MONO vs STEREO: Benefits (& Drawbacks) of Stereo Audio

What is the difference between mono and stereo audio? Are different types of audio systems required for listening in mono or stereo? Are there different recording methods for mono vs stereo? By the end of this video, you'll understand what mono and stereo audio signals are and the benefits of mono and stereo sound systems.

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0:00 - Introduction
0:27 - What Is Mono Audio?
0:50 - What Is Stereo Audio?
1:16 - The Benefits of Stereo Audio
5:20 - The Drawbacks of Stereo Audio
6:13 - Subscribe to Audio University!

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[AudioUniversity]

Need help setting up your listening space? Check out this free resource I've created for you...

[serialistic]

These are some great lessons. You need more recognition.

[tonyandrew]

Kyle just wanna say you're a blessing to me. I'm new to audio production but your videos have been answering a whole lot of my questions. God bless you man. Keep doing what you're doing.

[TheSpeenort]

I've found that I can draw attention to various tones by giving them motion around the stereo field. This makes use of our natural instinct for tracking sound. Conversely, I can pull attention away from some tones by scattering them, like frogs in a swamp. If you move an arpeggio evenly from one side to the other, it tends to draw attention. Whereas the same arpeggio that has its notes randomly placed will not.

[serhatt]

Wow best explanation so far! I really liked how you demonstrated left-right channels by showing exactly how it sounds. Great content man! Thank you.

[jukingeo]

The last point he mentions at 6:02 is very key when it comes to professional sound systems. Yet, I often see DJ's and nightclubs always making the same mistake and setting up a stereo system. When I had installed sound systems in the 90's, I always had club owners scratching their heads when they say, "Why not go with stereo?" My response was what this fellow said. It will be very rare that you would be in a position to enjoy a full stereo image. Further going with a mono system cuts down on the amount of amplifiers needed. So on a system with two speakers and two subwoofers, a DJ could use one two channel amplifier instead of two. With one channel handling the full range speakers and one handling the bass / subwoofers. Granted in these days, it isn't common to find new professional systems that do not have the amplifiers built into the speakers and given that most mixing consoles are set up to output in stereo, it is just easier to set up and take down the system. Further, you have built in redundancy as if a speaker, or the amplifier in the speaker goes bad, you still have another speaker to work with. Going with a mono system would come more into play if you have a situation in which you have quite a few speakers to play sound from such as a store in which one would use an distributed system such as a 70volt line. These systems are almost always mono.

[lore.keeper]

The practical bits were awesome, great work! 👏🏻

[Mal-xzzu]

Superb audio-visual presentation! Would love to see you tackle distortion & noise in cheap class D amps vs. more expensive class D amps. And how to work out if you need new speakers or a new amp to improve things. Good point on when to use mono - maybe worth expanding to a full video? I guess when I want music for background in kitchen then mono is the way to go - I'm not going to be standing in one place!

[debrisoliveira]

What a fabulous video. Impressive dedication to quality, to get the best possible presentation. Congrats.

[qineonmorame]

💥Very nice video. Anyone can Acquire so much knowledge. Your channel great.💥

[saranmani]

No words..
Thank you very happy and lucky..🤝🏼 🤜🏼🤛🏼

[rokzakrajsek]

Cool video. Tnx man! Wanted to dig up some info before buying a Scarlett product and found a cool new channel. Awesome way of explaining. Subscribed.

[marlonhouston]

You have explained this so well, that you get an A child can understand this. Excellent

[StephenRyan]

My phone has stereo speakers and I heard the difference. Love Samsung. I've mastered the stereo set up and I'm now testing a 6.0 system for both music and movies.

[maze]

Question, using a 5.1 surround sound system, is there an advantage to mono? Will it help identify room issues?

[borgymon]

Thanks for the video. I would like to get your thoughts on the difference between soundstage and I imaging, and whether you can get soundstage with an all mono system.

[MichaelDaniels]

Based on this video, why does a keyboard come in stereo but guitar and bass do not? Thanks for the video!

[athmajks]

very informative. Thank you audio university.

[keywestjimmy]

Wrong. Incomplete and missing the KEY difference. Stereo is:
1) The unique capture of impact (direct) sounds AND capture of reverberant (indirect) sounds, 2) the unique playback and cohesion of BOTH the impact AND reverberant sounds.

Stereo has two unique wave forms: "mid" and "side" channels. These are the key characteristics of "Stereo". Without them you have "dual-mono."

Enhanced reverberation and enhanced direct is what makes stereo, stereo. So ONE speaker always reproduces these key elements (assuming they are encoded) of a stereo signal. Yes, you can listen to stereo with one speaker. (Although not ideally because you need L, R mid and side to cohere properly to achieve the audio illusion of spacial dimension.). Stereo is not "2 speakers". Stereo uses unique sound waves that mono does not. See Alan Blumlien's equations for detailed information.

[yourbrownsaviour]

still confused..so for my purposes..i dont use real amps but record in Reaper using Neural DSP Plugins..do i need to use mono or stereo when recording electric guitar?
Thanks
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Thanks