When to use stereo or mono tracking?

S

sicrecords

New member
I'm new to the recording business and am very confused when to use stereo and when to use mono.

I have an alesis studio 24 and a pro tools MBOX rig. What I have been doing:

Drums:
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Close mic all the vitals then one "room" mic. Each mic is in it's own seperate channel panned hard left then I just out the left output to 1 input on the protools and record

Guitar/Bass/Vocals:
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recorded each seperate but essentially the same technique. 1 mic outputted to 1 channel of alesis panned hard left and going from left output to input 1 of mbox and monitoring out to headphones the previously recorded tracks etc...

My question really is, when should I use stereo tracking since obviously this has all been done MONO. What techniques should I use for stereo tracking etc..

any help is greatly appreciated.
 
Think in two directions.

1. Realisim
2. Imaging/space

In Jazz and orchestral music a lot of the recordings are done via stereo techniques and far miced.

In Pop/Rock, you will see mostly close miced mono sources with a drop of stereo here and there. The mono sources will be panned to a place in the stereo field and reduced to a position inside the image. What your missing is realisim as some of it will sound artificial and isolated acousticly and sometimes to small.

An addition of stereo miced parts can add a lot to your mix like
Over heads/Backround Vox/Piano/Brass sections.... among other instruments....

You must know that a recording in stereo is going to take up a lot of space in your mix. Why is that important to know?
Say you are recording a full band with a acoustic guitar in it.
Do you really need all that large a size Guitar? what part is it playing in the mix? is it a dominant part? or a more filler...high string part.....rhythm part? then think twice if you need the added realism and the amount of space it will take up being not so dominant a part. But say you have a singer and a guitar player doing some folk stuff or what ever. Now ! you might want the full stereo sound...no problem with space here, quite the opposite !.

Do you want a horn section to sound small? or big. Full all around? or pin pointed.....realistic? acousticaly natural or not.
this will help you decide. Imagine a grand piano in mono or a full bodied sound in stereo....

Are you recording a band like jazz ensamble? classical small/big orchestra? Folk band, Bluegrass band? these are bands that need to sound cohesive and need to sound well blended in a single acoustical enviorment. Recording them as a mono source would be in many cases the wrong way to go about it.
A Classical orchesttra needs less close micing and more distant micing technique.

Absorb this first.
 
Ahh I get what you are saying.. but to clear the air a little.. it's for a 4 piece hard rock band.

Any other tips now that I've narrowed down the project a little bit?
 
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