Waste of a track?

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HapiCmpur

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I’ve heard it said that if you split a signal to two tracks and then pan one hard left and one hard right, you end up with mono, not stereo. That makes sense, of course, but it doesn’t explain why doing that SOUNDS markedly different from simply leaving the signal on one track and panning it to the center. To my ears, a signal that’s split and panned sounds bigger, closer, and wider than a signal that sits by itself in the middle of one track, especially a vocal.

I understand that most people who split signals do so to “stereoize” the tracks by delaying one slightly, by EQing the two tracks differently, or by adding chorus or some other effect to one track but not the other. But I’m wondering if anyone out there ever splits and pans a signal without “stereoizing” it, just to bring it forward in the mix or to make it take up more room. How many of you would consider that a waste of a track and instead find some other way to bring the signal forward or make it more present?
 
Without EQ/delay/effects to create a faux stereo effect, all you're doing by splitting a mono track to 2 mono tracks is making it louder.... nothing more...

Anything else you hear is simply an audio illusion due to the increased volume. Turn up the level of the single mono track and you'll have EXACTLY the same result.
 
Hmmmm....

This is interesting me...

If you split your vocals to a right and left track...

What sort of effects would you add to one of the tracks to sterioize it and make it sound fuller?

I know everything is a different case, but just give me something to fool around with....
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
Without EQ/delay/effects to create a faux stereo effect, all you're doing by splitting a mono track to 2 mono tracks is making it louder.... nothing more...
Click to expand...
Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It wouldn't be the first time my ears have deceived me.
Thanks, Blue.


wx3 said:
If you split your vocals to a right and left track...

What sort of effects would you add to one of the tracks to sterioize it and make it sound fuller?
Click to expand...
On a vocal, I imagine most people would probably use EQ, reverb, or delay.
But I’m curious to hear from others if that’s the case.
 
moving the second track some milliseconds will give you a faux stereo effect.
 
depending on how many miliseconds you nudge your 2nd vocal track over you might start running into phase cancellation...usually not much of a factor but depending on the voice it can be quite noticable.

I like to record the singer with two takes and have him vary up vocals slightly on the second take.... I then add reverb to the second track and lose the dry 2nd track all together. I then use the original vocals from first take and add reverb from the second take that is slightly different. It adds a whole new ambience to it as some of the reverb doesn't match up exactly......sounds killer if done right.
 
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