Stereo / Mono confusion!!

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Rickbrown74

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New to this so bear with me. What instruments should be recorded in Stereo?
I've read about vocals being mono mainly but double tracked. What about the rest?

Drums?
Bass - mono?
Guitars - Stereo?
Backing vocals?
Keyboards - Stereo?

Would anyone be courteous enough to describe their basic recording outline. ie. what order they would begin to lay down tracks for a song and a quick overview of how they tend to mix them ie. panning/placement. Any advice woudl be appreciated.

Hoping that you guys take the stance that no question is a stupid question if asked in innocence!!!
 
Every instrument should be recorded in stereo imho.
 
NYMorningstar said:
Every instrument should be recorded in stereo imho.
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boo to that. XY on the singer's mouth! no no, a spaced pair-- nose and chest, hard panned. low e on bass 90 left, d string 90 right, a should be about 30 left and then, of course, the g 30 right. with a five string you'd put that b right in the middle though, so the big center speaker gets all of it.

sorry, i'm leaving for california tomorrow and i've become sarcastic in my last day at the studio in 3 weeks... heh
 
stanjanssen said:
he said instrument, not vocals :rolleyes:

sorry :D
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May I direct your attention to the sarcastic comment about bass guitar above. It depends on the instrument and the style of music. Death metal guitar parts are not, and should not be, recorded in stereo. A lot of classic rock guitars are. I always record key in stereo, but i don't always use both sides in the mix.
 
Thanks guys for the advice. Still not 100% sure whats the most suitable way for my setup but I'll experiment a bit and see what works best.

Sound on Sound is a great resource. Have been checking it out and found some great tips there!

Thanks again
 
There are no rules. For most stuff, I think "track in mono, mix in stereo" is a decent idea. Drum overheads usually (though not always) sound better in stereo. Acoustic guitar is nice in stereo if it will be a feature instrument. Orchestras, string quartets, etc. are often miked with a stereo pair. Keyboards are often stereo. Vocals, electric guitars (unless you're tracking with stereo effects), & bass are generally tracked in mono (though multiple mics might be used and blended together, this is not true "stereo" recording).
 
Most of the time, individual instruments are recorded in mono, then panned to create a stereo image. Guitars are recorded in mono, then played several times and panned to create the stereo image. Individual drums are mic'd in mono, then panned to create the image. The overheads are recording the kit in stereo, but the individual drums are recorded on mono tracks and then panned.

The confusion comes when you add a track in your software, it askes you if you want a mono or a stereo track. Just because you open up a stereo track, doesn't mean you are recording in stereo. For example, if you have a guitar amp mic'd with one mic and you record it to a stereo track, you are still recording in mono. You have just used twice the disk space for no reason. In order to record in stereo, you need a stereo source and a way to capture the stereo source.
 
geez, i was just a jokin'

see ya'll in 3 weeks, i'm OUTTA HEEEERREEEE (vacation, sorry to derail thread)
 
i actually think overheads almost always sound better in mono, but it helps the mix to have them in stereo.....

I have heard amazing results recording vocals in stereo.

I don't do it, but I do use near/far mics on vocals. not stereo exactly, but you get the idea...
 
If the question is what instruments go where in the right/left stereo field:

-Bass guitar: panned center (mono)
-Kick drum: panned center (mono)
-Snare drum: panned center or doubled and each spread slightly right and left (depends)
-Toms, cymbals, etc: Spread across stereo field
-Lead guitar: at or near center (dry signal could be slightly left and delay slightly right)
-Backing vocals: Stereo, doubled and thick (depends how many voices)
-Rhythm guitar: doubled or chorused and panned slightly or hard left and right.
-Keyboards: Can sound good chorused and spread hard left and right. Putting rhythm guitar right and keyboard left (or visa versa) can work as well, as long as the two complement each other frequency wise.

This is just a starting point. The key is to put everything in its own place both left to right and front to back (reverb depth) and to have balance across the stereo field. Bass frequencies should stay in the center as an anchor, but you can momentarily pull the anchor left to right and pull the listener along with it, but bring it back center.

Beyond this basic starting point the sky is the limit creatively speaking.

-Tim :)
 
Ok, a little turn on the subject. For things like drum overs, guitars, even when I do a 'stereo pair' I'm still in dual-mono track mode. -the pan and level options are more flexible.
The down sides might be doubling up on eq's and comps and the chance the tracks can be slid out of time.
wayne
 
Beck said:
If the question is what instruments go where in the right/left stereo field:

Beyond this basic starting point the sky is the limit creatively speaking.

-Tim :)
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Yes, this was what I was trying to say with regard to mixing and other answers have given me good insight as to recording the instruments so thanks very much guys. no doubt I'll be back agagin shortly with another question!
 
bullshit.

take a listen to hendrix. a good listen. listen to just one side. on some songs, he would pan the entire kit hard left, and bass hard left, vocals and guitars hard right.

there are no rules when it comes to panning.
 
The original poster asked for some basic guidelines to work from. And while there aren’t any rules per se, casting basic convention to the wind can result in some very shitty sounding mixes.

Stereo technique has evolved from the early days, as it was quite primitive. There was little understanding of balance in the beginning. A lot of cuts were released with instruments and vocals all over the spectrum for no apparent reason.

Hendrix sounds just brilliant in mono, but compare “Foxy Lady” to something like Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” and you will appreciate the genius of Tom Scholz and the magic of well-placed instrumentation across the stereo field.

If the bass is consistently to one side the natural tendency of the listener is to boost it in the weak side, and thus throwing off everything else.

-Tim :)
 
FALKEN said:
bullshit.

take a listen to hendrix. a good listen. listen to just one side. on some songs, he would pan the entire kit hard left, and bass hard left, vocals and guitars hard right.

there are no rules when it comes to panning.
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There is a reason no one has done that in the last 35 years. Having a lob-sided mix is not the easiest way to give yourself a headache, why go through all that and why inflict it on others. The main outlet for music in the late 60's and early 70's was AM radio, as long as everything worked in mono, you were OK. This isn't the case anymore. Anyway, have you listened to any of those songs with the drums panned all to one side in headphones? It's terrible.
 
FALKEN said:
bullshit.

take a listen to hendrix. a good listen. listen to just one side. on some songs, he would pan the entire kit hard left, and bass hard left, vocals and guitars hard right.

there are no rules when it comes to panning.
Click to expand...

The old recordings mixed in stereo took advantage of the new stereo record players that came out at that time. The new stereo mix has more to do with playing music in cars. The "proper" way to mix (if youthink about it) would be to set up the soundstage like a performance would be. The problem with this is that when two people sit in a car, the snare would be louder on one side than another. The "balance" in relation to the passengers is out. So, the "new" mix technique (and the standard for today) is to center any instrument that contributes solidly to the song. Snare, kick, bass and vocals usually get centered. These are the main focus tracks of the song usually.

Now, in sparse arrangements (like Van Halen) where there are only a few instruments, the mix techniques differ in that the instruments and vocals get "beefed" up. Drums and guitars are elaborately arranged with stereo panning and room effects to fill out the mix.

There is no right or wrong way to mix in stereo, but there is a basic standard in the pro industry to mix for playing in cars.
 
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