Stereo and Mono

[Floydnirvana00]

Hi i know this is proballya stupid question but whatever. On product reviews for Mixing boards it says that theres X amout of "Stereo" channels and X amount of "Mono" Channels.
I would really like to know what the difference would be if you were to record on a stereo track instead of a mono track. Like Whats The Difference between stereo and mono?

Also say there was 4 mono channels and 2 stereo channels on a mixing board
Does that mean i can hook up 6 instruments at once.

 

[radiorickm]

mono

The MONO channels, usually have only 1 input, be it xlr or 1/4(or both). They have a pan control where you can place them where you want in the stereo image.

The stereo channels usually are 2 mono channels "ganged" together. These are usually 1/4 inputs. They use 2 mixer channels as a pair usually.

Mono channels are usually for mic inputs.
Stereo channels are for things like synthesizers, drum machines, stereo effects pedals.....

so, 4 mono and 2 stereo would mean you could plug in 8 things at once.....individually

hope this helps

 

[Floydnirvana00]

thanks
but if i were to plug my guitar into a stereo channel would it sound worse
than if i were to plug it in on a a mono channel?

 

[radiorickm]

it wont really sound any "different" at all. If your mixer has an automatic detection for "MONO" (most do)then you couldn't tell the difference at all.

if your mixer doesn't automatically detect mono, the only thing you would notice is that you only hear the guitar on one set of speakers. (either left or right, but not both).

usually, on the stereo inputs, it will say something like left/mono right
if it does, just hit the mono one.

one more thing, on my behri board, i like the 4 ch eq on the stereo channels better than the 3 ch eq on the regular channels, so i do exactly what you are saying all the time.

 

[Massive Master]

It should sound exactly the same (assuming that you'd be using the line level inputs on the mono channel vs. line level inputs on the stereo channel).

Keep in mind that when it really comes down to it, EVERYTHING is mono until it's panned against other tracks - A single input into a stereo track is STILL mono. Doubling a mono track makes a louder MONO track.

If you're going through some sort of stereo processor (chorus, flanger, etc.) then it would perhaps make sense to use the stereo channel. If not, the mono channel is fine.