New to this process-of course -a question

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GUNS

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Hello to all. Have a question, may seem very elementary to all. Anyway, I used to record not only my mics, but also my guitar, bass, etc, into my Soundblaster Live soundcard and when I laid down tracks I would have stereo for each track I recorded....(Cool right? That is how it's done?), and then I wanted more neat things to help with mixing and all, so I went out and bought a Tascam US-428 Control surface, which of course connects to my USB port. ANyway the problem, as simple as it is, starts withmy inputs. The same 1/4" inputs and XLR on any board for recording or for live , right? The inputs only are recording left or right side, so this would be mono. I talked to a few people already and they told me, " Yea, that's how it's supposed to be". But then I don't think all the songs on all the cd's I buy and that I hear on the redio are recorded mono. Tracks on the stereo like someone's vocals, the guitar , and bass are in stereo, even though they may be panned or whatever. So the question is, what is the norm, and how do I get the inputs to do what everyone else in the recording industry does? I searched for this simple answer and have not found it. So could someone help a brother out....Thanks in advance.

Mike
 
The norm is to record a mono signal (track it that is) in mono and then pan it to taste during mixdown.
 
Mono to begin with, after you lay all your tracks, then you start working with mixing it down and setting it up as a stereo track.
 
A lot of tracks ARE mono... typically bass, vocals, kick, snare all start as mono tracks...

True stereo tracks mean you record them with 2 mics, placed to give you a sense of the instrument being played in its environment (such as a grand piano in a concert hall.)

However, it is very common to record a mono track and apply reverb and ambient effects to it to simulate stereo.
A lot of it has to do with the genre of music being recorded - in pop/rock music you'd find most tracks start as mono, in classical or jazz you'd find more stereo tracks as the intent is to properly capture the sound of the band as a performing unit.

Keep in mind a mono track turned into stereo is NOT a stereo track, it is pseudo-stereo. The only way to record a stereo track is to use two appropriately placed mics.

Bruce
 
Bruce is correct (of course). For a true stereo recording of any sound, it has to be stereo from the source. There often seems to be some confusion here concerning panning. Panning a mono recorded signal left or right by any amount, or left AND right by equal amounts does not make it stereo. It's still a mono signal, you've simply manipulated it's apparent position in the mix.

If you know you want a particular instrument to be stereo in your final mix, I would record it in stereo to start with.

Twist
 
But it seems to me that all songs, from what I hear, sound as though it was done in stereo. I could be wrong, since I'm a firearms instructor in the military; my hearing could be a little worse than I think...! Anyway, I guess I just want to know the norm, and if most songs you hear(like Rock) are recording mono and kept mono through the mixing part all the way till mastering. Thanks Bruce, Twist, Evil, and DrStawl...your input has helped, I'm just suprised there isn't more on this topic, unless most people already know. Thanks again,,,
Mike
 
the song is stereo, the individual instruments are mono... with some notable exceptions like stereo piano, and stereo synth pads.
 
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