I'm recording acoustic guitar with Cool Edit. I can record individual tracks in stereo or mono. I've got a couple condensor mics and seem to get a good sound either way but I'm not sure I'm doing it right, and haven't seen much discussion about the topic. Other than experimenting with mic placement (x/y, etc.), what methods does everyone use? It sounds as if recording in mono, duplicating the track and playing around with pan and tiny bits of delay, etc. gives me much the same effect as recording in stereo and making similar kinds of adjustments to the channel mix settings. I would assume that if I end up with a lot of stereo tracks panned in a lot of different ways, I could lose control of the mix unless I was real careful. Does any of this make any sense?
Recording stereo or mono tracks -What's best?
- Thread starter CTyankee
- Start date
sup man. I dunno 'bout everyone else here,...there are some people on here that really know what they are doing,.....but,..as for me,...i still track everything in mono until i get a grasp on phase. Youre right,...you could get into real trouble in the mix,..if you try stereo tracking without a good grasp on the phase issue.
Every so often i record some stuff in stereo just for practice and for learning purposes,..but not on any project i plan to finish.
i hope that helps a little. Good luck.
Calwood
Every so often i record some stuff in stereo just for practice and for learning purposes,..but not on any project i plan to finish.
i hope that helps a little. Good luck.
Calwood
Blue Bear Sound
New member
The short answer is "...it depends!"
The long answer is "...it depends..." - on the song, on the production, on the prominence of that particular track in the arrangement, on the room, on the sound of the source.... you get the idea...
You already said the answer - you have to experiment.... 2 times at least -- once in pre-production to determine exactly how you want the track to fit-in, and second during production where you experiment with mic placement/mics to best capture the sound you're looking for.
The long answer is "...it depends..." - on the song, on the production, on the prominence of that particular track in the arrangement, on the room, on the sound of the source.... you get the idea...
You already said the answer - you have to experiment.... 2 times at least -- once in pre-production to determine exactly how you want the track to fit-in, and second during production where you experiment with mic placement/mics to best capture the sound you're looking for.
Shailat
New member
Rock/pop music use a lot of mono tracks panned to their so called "place/position" in combination with stereo tracks.
You have to make a decision as to how you want to hear your track in the mix. How important it is as a part. What size you want it in the mix. How important is "realisim" of that part in the mix. Do you really need 2 mics to achieve your goal?. Is a Rhytm
guitar really going to benefit from a wide sound. Does it play such a part in the mix?.
A combination of both will give you added realisim as well as help you reach a more cohiseve sound for the whole band.
Look at a typicall mix - you'll find the kit mono miced together with a stereo Overheads. Piano tends to be miced stereo as well as a horn and string section. Many engineers like to stereo mic back vocals..choirs Keyboard type bell sounds like Vibraphone.
Most Jazz bands are stereo miced and lots of folkish type bands as well.
Remember phase problems can pop out and the balance you get with more then one musician playing at the same time is crytical.
The room you record in now plays a more inportant part as room ambience will now be an issue.
You have to make a decision as to how you want to hear your track in the mix. How important it is as a part. What size you want it in the mix. How important is "realisim" of that part in the mix. Do you really need 2 mics to achieve your goal?. Is a Rhytm
guitar really going to benefit from a wide sound. Does it play such a part in the mix?.
A combination of both will give you added realisim as well as help you reach a more cohiseve sound for the whole band.
Look at a typicall mix - you'll find the kit mono miced together with a stereo Overheads. Piano tends to be miced stereo as well as a horn and string section. Many engineers like to stereo mic back vocals..choirs Keyboard type bell sounds like Vibraphone.
Most Jazz bands are stereo miced and lots of folkish type bands as well.
Remember phase problems can pop out and the balance you get with more then one musician playing at the same time is crytical.
The room you record in now plays a more inportant part as room ambience will now be an issue.
Blue Bear Sound said:
Thanks, and I know it depends....That's a point that comes through loud and clear in just about every thread on this board. I'm raring to go and ready to experiment! But I'm not experienced enough to know even where to begin. Well, that's not exactly true. I've learned a lot already. And tried a bunch of things. I guess my question is if I'm doing an acoustic guitar rhythm track, lead track, vocal and harmony tracks - 4 basic tracks - will recording those tracks in mono be a less complex way to experiment with different mix settings? So I can start nailing down how things relate? If I place mono tracks in diffenent places in the panorama, don't I end up with a stereo mix? If I take duplicate mono tracks and pan one right and one left, isn't that a stereo image of some sort? Is there a characteristic sound associated with mono tracks vs stereo tracks? What should I be listening for? Can you recommend a basic mix as a starting point from which I can experiment?
Hey Shailat, just saw your post. We must have been typing away at the same time. You mentioned something about the "size" of a part in the mix. I would assume that size is controlled most effectively by whether it is a mono track or stereo track. For example, in my situation maybe the rhythm track could be done in stereo and the lead in mono, so I could have more specific control over where the lead appears in the panorama? Am I thinking the right way about this?
Shailat
New member
CTyankee said:
Size isnt the only issue. You can create size with other things like a delay. But yes, Your thinking right.
Depending on how many rhythm tracks you have. If you have say 2 guitar rhythm parts or - even more dense also a keyboard part....recording them all in Stereo and trying to place them all in the mix with out conflictions.....you get the point.
Many instruments benefit greatly by recording them stereo like piano some percussion instruments like Vib. and marimba and more like I wrote to you above.
How ever...I am seeing a trend of engineers using less stereo configurations and more use of a double miced instrument to create a addition of ambience rather then a "localization" issue.
You may have a E. Guitar part recorded with 3 mics
1. Close miced
2. Half way mic
3. Far placed mic.
A combination of the three will bring you a different blend with different colors. This isn't a stereo "image" configuration.