New soundcard but the audio only comes from on side of the speakers

[Rinox]

Hi guys! About a month ago I bought an M-Audio MobilePre USB audio interface. The sound is good but there is a problem... I've installed all the drivers and I'm running on XP but when I connect my guitar (and I've tested this with 3 different guitars and cables) to channel 1 on the audio interface I can only hear the sound coming from it on the left speaker and the left side of my headset. Same thing happens when I make and mp3 file out of my projects and sends it to another computer or even a cell phone! When I connect my microphone to the XLR input on channel 2 the sound coming from my microphone comes from the right side.
I use Cubase so maybe it's a cubase issue? Maybe something that I haven't configures in Cubase yet?
I first thought it was the soundcard that wasn't working but then I used it with Guitar Rig 3 and it worked perfectly with the sound on both sides of my headset. I also checked in Cubase that the sound isn't automaticly being panned. At least it's not visible in Cubase.

Any ideas of how I can fix my problem? I'm guessing there's an easy solution. Thanks

 

[ido1957]

Same thing occurs on my friend's EDIROL 101 when we plug in to the interface. It's not a problem when we record because everything gets recorded mono then is panned when it's mixed down....

 

[Chili]

This happens when you create a new track in Cubase and select Stereo. Next time make it Mono and you'll be good to go.

 

[Rinox]

Thank you so much Turns out I haven't read as much about Stereo and Mono as I should. But I found the reason why now... Isn't it because the stereo tracks are supposed to be used when you record with two mics on one instrument at the same time? So if you only use one mic you will only get the sound from the directiion that the channel is set to (my channel 1 is set to left by default)?

 

[Chili]

...Isn't it because the stereo tracks are supposed to be used when you record with two mics on one instrument at the same time?

No, not necessarily. Probably not a good idea to record two mics to one stereo track. The reason is you are using two different mics in two different locations and they are going to sound different. You will want to use different eq settings and other processing to obtain the depth and tone of the instrument that you are looking for. With a stereo track, you can only apply the same adjustments to both tracks whereas with two mono tracks, you can treat them separately. If you want to maintain a stereo field, just pan each mono track to where you desire.

Hope this helps.

 

[Rinox]

Thank you! It does

 

[dgatwood]

No, not necessarily. Probably not a good idea to record two mics to one stereo track.

I'm going to assume that what you meant to say was that using two mics on a single instrument isn't necessarily stereo recording. When recording a guitar, for example, with one mic near the sound hole and one up on the fretboard, you're intentionally getting two very different sounds and adjusting the relative levels to get a particular effect. In that case, it isn't true stereo, and it doesn't really sound to the ear like a stereo image in the first place, so it makes sense to record that as dual mono so you can tweak each channel independently.

For true stereo recordings (X/Y, mid-side, etc.) of an instrument, however, you almost invariably need to process the two tracks in exactly the same way. As soon as you do something different to one channel, the stereo image is ruined. For example, if you record drum kit overheads and use a multi-band compressor to compress the cymbal hits harder on the left channel, you'll hear the cymbals suddenly jump to the right, then drift back towards the left. It borders on psychosis when one listens to such things.

IMHO, the question of whether or not to use a stereo track has little to do with whether you're using two microphones and everything to do with mic placement. Just my $0.02. Use stereo tracks when using stereo mic placement. Use dual mono tracks when using two mics up close.

 

[Chili]

I'm going to assume that what you meant to say was that using two mics on a single instrument isn't necessarily stereo recording. ......

Just my $0.02. Use stereo tracks when using stereo mic placement. Use dual mono tracks when using two mics up close.

Yup, you expanded on the thought nicely. Thanks. It's probably worth more than 2¢, though.

btw: I'll be in SJC all next week. Hope to check out some good music while I'm there.