Why 2 mono channels?

S

supereuropa

New member
I use Adobe Audition. I want to record my voice for hip hop songs. Stereo has just 1 channel and Mono has 2 channels. I read that I should only use mono, but which channel should I use? Thanks!
 
With the little information you've given and the way you're wording things, my head is spinning trying to guess what you're really going on about.... so I'll just say that no matter what software you're using - if you're only recording with one (mono) microphone, there can only be one active (mono) input. If, for some reason, you have that one mono input routed to multiple mono channels in your software or to some combination of stereo channels...well that's not going to do anything helpful. It's going to be the exact same signal on all of them because there is only one incoming signal to begin with. If that doesn't help - try to explain more clearly what you're asking about.
 
Thanks, i just thought it would affect the quality or something. Well, where i choose my input I get Mono -1 and -2 and Stereo -1, and I was wondering why there are 2 Mono channels (they're called channels, right?)
 
In most DAW software, those are automatically setup to reflect what your audio hardware's driver reports it is capable of. In your case, it sounds like your interface (or sound card if you don't have an external interface) has two input channels, and you can either use them as individual mono busses (Mono1 and Mono2), or record them together as a single, stereo track via the Stereo 1 input bus.

A lot of times the terminology can be mixed up, redundant, interchangeable and kinda confusing because of that, but it might help to think of it all like this: You route (really "arrange" is a better word) physical channels (like the actual holes you plug things into) into input busses, and then in the tracks in your software, you choose from those busses which signals you want to record into that track. Exactly what this looks like in each software is a little different, and some let you get more creative with the kinds of input busses you can set up than others do, but they all more or less have to work that way.
 
That's fine, I really got the feeling I was being trolled there - no big deal. The short answer is no - stereo won't be higher quality, the longer answer is no - stereo just doesn't make any sense for a mono source, read what I wrote again and abandon the relationship you're making between mono/stereo and quality - they have nothing to do with each other here. If you have a stereo source (like 2 microphones on a piano) - by all means, use a stereo bus into a stereo track, but using a stereo track for a source that is mono won't do anything... at all. A stereo track is literally just two mono tracks - one panned to the left and one to the right. Nothing more or less than that.
 
What is the exact equipment you are using and how is it all wired together? Someone earlier mentioned that a soundcard might have a stereo input, which would explain why his software is reporting one stereo channel or two mono channels. I then envisioned this guy running the balanced signal out of an external preamp into the stereo line input of a computer. If that were the case, his vocL would theoretically cancel itself out in the stereo track.
 
I think what the OP is trying to say is that it seems he only has 2 choices: 1 stereo track, or 2 mono tracks (which is probably a stereo track with 2 inputs).

OP, what you have to do is find a way to call up a single mono track. I don't know your software, so I can't tell you how to do it, but it should be pretty simple.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top