The 30-Second Mono Check Every 808 Beat Needs
Published · by Loopin
If your 808 gets quieter or vanishes when you fold the beat to mono, it will do the same on a phone speaker, a club system or a Bluetooth speaker. The check takes 30 seconds, and it comes before mastering.
Seconds 0 to 10: Fold the master to mono and play the hook
Put a mono switch or a utility plug-in on the master track and turn it on. Play the loudest part of the beat, with the 808 and the kick together. Do not touch the volume.
You are listening for one thing: does the low end stay as heavy as it was? A small change is normal. If the 808 drops to half its weight or the kick sounds hollow, you have a phase problem, and you have found it before a buyer did. Check with the master fader untouched and your monitors at a normal, quiet level. Loud monitoring hides low-end problems because your ears compress the sub, so a bass that feels fine loud can still vanish at conversation volume.
Seconds 10 to 20: Solo the 808 and look at the meter
Solo the 808 channel, then flip mono on and off while you watch the level. If it falls by more than about 3 dB, something in that channel is spread wide: a stereo layer, a chorus, a widener or a stereo reverb on the bass.
Also solo the kick on its own. Two sounds fighting in the sub is a different problem from a wide 808, and it shows up as a hole in mono even when each part is fine alone.
Seconds 20 to 30: Fix the one thing that is wide
The usual fixes in order: remove any stereo effect from the 808 channel, then pan the layer that is out of phase to the centre, then flip the polarity on the second layer and listen again. Keep the sub below roughly 120 Hz in the centre. Our how to keep your bass mono guide goes through the longer method.
Do not widen the 808 to make it feel bigger. Width on a sub makes it fall apart on small speakers. Put the width on hats, chords and the top end instead. After each change, repeat the 10-second fold from the first step. If the 808 now holds within about 3 dB, stop; do not keep tweaking.
Run the check again after mastering
Export the fixed beat as a stereo WAV and master it with Loopin’s free online mastering. Use the loudness-matched A/B, then fold the mastered file to mono and play the hook again. The low end should still feel solid. If you want a quick second opinion on the tone, run the same fixed WAV through the free online masterer with two different feels and compare them in mono as well as stereo.
Be especially careful with Punchy (about −11 LUFS) and Club (about −10): louder feels push harder on the low end, so any weakness in mono is easier to hear. If the 808 breaks up, go back to the mix, because a master cannot rescue a weak sub.
Listen on a phone as the real test
Most of your buyers hear a preview on a phone speaker, which has no real low end and often sums to mono. Play the mastered beat on yours at normal volume. If you cannot hear the 808 at all, add a little harmonic weight to it in the mix so its second harmonic carries on small speakers.
Our mono compatibility check and fixing 808 clipping in your master cover the neighbouring problems.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check if my 808 works in mono?
Put a mono switch on the master, play the hook and compare. If the 808 drops by more than about 3 dB or the kick sounds hollow, there is a phase problem to fix.
Why does my 808 disappear in mono?
Usually a stereo effect on the 808, or two layered bass sounds with opposite phase. They cancel when summed to mono. Remove the effect or flip the polarity on one layer.
Should an 808 be mono?
Keep the sub, roughly below 120 Hz, centred and mono. Put width on the higher parts of the beat.
Do I check mono before or after mastering?
Both. Check and fix before you export, then check the mastered file again in the A/B, since louder masters make weak low end easier to hear.
Can mastering fix a bad 808 in mono?
No. Automatic mastering cannot fix a phase problem in the mix. Fix the 808 in the mixer and export again.