What is Monaural, Stereo and Surround?

1. Monaural (aka mono) is 1 channel of audio.

2. Stereo is 2 channels of audio — classic left and right.

Podcasts are typically published in mono or stereo.

Many podcasters prefer to publish episodes in mono because the file size is half the size of a stereo file, which means it’s a significantly smaller file for the listener to download/stream. Also, many podcast media hosts charge podcasters for the amount of megabytes they upload each month; in those cases podcasters would be able to upload twice as many mono episodes as stereo episodes.

Also, many podcasters (like me) prefer to publish episodes in stereo because I incorporate stereo music, and music sounds more lifeless when collapsed to mono. Also, I’m not worried about listeners downloading/streaming a slightly larger file – their phones and computers can easily handle that storage and bandwidth. And personally I’m never really in danger of going over my monthly media hosting limit.

NOTE: If your episodes don’t include stereo music or stereo sound effects, you should publish in mono because you don’t actually “need” a stereo file.

3. Surround sound is multiple channels which play through speakers which “surround” the listener, like when you go to the movies. FYI, 5.1 is the standard surround sound format — it has 6 total channels and calls for 6 speakers: Center (C) in front of the listener, Left (L) and Right (R) at angles of 60° on either side of the center, and Left Surround (LS) and Right Surround (RS) at angles of 100–120°, plus a subwoofer whose position is not critical.

Do you publish in mono or stereo? Comment below!

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