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New "mono" records

McBru6177

McBru6177

One Way or Another
I was playing my very first "mono" records tonight (the Hollies) and they just didn't sound quite right. (The records are new and re-mastered from the mono tapes.) And then I switched my receiver from stereo to mono. Big improvement. But given my TT cartridge is stereo, it made me wonder if this is how "mono" records are meant to be played. Is this the right approach?
 
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No! Modern pressings of mono recordings are almost always cut with a stereo lathe, and the master tapes are usually played back on a stereo tape deck during mastering. If the channels weren't perfectly aligned during mastering (which they often aren't), you will get nasty phase artifacts (rolled off treble and/or slight swishy-ness) when collapsed to mono.

Pre-1968 mono pressings are the only ones that are guaranteed to sound correct with the mono switch engaged, as they were cut with a mono lathe, from a full-track playback deck.

I believe that Bernie Grundman is one of the only, if not THEE only, mastering house that is presently equipped to cut genuine mono pressings.
 
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Dunno if any lateral single channel cutter heads are anywhere as good as the later stereo heads. I've had luck bridging the cart channels for mono but doing it in the pre' line stages should be as good if all is well. The way it all works is such that the stereo LP system was to be fully compatible with mono and so the cart channels are out-of-polarity phase with each other to allow for lateral mono with vertical groove signal component cancellation with the channels bridged for mono. Playing mono with the channels bridged on a stereo rig will "float" the sonic image in open space between the speakers rather than having it captive in/from a single point from a mono-only rig.
 
There is nothing to loose by trying it both ways, mono and stereo. There can be phase problems, as Beatcomber said, but not always. Try it both ways and see what sounds best for the record at hand. Most of the time I use the mono setting for mono records as it helps with the perceived level of noise, especially on records that are somewhat worn, i.e.: styrene 45s.
 
It is really album and system dependent. Sundazed Byrd's and Dylan sound better to me using the mono switch as does stuff from Norton. I have not heard the phase effect. I agree one should experiment.

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