Mono

[Monkey Allen]

Anyone help with some questions?!

1.When you record in mono and you immediately listen back to it (say the guitar track) are you supposed to hear sound coming from both L and R speakers?

2. Once people record a track in mono, do they usually pan it hard L and hard R? (To get a fuller sound)

and...I'm not joking...in layman's terms...

3. What is the difference between tracking in mono and tracking in stereo?

I know they are dumb questions, and no this isn't a joke thread.

thanks

 

[SRR]

1) if the pan is center, and you recorded to a MONO track yes, should be out of both speakers

2) well now that depends, are you recording everything twice to get a fuller sound? Or are you just panning electric lead guitar to the left and other guitars to the right

3) when you are tracking in mono with ONE mic, you are recording to a mono track in your DAW, when tracking stereo you are using two mics to record on a stereo track in your DAW.

 

[Monkey Allen]

1) if the pan is center, and you recorded to a MONO track yes, should be out of both speakers

2) well now that depends, are you recording everything twice to get a fuller sound? Or are you just panning electric lead guitar to the left and other guitars to the right

3) when you are tracking in mono with ONE mic, you are recording to a mono track in your DAW, when tracking stereo you are using two mics to record on a stereo track in your DAW.

1.Do you HAVE to have the pan centred BEFORE you track in mono?

2. What will happen if I adjust my pan to hard L, then record in mono?

3. Some things I might want to double to get a fuller sound. Other things I might want to seperate from one another. As in, like you said, the rhythm guitar left and the lead right.

4. Can you record in stereo with ONE mic?

5. So a mono recording can be heard on both L and R speakers. Is the difference (between mono and stereo) that IF you use 2 mics when recording in stereo, then you will have slightly different sounds on the Right speaker, and slightly different sounds on the Left speaker, depending on what each mic is picking up? Whereas a SINGLE mic that records in stereo will basically give you the same results as recording in mono, in that IDENTICAL sounds will be recorded in each speaker? ALSO...

6. Mono usually records on the left track doesn't it? (or one of the tracks) and then when you manually adjust the pan to the centre, the SAME signal will be sent to the L and R speakers??

So, what is the difference in recording something in mono and recording something in stereo, when you record that stereo with a single mic?

thanks, and yes I know, I am really confusing the issue. I just don't get it.

 

[gecko zzed]

when you record in mono, you use a single mike and record to a single mono track.

you can pan this mono track wherever you like. if you pan it center, the sound will appear to come from midway between the speakers (even though its actually coming out of both).

you can also record a mono track by using a single mike and recording to a stereo track. the result is the same, but it uses more disk space (or whatever medium you are using) and there is not much point in this.

stereo recording uses two mikes, and the differences in the signals give the spatial information.

when recording a single source (e.g a vocal) there is not a lot to be gained by recording in stereo unless you are interested in capturing the sense of space in which the performer is singing. On the other hand, if you are recording a drumkit or an ensemble, the spatial information is (usually) important, and you therefore record them in stereo.

 

[Monkey Allen]

Are there SINGLE mics that record in stereo?

 

[gecko zzed]

There are 'single' mikes that record in stereo. However, what this means is that one mike body houses two mike elements. The rode nt4 is an example. You can also get single stereo mikes that are used with, say, movie cameras and so on.

 

[Monkey Allen]

So it would record identical signals to each 'track'...to the L and to the R?

 

[Massive Master]

No, it would record one element to one track and the other element to another track (a stereo track is a left AND right track under one set of controls).

 

[Farview]

Most songs that you hear on the radio or in your CD collection are a collection of mono sounds panned across the stereo field (the 2 speakers) to give the illusion of space. Just because a sound is coming out of both speakers doesn't make it stereo. Just because you record to a stereo track doesn't make it stereo. The signal has to be stereo in order for something to be stereo.

 

[Monkey Allen]

So what EXACTLY is a stereo signal?

And what do you mean by 'element' Massive Master?

 

[Farview]

So what EXACTLY is a stereo signal?

And what do you mean by 'element' Massive Master?

The element is the thing that picks up the sound. A stereo microphone is two mics in the same housing that send out two signals down two different cables to two different channels.

 

[Farview]

A stereo signal has both left and right information. Like the way you hear things in real life. With both ears hearing different things, you can get the sense of space, distance and location. A stereo signal will have the same type of information in it.

 

[Monkey Allen]

Thanks for your help everyone.

I still don't fully understand. I'll have to think about it for a while to figure it out.

