mono in stereo?

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bethanyb321

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is there a difference in sound between a mono wav on a mono track and a mono wav on a stereo track?want to know if ok/the same to use mono sources on stereo tracks
thanks
 
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Same thing....OK to use.

You can always convert the stereo tracks to visually be mono, just for the aesthetic value.
That is a DAW app craze... to have all tracks appear as "stereo"...not sure why they do that.
 
Completely okay as Miroslav says, but a couple of things to put at the back of your mind.

First, converting the mono track to stereo will double the file size on your hard drive and also double the amount of data throughput. This is rarely any kind of issue unless your system is right on the borderline but just put this in the back of your mind "in case".

Second, depending on your DAW you may find that your levels change slightly when you convert to stereo. You may find a setting somewhere about "pan law" which is how your DAW works out how to combine the levels without overloading anything. Again, not a problem, just something you may have to adjust.
 
Yeah....you basically end up with two mono tracks...so 2x the size, but you can easily split the dual mono ("stereo") tracks into two mono tracks, and then just delete one....which will reduce the file size.
 
App/DAW nonsense. Stereo recording is not an electronic decision. It is a way to use 2 or more mics to create a model of what you would have heard, with your 2 ears, if you had been there when it was recorded. And- it's just a model. If we do spaced stereo recording, with the mics 10' apart, you are hearing what you would hear if your ears were 10' apart (and you were somehow still alive). Probably the most accurate version is binaural stereo recording, where 2 small diaphragm mics are placed in a model of a human head made of ballistic gel, so it has about the same density and acoustic properties as a human head. Either way, taking a mono recording and splitting it to 2 channels doesn't produce stereo anything. It produces 2 channel mono, and as noted above, it doubles the file size for no good reason. If a source was recorded with one mic, it will always be a mono recording, no matter how you process it.
 
If you process (eq, compress etc.) a stereo file of mono audio it will take double the CPU power. Total waste of resources. Just record mono audio to a mono file and leave it that way.
 
Hi,
Why is advised that all recording be done in mono and not stereo?

Thanks.
 
Hi,
Why is advised that all recording be done in mono and not stereo?

Thanks.

Because most of your sources will likely be mono ones--things like your microphones or an electric guitar will be mono. Recorded that way, you can pan the signal wherever you want in your mix. If you record to a stereo track most DAWs will lock you in to that set up and not allow panning (although you can, of course, copy on side or the other to a mono track).

The other advantage, of course, is that a mono track uses half as much disk storage as a stereo one and, as Bouldersoundguy says, mono in a stereo track takes twice the processing power for effects to no sound advantage.

Obviously if you have a real stereo source (maybe two mics in an X-Y setup for a choir or some keyboards for example) then stereo recording is what you want.

Basically, if you have real stereo then record in stereo. If you have a mono source then you're wasting space and restricting your options to record in "stereo" which will be 2 channel mono.
 
Because probably 90% of what you're recording is a mono source...?

Because you have far more control over a stereo source from two mono tracks as opposed to a "locked" stereo track...?

It's kind of a trick question... Even a stereo track is nothing more than two mono tracks panned apart. A stereo source (a synth, an effects return, etc.) is a candidate for a stereo track. Otherwise, just about everything else is going to be a mono source in the first place.
 
--things like your microphones or an electric guitar will be mono. ..
..are mono :p Just to nail this home again, you could record and play them on ten tracks but they're still mono sources.
Now- to connect the dots..
A "stereo track" is two 'tracks (in the recorder), channels (on a mixer or 'volume knob) joined, for control or as the audio file.
There's nothing really stereo' about it 'till there's some difference between the two things on ('in :D them
 
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