Mono to stereo

  • Thread starter Thread starter myhatbroke
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Stereo guitars are almost always played twice, with each performance panned.

Duplicating a track and panning them won't do anything but take up more hard drive space.

Mono= the same thing coming out of both speakers= 1 track panned center

2 copies of the same track panned wide= the same thing coming out of both speakers= mono
 
What are you trying to accomplish by doing this? As Fairview described, copying a mono track and hard panning each (dual mono) would be the same as a single mono track center panned.

There is a difference between Dual Mono and Stereo. As I said in the beginning, I think the question is what type of sound(s) are you going for? Why would you want a stereo track? If you just want to have copies of your original track that you affect in different ways (amp modeler/eq/panning/gain) for example, then I would think of that in terms of a series of mono tracks.
 
This can actually be a pretty cool effect. I have taken a mono guitar track, duplicated it, inverted one of the tracks, and then panned them hard left/right. Then I play around with EQ and delays to create a different kind of sound. It is not true stereo in the definition you are looking for though. For that you need to either record with 2 mics or do the take twice. But it can have a pleasant effect. Vocals can also be cool like this. It all depends on the song though and what you are going for.

Come on RAK, learn how to write people's names correctly. Jeeze.
 
Well its really not about the sound. Its more about the final mix being stereo so it sounds good when I put it on a cd. And thats what Im not sure about...Does that little option to make it stereo when I export it do the trick or is it a more complicated process?
 
myhatbroke said:
Well its really not about the sound. Its more about the final mix being stereo so it sounds good when I put it on a cd. And thats what Im not sure about...Does that little option to make it stereo when I export it do the trick or is it a more complicated process?

That will export a stereo mix (that is, information for both the right and left speaker). However, if you have all mono tracks which are not panned and don't have stereo effects (reverbs/delays, etc) applied to them, then your mixdown will still be mono (=same information coming out of the left and right speakers). So, you need to record multiple tracks and pan them however you want them to sound, etc., then mixdown as a stereo interleaved track.
 
jimmy2sticks said:
I have taken a mono guitar track, duplicated it, inverted one of the tracks, and then panned them hard left/right.
If you do this, your guitar will disappear in mono. It also will not have any impact or punch.
 
Farview, sorry dude, sometimes you just got to add a little i, know what I mean?

and no, i won't learn how to write people's names correctly, gimme6stix.


Just export a stereo interlaced file and burn that to a CD. If you export Dual Mono you'll get two independant files, a L & R (just putting that out there, not really related to what you're doing).

Like scrubs said, if you have a mono track panned center, then both L&R channels in your master stereo file will have the same information.

If you did that, it would essentially be the same as having a mono track panned L, and copying that and panning the copy R, and then exporting those two as a stereo file.
 
Farview said:
If you do this, your guitar will disappear in mono. It also will not have any impact or punch.


I don't think he was exporting it as a mono file though, just my guess.
 
Farview said:
If you do this, your guitar will disappear in mono. It also will not have any impact or punch.

That is why I said it is fun to play with the sound. Obviously, this will create a sound that is not natural, but some of the best recordings of all time are not natural sounding at all. That is why they are cool. I mentioned if he wanted stereo, he would need two mics or two takes. This is not a replacement, merely thinking outside the box. Which is hard for some of us (RAX) I know......
 
jimmy2sticks said:
This is not a replacement, merely thinking outside the box.
Not trying to come down on you, but if I had a nickel for everytime someone has told me that that is how they plan on making something stereo, I would close the studio down and retire. Everytime I see this idea, I feel the need to make it perfectly clear that it how you make stereo.
 
Who's this RAX guy you're always picking on? He sounds pretty ridiculous to me. As for myself, I'm so far outside the box, I am the box. Wrap your brain around that one.

Seriously though, why not Jimmy3sticks? And don't tell me it's because you only have two hands, that's the easy way out.
 
Farview said:
Not trying to come down on you, but if I had a nickel for everytime someone has told me that that is how they plan on making something stereo, I would close the studio down and retire. Everytime I see this idea, I feel the need to make it perfectly clear that it how you make stereo.

I think he said pretty clearly that what he was describing was not stereo, just something he did with a guitar effect.
 
RAK said:
Seriously though, why not Jimmy3sticks? And don't tell me it's because you only have two hands, that's the easy way out.

I was born with two shafts.
 
If you like playing around and don't want to go through the work of retracking a "duplicate" you might try adding a little delay to one track and panning each side into its own field.
 
I once doubled a single guitar track using a little delay, It was a scratchtrack and it ws an experiment, and I was too lazy to just play it again. I ened up taking more time over getting it to sound half decent than I would have just playing the damn thing again.

Just play it again, Sam... :)
 
legionserial said:
I ened up taking more time over getting it to sound half decent than I would have just playing the damn thing again.
Lacking a setup that can record two mics simultaneously and using mic placement to get "stereo"- I'd agree that retracking is the best solution.

But how did you spend so much time adding a little delay to one side?

Did you copy each sample separately? :D
 
So far i have gotten nothing! :mad: Can someone just tell me the orthodox way of mixing down all MONO tracks into stereo!
 
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