Recording in stereo or mono?

[tin34543]

i,

When recording rhythm guitars for metal songs from kit like a Fractal or Eleven rack,
is it better to record multiple mono tracks or multple stereo tracks, to get a big
sound? Also, how many tracks should you record? One left and one right or multiple
left and right tracks and pan them to fill the stereo field?

Thanks

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Do whatever works for your song. A lot of modern metal is recorded with multiple takes of multiple mics and cabs.

 

[mixsit]

I would think generally if you're doing multiples for the doubling of a part- stereo wouldn't be needed or very useful. 'Stereo for capturing a stereo effect or image, but that's a different application.

 

[scifiwriter4]

Do whatever works for your song. A lot of modern metal is recorded with multiple takes of multiple mics and cabs.

Good point. Do whatever works.

 

[Robus]

If you want to be able to fine tune the panning, go with mono tracks.

 

[gecko zzed]

There's not much to be gained in recording in stereo unless you are recording source that has a wide sonic footprint (e.g. piano, harp. drum kit), or you can to capture a source and its position in an acoustic space.

 

[hollowmanpl]

I use stereo while recording some rehersals.Hmmm I've never need a stereo recording for a normal session

 

[Farview]

If your guitar has some sort of stereo effect that you want to preserve, record it in stereo.

If it is just a relatively dry rhythm part, just record a single track for each.performance.

 

[Robus]

Even with stereo FX, I'd go dual mono over one stereo track.

 

[Farview]

I would go dual mono too. Way more control.

But most of the time, for normal rhythm stuff, there isn't much point in having or recording stereo effects on a guitar that you are going to double anyway. The doubling is the stereo effect. Adding other stereo images on top of that will get muddled up pretty quickly.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

I agree with all of the above in general, but there are genres where it's normal to record multiple takes with multiple cabs and mics per take.

 

[Farview]

Right, but he is using a Fractal or guitar rig, so there are no cabs.

Even with the multi mic and cab scenario, each input is treated as a mono signal. The two cab, two mic thing isn't for getting a stereo image, it's to layer tones.

 

[Jonesey9]

I would go dual mono too. Way more control.

But most of the time, for normal rhythm stuff, there isn't much point in having or recording stereo effects on a guitar that you are going to double anyway. The doubling is the stereo effect. Adding other stereo images on top of that will get muddled up pretty quickly.

^^^ This, especially this "The doubling *is* the stereo effect."