Mono'ing low end?

[worldwideweapon]

Any fellows here that like to mono low end when mixing / mastering? Quite a few plugins do this and I demoed bx_digital V2 with this option and it gave quite nice, clinical feel to the bottom when doing it for the material under 80hz'ish.

I suppose this is very basic thing in EDM and such but how do you see this with rock and metal?

 

[bryan_kilco]

I've toyed with this before but not a whole lot.

What I don't exactly understand is that - mostly everything that low is mono anyway. Guits I normally HP around 100hz, and anything left below 100 is kick, bass. Everything else is HP'd. I'll have to mess with this again though.

 

[Reinot]

HP filter does not remove completely but attenuates (reduces the amplitude of) signals with frequencies lower than the cutoff frequency.

 

[Kohugaly]

HP filter does not remove completely but attenuates (reduces the amplitude of) signals with frequencies lower than the cutoff frequency.

There's no way and no need to remove stuff completely. If you use 12dB/octave at 100Hz, that means sound at 50Hz will be attenuated by 12dB. Try to set something 12dB lower in the mix... You can pretty much consider it removed.

Monoing low end is relatively simple task - Use Mid/side EQ and remove everything under 100-250dB on Side channel. It can give you a bit more headroom... You need woofer to play those frequencies anyway. I've read somewhere that monoing low end comes from times of vinyl. Removing low frequencies from lateral (side) channel makes the track narrower = increases capacity of the plate.

Highpassing individual non-center-panned tracks is not the same as monoing low end. Interferences between individual tracks that contain higher frequencies can result in subsonic content.
Simple experiment to prove that: Create two sinewave tracks with 100Hz and 110Hz and sum them. You'll get 10Hz Sinewave. It's the Principe of FM radio.

Similar stuff happens when you compress tracks. These interferences are quite low and subtle, but removing them can give you extra headroom with no sonic difference cos' they are so low.