Mono Vs Stereo

[thedlk]

Kinda new to this and I was jus wondering what would be the main advantages of recoding something in mono rather than stereo and vice versa??

 

[NYMorningstar]

Have you tried the newbie section or maybe google?

 

[Ronan]

When in doubt record things in mono. Even when I am doing albums for major artists the overwhelming majority of things are recorded in mono.

 

[gecko zzed]

When the source you are recording can be considered reasonably as coming from a single point, then you might as well record these in mono. Examples of point sources are vocals, bass, sax etc.

Some sound sources are 'wide', for example drum kits, and these are best recorded in stereo.

Some 'wide' sources, e.g pianos, harps, congas and acoustic guitars, can be recorded either in mono or stereo, depending on their place and importance in a song. For example, if I am recording a singer with just a guitar, I most likely will record the guitar in stereo, the vocals in mono. However, if the guitar is a background part of a bigger arrangement, then there is little to be gained by recording in stereo.

 

[Massive Master]

Some sound sources are 'wide', for example drum kits, and these are best recorded in stereo.

Before the guy gets confused, those things are recorded in mono. They're mixed in stereo. One mic/one source (as in one kick, one snare, one tom, one more tom, one floor tom, left overhead, right overhead, room mic, etc., etc.).

For the OP - A "stereo" track is absolutely nothing different than two mono tracks, panned apart. 99.5% of the time, you're better off just tracking in mono and panning as you see fit. "Stereo" tracks are a fairly new (and pretty useless in most recording applications) thing.