Mono/Stereo problem

[vanillajack]

Hey

I recently recorded a test track - guitar instrumental; 2 guitars, drum loop, bass guitar.

each part was recorded onto audio track through my pod xt.

they were all mono tracks. so i decided to duplicate every track, so there were two of each. then i panned one left ad one right. hah i feel stupid if this is wrong but nevermind..


anyway, i exported the piece as a .wav file, and it says it is a mono track. and u can tell this by listening, as the sound seems to come from in between the speakers, rather than out of both llol/

any suggestions?
cheers

[Lt. Bob]

if you take a mono track and double it and pan it left and right .....you've still only got a mono track and it will sound no different than simply taking the first track and panning it dead center.
When you read about people doubling tracks ..... they always either time delay one of them or use some sort of stereo FX or different eq on the two or some such thing.
But what you've done will have no effect on the sound at all and just doubles the amount of memory you're using.

[vanillajack]

right i see.

so if i want stereo tracks, does that mean i have to rerecord everything? cos theres some pretty sexy guitar playing that i wanna keep! is it possible to copy the information from the mono tracks onto stereo tracks?

[Lt. Bob]

well ..... I'm not sure where you are in your recording skills so forgive me if I tell you anything that you already know.
First off ...... there is no need to record a guitar part in stereo unless you are using an fx that is a stereo fx. And even then I'd prefer to record the part 'dry' in mono and add the fx at mixdown unless that's just not possible because of limited fx or some such issue.
Now there are always LOTS of exceptions but in general a stereo recording consists of a bunch of individual MONO tracks mixed into a stereo field.
So let's say you had unlimited channels ..... you would record every drum in mono and then at mixdown you would pan them out across the stereo field. The hihat usually to the right ..... the snare not quite as far to the right .... the kick dead center ..... toms to the left and so on.
You'd take that bassguitar part and pan it dead center ..... then your guitar parts might get panned any number of places ..... the whole mixdown thing is an entire library of books worth of opinions and different ways of panning things.
But if you are recording lets say, a bass, two guitars .... and a vocal. Normally, each and every one of those would be recorded as a seperate mono track and only panned at mixdown.
Really, the main reason to record a guitar in stereo would be if you're using some important stereo fx at the same time. Otherwise ..... there is no need to record in stereo .... it's just a waste of a track if the two sides are identical.

So for what you described ..... I'd record the drum machine in stereo and everything else in mono and then just pan them where you want at mixdown.

[vanillajack]

Cool thanks Lt.

Yeah the only reason I asked is because if you right-click > properties on a typical track by anyone from hendrix to chopin, it says the track was recorded at 128kbps, 16 bit, 44kHz and 2 (stereo) channels.

but mine say 705kbps, 16 bit, 44kHz and 1 (mono) channel. so i figured id done something wrong!

[MadHatterTCM]

the 128kbps/stereo is probably an MP3 I assume. At final mixdown, most things are stereo, that doesn't necessarily mean that each track within the mix will be recorded in stereo. Say you record a bass in mono, and panned it to the right, that would be creating a need for the mix to be in stereo. Make any sense?

[noisewreck]

the final file is mono because probably you chose mono in the mixdown stage.

The rest... don't copy your tracks and just pan them left/right... that's not gonna do anything... well maybe will make things louder. Other then that, they'll sound all the same, and will sound as if everything is panned dead center.

If you've got two guitar parts, pan one to the left and the other to the right. However, I wouldn't pan them too far apart, maybe something like 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock the farthest.

Want to make the mono guitar tracks stereo so you can keep them? There is a free VST effect named mdaStereo. It applys a stereo widener effect to the mono track to give it a stereo field. It works really well, I use it on acoustic guitar all the time. Also sounds just fine in mono.

Try it out:
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/797.html

[xstatic]

I would be very careful using stereo wideners. Most of them typically use some sort of phase based algorithm to acheive this effect. This means that you are putting tracks out of phase. If you really want that wide sound, try double tracking your guitars, or panning the copy opposite the original and introducing a new tone with it or a time delay.

[vanillajack]

cheers guys, looked into it and i think i may just have selected mono rather than stereo on the mixdown without realising.

thanks.
jimmy

[Lt. Bob]

Originally Posted by vanillajack

cheers guys, looked into it and i think i may just have selected mono rather than stereo on the mixdown without realising.

thanks.
jimmy

but regardless of that, there's still no reason to double a git part ..... unless you're adding some FX or time delay ..... it's still gonna be mono and is gonna sound like mono.

[vanillajack]

yeah realised that now - i tend to find things out after its too late and ive aged a year or so more :P

Originally Posted by xstatic

I would be very careful using stereo wideners. Most of them typically use some sort of phase based algorithm to acheive this effect. This means that you are putting tracks out of phase. If you really want that wide sound, try double tracking your guitars, or panning the copy opposite the original and introducing a new tone with it or a time delay.

If it sounds good it is good. I don't notice any problems using it in a mix. Or in a mix listening in mono.

The description says it uses the Haas effect. So it's a delay based algorithm I think.

[xstatic]

Well, I would still be careful. Sometimes we think things sound good and then later when we finally discover whats wrong we wonder how we ever let it go to begin with.

[Lt. Bob]

Originally Posted by vanillajack

yeah realised that now - i tend to find things out after its too late and ive aged a year or so more :P

No shit ......... I learned all about women the same way ............. 5 or 6 times I think!

Originally Posted by xstatic

Well, I would still be careful. Sometimes we think things sound good and then later when we finally discover whats wrong we wonder how we ever let it go to begin with.

Yeah I know what you're saying. It's really one of the only stereo effects of its kind that doesn't seem to skew with the sound too much and mono-compatibility is great. Can't hear any 'artifacts' or deterioration of the sound either. On acoustic guitar, any kind of 'digital' effects that color the sound are blatantly obvious and sound over-processed.

It's at least definitely worth a try. I was weary of it too until I tried it.