only records in mono?

[frankie410]

so i have a m audio mic pre amp and an sm87 when i record it only comes up with one line of audio, i mean it plays out both speakers but when i record with a computer mic it has both lines of audio, do i need two mics to put one in each xlr input to get stereo?

 

[bennychico11]

one microphone=mono
mono=one

stereo=two

you're only recording with one microphone so you only record a mono track. the way you're doing it is the correct way.

 

[frankie410]

so i dont need two mics?? shouldnt it be in stereo? dont i want it to be?

 

[bennychico11]

so i dont need two mics?? shouldnt it be in stereo? dont i want it to be?

no. a single source is considered a mono source. Vocals, trumpet, high hat, etc....are all usually recorded with one microphone onto a mono track. You are, however, playing it back through stereo speakers. But this just means that the speakers you are using are capable of reproducing a stereo signal if needed. Since you're playing back a mono vocal track, the vocal is coming out of each speaker evenly...therefore it sounds like it's coming from the middle. If you panned the vocal track all the way to the left, it would sound like it's coming from just the left speaker (ONE speaker...mono).

When you record things like guitars or drum overheads or pianos, this is when you might use two microphones at once. But that is usually when each microphone is picking up a different sound. For example, drum overheads. Each one is placed above a different part of the kit...so when you pan the two mics hard left and hard right it sounds like the left side of the drum kit is on the left and the right side of the drum kit is on the right. But vocals, they only have sound coming from their one mouth.

Just record the one microphone to a mono track and pan it in the center. The sound will come out of both speakers. If you think it needs to be a little more to the left (ie. background singers), pan it a little bit to the left. What is happening is the sound is still coming out of both speakers, it's just louder in the left speaker than in the right. Once you pan it all the way over to the left it is effectively ONLY in the left speaker and nowhere to be heard in the right.