they had their lunch. This new Mono box set is even being marketed this way, but generally speaking, it’s not that true.
The Beatles didn’t really start having an influence over the way the album was mixed until the Rubber Soul/Revolver period, but George Martin and his team still retained full control of the mix. And they didn’t start actively mixing their own music until The White Album. Up until this point, all Mono and Stereo mixes were done by the team at Abbey Road, and whilst they would have referred to The Beatles for a lot of it, generally speaking, it wasn’t something they controlled, and nor did they want to until Revolver/Sgt Pepper.
Therefore, The White Album is the first proper studio album that they had a lot of control over the mixing and production stage. And yet this is the last true Beatles album to be released in Mono. And Paul McCartney has been quoted as saying they wanted to make the mixes between Mono and Stereo for this album different, so that people would want to buy both. This shows that the Stereo mix, especially given it was now a popular thing was given just as much thought as the Mono. All previous albums were not under their full control, and all subsequent albums (bar Yellow Submarine,) were not given Mono mixes anyway.
So, is Mono the way ‘they wanted you to hear it?’ Probably not, but it’s a nice thought, and certainly the first 2 albums were never intended by George Martin to be released in Stereo. Parlaphone did that without his knowledge, and the were pressed is such small numbers that they are now incredibly rare. The only reason it was recorded to 2 track buy him was to allow a better Mono mix. Either way, it’s up to you how you want to hear it, and if you prefer Stereo, nobody can tell you that is wrong.
A lot of people ask ’is Mono better?’ but the question is kinda silly. In a perfect world , all music since the dawn of the 20th Century would have been recorded on at least 16 track Stereo, with excellent Stereo mixes, and Mono would never have existed. But this is not the case, and so we have to choose between Mono and Stereo for the first half the 20th Century.
So, a general rule of thumb for you; anything prior to say 1962 is preferable in Mono, to avoid Fake Stereo and to get a authentic mix to listen to (not strictly, there are exceptions, but generally.) From the mid 60’s on wards, we have a blurring of the lines between Mono and Stereo as 4 track and 8 track consoles started to be used. At this point ,what mix you should listen to is a matter of preference, and should be researched before purchase. Only you can decide if Mono is better for The Beatles box set, or anything else. And from around 1968 on wards, Mono becomes essentially obsolete, and is very rarely used expect as an exotic, audiophile thing that doesn’t generally appeal to your casual listener, and isn’t really necessary. The exception here is that at least until the mid-70’s. For R&B/Soul/Funk singles, for instance (like what was coming out of Motown and Stax, at the time) the mono mix was still used and is often considered superior, with more energy, more punch, more ooomph in the same way the early Beatles stuff is. Again, research and listen to your options before purchase if you want to know the differences. Only your ears can tell you which mix is better.
Should I have one speaker to listen to Mono? And should I have a special cartridge?
No and no. With two speakers, you will still be able to listen to a Mono record. All the information will be centered because the aural information in the left and right speakers is exactly the same. However, for vinyl, you will find that the surface noise is still in Stereo, because you are using a Stereo cartridge and two speakers. It is therefore preferable, if you have one , to use a Mono button on your receiver. This will sum both signals going to your speakers together, including the surface noise, and you Mono listening experience will improve without having to buy an expensive Mono cartridge. I’ll also allow Michael Fremer to explain this a little better than me:
Mono information is all lateral. Stereo cartridge read the vertical component of the groove information. On a mono record that would all be rumble and noise produced by imperfect pressing, which is the reality of vinyl playback no matter how well the record is pressed. A mono cartridge, by definition does not read or play back any of that extraneous information. You can approximate what a mono cartridge does with a "mono" button on a phono or line pre amp or even by using a "Y" adapter when playing a mono record but a mono cartridge is best for mono records...
One last point regarding True Stereo and Stereo. For the sake of clarity, what I have been calling Stereo all this time, strictly isn’t ’True Stereo.’ True Stereo is created by using multiple mics on one instrument so that each individual element has its own stereo image. But for the average pop record in the 60’s, each instrument would be recorded with one mic. So what I am calling Stereo is actually a bunch of Mono signals spread over the sound stage to create a Stereo image.