 

[Farview]

Close your eyes. Listen to what is going on in the room you are sitting in. Your computer is running, can you hear where it is in the room? If it's to your left, it will be louder in your left ear. The sound of it will also reach your left ear before it reaches your right ear. This is how we hear things and how we know which way to look when the cat knocks something off the shelf.

Stereo is trying to simulate that experience. If you put two mics in a room, one on the left and one on the right, the computer will be louder in the left mic. The sound of it will also reach the left mic before the other one. If you record both mics, and pan them hard left and right, you will create the illusion that you are sitting in the room with the computer on the left and the cat knocking something over on the right. That is stereo. There is no way to do it with only one mic. (a stereo mic is really 2 mics facing 2 different directions in the same housing)

Stereo tracks in your DAW are just there for a convienient way of handling stereo signals. In the old days, you needed two tracks panned hard to handle a stereo signal. So you had to make sure that the EQ and other processing was identical on on both tracks. (PITA) With stereo tracks, there is only one eq to set, etc....

The bottom line is, you have to be recording in stereo for a stereo track to be useful. Sending it a mono signal will just give you a 2 channel mono file. (which takes up twice the hard drive space and twice the processing power)

 

[Monkey Allen]

Farview, thanks....I appreciate your help. I'm not trying to be dumb on purpose...just trying to understand.

What about this?

http://www.zisysavmn.co.uk/ZISYS_AVMN/GRAPHICS/clip_image002_0002.jpg

Is that a stereo jack?

If I had a microphone whose cable ended with a jack like that, would it be a stereo mic?

I have looked at the housing of one of my mics and it definately doesn't have 2 mics/ pickups. It just has one area of pickup.

eg (this isn't the exact mic I'm talking about)

http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/images/ph/philips-microphone.jpg

Is this mic just a cheap (yes it is) stereo mic that takes a mono signal and sends it to the LEFT and to the RIGHT on a count of the cable converting the signal to a mock stereo? (the exact same noise in both L and R?)

thanks!

 

[Farview]

http://www.zisysavmn.co.uk/ZISYS_AVMN/GRAPHICS/clip_image002_0002.jpg

Is that a stereo jack?

It is a TRS (tip, ring, sleeve) connector. It could be used to carry a balanced signal, a stereo signal, or the I/O for an insert jack. Don't confuse the type of connector with the signal it is carrying.

If I had a microphone whose cable ended with a jack like that, would it be a stereo mic?

It could just be balanced.

I have looked at the housing of one of my mics and it definately doesn't have 2 mics/ pickups. It just has one area of pickup.

If that is the case, it isn't stereo.

http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/images/ph/philips-microphone.jpg

Is this mic just a cheap (yes it is) stereo mic that takes a mono signal and sends it to the LEFT and to the RIGHT on a count of the cable converting the signal to a mock stereo? (the exact same noise in both L and R?)

thanks!

A mic cannot turn a mono signal into 'mock' stereo. It may have an end on it that sends the same signal to both channels. That is still mono. The only reason they have that end on it is so that you can plug it into a stock soundcard and get signal from both speakers.

A mono track panned center = the same thing coming out of both speakers = mono

A stereo track with the same signal on both sides = the same thing coming out of both speakers = mono.

The mic can't be stereo, the track can't be stereo, the connector isn't stereo, the signal has to be stereo.

 

[Monkey Allen]

So the only way to get a stereo recording is to use 2 mics?

Either

a) Housed in the one mic, but aimed different ways within the housing of that mic

or

b) Use 2 individual mics positioned in different areas within your recording space


One last thing....

Today (contemporary) do studios/ pop, rock bands record in mono or stereo? Is it basically all stereo now?

thanks Farview, and everyone else who helped

 

[Farview]

All of the tracks (except possibly keyboards and samples) are recorded in mono. Everything is mixed in stereo. Everything.

They create the stereo signal by taking all the mono tracks and panning them around the stereo field. The individual tracks are mono, the mix is stereo.

 

[Monkey Allen]

Hey Farview...as an example...

I've been recording acoustic guitar with a single condenser mic to one track.

Would it be better to use two mics, positioned creatively and record each mic to its own track?

That way I can create a bit more colour and space by panning the tracks.

Does that sound about right?

 

[Farview]

Hey Farview...as an example...

I've been recording acoustic guitar with a single condenser mic to one track.

Would it be better to use two mics, positioned creatively and record each mic to its own track?

That way I can create a bit more colour and space by panning the tracks.

Does that sound about right?

If it's done correctly, yes. You will get a bigger soundstage if you record the guitar with one mic and play the song twice. Pan the two performances and add a stereo reverb on a send from both of them.