G
Goss-stick
New member
Do you guys record vocals in mono or stereo? And what's the difference? Which one is better is it all preference?
WhiteStrat
Don't stare at the eye.
A vocal is mono. It's just one voice and one mic, right? So it's mono. Even if you record one voice with one mic to a stereo track, each side is just an exact duplicate of the other--so it's not stereo at all. (Try it both ways and see--they sound exactly the same.)
Think of stereo as being something different between the left and right side. I often record my acoustic in "stereo." Two mics, one on the neck, one on the body. Each mic goes to its own track, and I pan those left and right. Since there's actually different sound/signal between the two, we call that a stereo recording.
philbagg
Just Killing Time
Record vocals in mono for one person. If it's a group of people singing, then throwing up a stereo pair of mics would be my first approach.
If it's just one vocal being recorded at a time, then stereo recording would sound a bit strange.
T
TimOBrien
New member
A single voice is a POINT SOURCE coming from a single point in space.
There's no reason to record it stereo.
(Unless you want to have someone running across the stage...)
There's no reason to record it stereo.
(Unless you want to have someone running across the stage...)
M
moresound
Loud Sun Studios
Mono, or face the wrath of - what the heck is going on here?
Why stop at stereo? Go for surround! Then it ll sound like your running all around the room singing, but still in mono.
Why stop at stereo? Go for surround! Then it ll sound like your running all around the room singing, but still in mono.
M
mrclay
New member
Double-track the vocal and pan the two tracks hard left and right for super stereo.
I vaguely recall this on early Apples in Stereo and The Minders albums to nice effect.
I vaguely recall this on early Apples in Stereo and The Minders albums to nice effect.
Farview
Well-known member
Stereo tracks are only useful for recording things that have a left and right to them. And even then, that is only useful if you don't ever want to change the panning of the two sides or maybe EQ them differently, or turn one side down, etc...
I could see using them for overheads on drums, keyboards, choir, etc... But if there is only one mic, it's mono no matter what you do. Recording it to a stereo track will only double the size of the file with no benefit.
I could see using them for overheads on drums, keyboards, choir, etc... But if there is only one mic, it's mono no matter what you do. Recording it to a stereo track will only double the size of the file with no benefit.
M
moresound
Loud Sun Studios
We can say this till we are all blue in the face. But everybody is out to reinvent the wheel.
S
Saxmeister
New member
Normally mono on a single vocal.
I did have one instance where I did use stereo mics to layer a single voice to simulate a crowd of singers. I placed a stereo pair in the front of the room and then placed each "voice" individually and recorded the tracks capturing the position of the voice and the ambient room noise. It did lead to a more convincing choir effect. But, I would only use stereo recording for special effects such as this unless you want to deal with phasing issues, unbalanced mix levels, etc. with a single mono source. It can be done, but why?
I did have one instance where I did use stereo mics to layer a single voice to simulate a crowd of singers. I placed a stereo pair in the front of the room and then placed each "voice" individually and recorded the tracks capturing the position of the voice and the ambient room noise. It did lead to a more convincing choir effect. But, I would only use stereo recording for special effects such as this unless you want to deal with phasing issues, unbalanced mix levels, etc. with a single mono source. It can be done, but why?
Audio Mastering
Master Of Mastering
do what ever works best for you. Most instruments, including vocals are recorded in mono, because they are mono signal.
In order to record in stereo, you need to Mic's. And you need to deal with any phase issues that come along with using more than one mic.
In 99.9999% of recordings, vocals, bass, guitars, snare, kick, toms and others are most always recorded in mono.
Even if you have 2 mics, for the top and bottom of a snare , each mic should be recorded onto a separate mono track.
The same goes with vocals. If you do use 2 mics, each mic should be recorded onto a mono track
Cj
In order to record in stereo, you need to Mic's. And you need to deal with any phase issues that come along with using more than one mic.
In 99.9999% of recordings, vocals, bass, guitars, snare, kick, toms and others are most always recorded in mono.
Even if you have 2 mics, for the top and bottom of a snare , each mic should be recorded onto a separate mono track.
The same goes with vocals. If you do use 2 mics, each mic should be recorded onto a mono track
Cj