mono to stereo

B

Batoun

New member
any experience/suggestions in turning a mono recording into stereo/pseudo stereo sound? (and no, I am not trying to turn water into wine...)

what would happen if you took the original mono recording and use it as a center, then made a version editing it with some delays and pan it to the right and left?

any suggestions on how to isolate (at least to some degree) individual instruments? using eq?

would it be worth to play the mono recording through the speakers equalizing the sound as best as possible and make a recording in the room using a couple of miks? would this bring some feeling of space or would it just make the sound quality even worth?

Any thought? TIA!!!
 
It's been my experience that fooling with pseudo stereo just ends up degrading the original recording. putting the same ambience on an entire track just doesn't sound right to me. Trying to isolate individual instruments out of an existing mix, mono or stereo, is a fruitless exercise too no matter how you do it (phase cancelling center panned instruments, EQing, whatever). Just my humble opinion.
 
One way I turn mono into stereo is to use a stereo or mono Y cable and put the Y ends into two tracks of a multitrack recorder. From there you have several options:

  • Pan the left and right channels unevenly. For example, instead of panning symetically like 9:00 and 3:00, pan them 9:00 and 2:30
  • EQ the tracks unevenly and asymetically. e.g. Turn the EQ high a different value for the left channel than the right channel.

This will make the mono track sound a little more 3D and built it a nice stereo image.
 
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bbbkeys said:
One way I turn mono into stereo is to use a stereo or mono Y cable and put the Y ends into two tracks of a multitrack recorder. From there you have several options:

[list type=1]
[*]Pan the left and right channels unevenly. For example, instead of panning symetically like 9:00 and 3:00, pan them 9:00 and 2:30
[*]EQ the tracks unevenly and asymetically. e.g. Turn the EQ high a different value for the left channel than the right channel.
[/list]

This will make the mono track sound a little more 3D and built it a nice stereo image.
Click to expand...
This does NOT give you "Stereo".......... more like wider mono..........

Don't forget that a stereo signal is a 2-channel signal comprised of a L+R component, and a L-R component. Without recording the source in stereo from the start, you CAN'T get a stereo signal from 2 mono signals.......
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
This does NOT give you "Stereo".......... more like wider mono..........

Don't forget that a stereo signal is a 2-channel signal comprised of a L+R component, and a L-R component. Without recording the source in stereo from the start, you CAN'T get a stereo signal from 2 mono signals.......
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're right. I agree with you 100% on this, but I guess a "wider mono" is better than plain mono. So, are you saying that once the recorded source is mono, it stays mono? I guess doing some of those steps I listed can help. ;)
 
Sonic Foundry's Acoustic Mirror has a mono-to-stereo conversion that I kinda like, but I've never used it alone - always applying a "space" or mic pattern. Don't know if it will just do the m-to-s without applying something else too...

Anyhow, it's pretty convincing - doesn't really give you instrument placement, but you're definitely hearing something different in each ear. VUs bear this out, too.
 
dafduc said:
Sonic Foundry's Acoustic Mirror has a mono-to-stereo conversion that I kinda like, but I've never used it alone - always applying a "space" or mic pattern. Don't know if it will just do the m-to-s without applying something else too...

Anyhow, it's pretty convincing - doesn't really give you instrument placement, but you're definitely hearing something different in each ear. VUs bear this out, too.
Click to expand...

I agree with this suggestion since there is impulses that hardly gives any reverb sound like the studios outdoor-ambiances but does give a stereo-feeling. You can choose how much spread you want too...
 
So far I did not have much time to try all the suggestions out.

I played only with this one:


chrisharris said:
I'm sure others will have better advice, but try taking the mono file and copying it in multitrack mode. Then put it about 30ms in front of the original wave. (you can do this by right clicking on the wav block of the first one and looking at the "block properties" - it'll give you a time where the wav block starts). Then do the same thing for the other one, but add 30ms to it. For example, if the first wave started at 00:00.000, the second one needs to start at 00:00.030.

anyway, once you get them offset from each other on seperate tracks, pan one hard left and one hard right. You'll get a fake stereo effect.
Click to expand...


I ended up using 5ms instead 30ms and the resulting sound has somewhat more spatial feel to it than just plain mono, as Chris says "a fake stereo effect."

However what it also did, it moved the drums (especially the snare) somewhat to the left (the track that started on 00:00.000). When I tried to add some volume to the right track (the one starting on 00:00.005), the drums would move to the center, but that sacrificed the over-all balance so I ended up leaving them off centered.

An interesting thing is that this technique also seems to separate some sounds. In the recording I am working with, some cello parts ended up sounding dead center while others are heard more from the right/left.
 
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