How to turn two mono tracks into a single stereo track

MatthewH

New member
Does anyone know if there is a way to take two mono tracks, such as a doubled guitar, and turn into a single stereo track, without going through the hassle of rendering the tracks down?

I end up with loads of tracks on Reaper and i think this would cut it down significantly!

Thanks
 
Are you trying to minimise space taken on the screen or reduce processing required?

If you add a track above and make it a folder for the two tracks in question, you can then minimise the two contained tracks to make them almost disappear from the screen.

I don't know how to squish two tracks into a single track without rendering, but it's likely possible. What is Google saying?
 
mostly space on screen, but also if i wanted to send stems anywhere, 30 files is better than 60 of course. I cant find anything on Google, maybe I'm just blind but all i can find is turning stereo into two mono which is the opposite of what i want...
 
Can you not 'skinny' up the tracks in Reaper visually?

I would much rather have 60 mono tracks than 30 stereo myself. Well, if I were working on a mix.

For a mastering only project, a well balanced mix would be nice. Stems make it possible to address some issues but if you have it sounding the way you want it, then not a necessary thing.

You would then be asking someone to 'mix' your project to an extent. If that is what you want, then go there.
 
You can reduce their size to a minimum anyway, but you can do so further when they're in a folder track, as in this pic. Here I have 13 tracks inside another folder track; you click the button by the red arrow to cycle between different sizes: -

reaper_zps3a746368.jpg
 
Everything that Reaper does is non-destructive. That is, it won't actually change the underlying files at all ever, no matter what it looks like on the screen or sounds like on the speakers. If you actually want stereo files then you have to render new stereo files.

There may be a way in one of the options to have two overlapping items on the same track play at the same time, so you could put the two mono items on one track and then maybe use take pan to put them opposite each other. They'll still be mono files underneath, though.

You can hide tracks from the TCP, MCP, if you really just don't want to see them.

It's all just a bunch of messing around though. Just render the damn things and be done with it!
 
Just pan them and render them down to a stereo file. That's how I send my tracks for mastering.
I wouldn't throw away your original tracks because you never know when you get better at mixing (like I did a few years later) you may want them separate.
 
Thanks for the answers guys. i think ill just leave it, the only reason i asked is cause i easily get 40+ tracks on a song every time, and i figured stereo tracks would cut that down.

Thanks though!
 
the only reason i asked is cause i easily get 40+ tracks on a song every time, and i figured stereo tracks would cut that down.

Thanks though!

I get that many tracks as well, as do a lot of peeps,,put em in folders is a much better option for later on, check it out in the manual :)
 
Ooh! I know this one!

1 Create a new track.
2 Move your mono tracks into the new track as a folder (See Jonny Deep's post)
3 Pan your mono tracks (obviously)
4 Repeat 1-3 as needed to set up all your stereo tracks
5 ctrl+click each folder track to select them all.
6 right-click one of them and click "Render stems and mute originals"
7 Go have a snack
8 Come back to find a bunch of stereo stem tracks in your project!
 
Are you wanting to reduce the number of tracks to make it easier come mixing time?

In that case you'd be better off sending groups of tracks to bus's. e.g. Get a good Drum mix and send all Drum tracks to a single Drum bus. Same for all Guitars, Vocals, etc. Then come mix time you only have a handful of faders to move rather than 40+ and you can easily scroll across to edit any particular part of the mix and have all your originally recorded tracks.

Same for FX you use a lot of. e.g. Set up a Reverb bus and use sends from your tracks rather than multiple reverb FX on lots of tracks using valuable processing power.

Little things like these go a long way to making life easier :thumbs up:
 
Ooh! I know this one!

1 Create a new track.
2 Move your mono tracks into the new track as a folder (See Jonny Deep's post)
3 Pan your mono tracks (obviously)
4 Repeat 1-3 as needed to set up all your stereo tracks
5 ctrl+click each folder track to select them all.
6 right-click one of them and click "Render stems and mute originals"
7 Go have a snack
8 Come back to find a bunch of stereo stem tracks in your project!

Can you be more specific about the snack?:confused:

:D
 
I know this is an old thread but every single answer on here is so wrong, and I know there's still people trying to figure out how to do this so:

1. pan each mono track L and R
2. highlight them both (only do 2 at a time)
3. right click one of them and go to "Item Processing"
4. click on "Implode items across tracks into items on one track"

DONE!...You now have one stereo track and can delete the empty track left behind...

You don't need folders and parent tracks and all that for what the goal is here.
 
DONE!...You now have one stereo track and can delete the empty track left behind...
Do you have to mess with the "Overlapping Items..." settings or is that just handled automatically or does it actually just not apply in this case for some reason?
 
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