Stereo / Mono Guitar Recording (???)

[Cheetle]

Just wondering if anybody could offer any thoughts on mono/stereo guitar recording (????).

It’s been stated in numerous recording books that micing in stereo with 2 microphones (with each mic panned tastefully) yields a more ‘natural’ sound. This makes total sense to me but studying a lot of albums closely (with headphones on) over the weekend, I was very surprised that, with the exception of Stevie Ray Vaughan and some Zeppelin stuff, every electric guitar tone I heard was clearly 'recorded' in mono!!

As the number of tracks a band can now use are limitless, why aren’t producers these days taking advantage and recording each and every guitar (or even just a soloing guitar) in stereo to achieve a more natural sound? A stereo mic’d amp can still be panned in the mix so I gather there is a more valid reason as to why mono is still the popular choice.

Any thoughts?

 

[Dom Franco]

Keep listening and you will hear subtle stereo effects

Quite the often the only stereo effect you will notice is room sound, especially in a live recording.

In some early stereo records instruments were completly panned left or right, or the stereo image was artificially created using delay etc.

I think that now that we have become more critical listeners, a more natural sound is desired. At least not an over-done stereo panned guitar that might just scream FAKE!

A slight taste of room reverb/delay applied to certain instruments adds to the realism of a stage performance.

And the more natural way to achieve this is using a "Room Mike" that picks up natural reflections as well as the original sound wave.

Dom

 

[Nitronium Blood]

What about recording guitar direct [via Pod Xt]?

Lets say I was recording 2 rhythm tracks and then panning one left and one right, would I set my multitrack software to record each individual track in mono or stereo?

 

[Farview]

As the number of tracks a band can now use are limitless, why aren’t producers these days taking advantage and recording each and every guitar (or even just a soloing guitar) in stereo to achieve a more natural sound?

Any thoughts?

You are assuming that it is the goal of a producer to achieve a natural sound. I normally go for a more 'larger than life' type of thing. I suppose it would depend on the genre.

 

[mixsit]

As the number of tracks a band can now use are limitless, why aren’t producers these days taking advantage and recording each and every guitar (or even just a soloing guitar) in stereo to achieve a more natural sound? A stereo mic’d amp can still be panned in the mix so I gather there is a more valid reason as to why mono is still the popular choice.

Any thoughts?

Because mono does it's own wonderful thing. Try comparing a nice drum mix; Stereo- wide, sweet, candy'. Mono- solid, focused, beefy' (and don't forget steerable)

 

[scrubs]

Acoustic guitars do generally sound better recorded with 2 mics/stereo (two mics are better able to capture the subtleties of the acoustic). This is especially true of sparse arrangements where the acoustic plays a large role. For denser arrangements, mono tracks are usually sufficient to give the impression of an acoustic.

Electrics, otoh, are an entirely different animal. Generally speaking, a mono signal is recorded and stereo effects (delays, reverbs, etc.) are applied later to fill out the sound. Electric parts are often tracked multiple times and panned to beef them up. Unless you are tracking with stereo effects and/or using a stereo amp, recording a single electric guitar part on a stereo track would just be a waste of hard-drive space. Certainly, amps are often miked with multiple microphones (which can be recorded on separate tracks and panned various ways) to capture a particular sound, but this is not true "stereo" recording.

Fairview is right by saying most popular music recordings are not concerned with "natural sound," but rather want to create a larger than life illusion.

 

[mixsit]

And lest we forget, it's also about contrast. Too many stereo makes bob a dull boy.

 

[Nitronium Blood]

Bump. Bump. Bump.

 

[Ronan]

Most guitars these days are recorded mono and hard panned left, right or staright down the middle. Instead of recording a mono guitar it is more common to double track the guitar and pan it to opposite speakers. Mono guitars work much better in mixes as a general rule and a lot of stereo elements make a mix sound small.