Do you record in mono or stereo?

MisterCrayle

MisterCrayle

Member
So, since playing with & recording the Axe in my DAW, I've noticed that while playing/monitoring, the recorded take would sound like a fraction of what I'd hear when monitoring.

Well — obviously that was because I've been recording in mono, yet, upon playing back a recorded stereo track, it's exactly the sound I hear when monitoring, & perhaps gives me the illusion that it sounds better, however, I'm gonna assume that it all depends on the living space of the track, right?

For instance, if you're double or quad tracking guitars that are to be hard-panned, I suppose there's really no use in recording those takes in stereo, whereas, if you have a single track that is meant to live dead center, what then?

Half of me feels like I'm doing things wrong, while the other half thinks I'm probably overthinking this whole thing...

What do you guys do?
 
what exactly is “stereo” when playback matches monitoring? are you monitoring in stereo? if so, what exactly is the stereo image then?

MisterCrayle said:
So, since playing with & recording the Axe in my DAW, I've noticed that while playing/monitoring, the recorded take would sound like a fraction of what I'd hear when monitoring.

Well — obviously that was because I've been recording in mono, yet, upon playing back a recorded stereo track, it's exactly the sound I hear when monitoring, & perhaps gives me the illusion that it sounds better, however, I'm gonna assume that it all depends on the living space of the track, right?

For instance, if you're double or quad tracking guitars that are to be hard-panned, I suppose there's really no use in recording those takes in stereo, whereas, if you have a single track that is meant to live dead center, what then?

Half of me feels like I'm doing things wrong, while the other half thinks I'm probably overthinking this whole thing...

What do you guys do?
Click to expand...
 
Hi mrcrayle,
I always record in stereo. Often, I will narrow the stereo field of each stereo guitar to suit the song, and create the right stereo image.
Thanks
Pauly

MisterCrayle said:
So, since playing with & recording the Axe in my DAW, I've noticed that while playing/monitoring, the recorded take would sound like a fraction of what I'd hear when monitoring.

Well — obviously that was because I've been recording in mono, yet, upon playing back a recorded stereo track, it's exactly the sound I hear when monitoring, & perhaps gives me the illusion that it sounds better, however, I'm gonna assume that it all depends on the living space of the track, right?

For instance, if you're double or quad tracking guitars that are to be hard-panned, I suppose there's really no use in recording those takes in stereo, whereas, if you have a single track that is meant to live dead center, what then?

Half of me feels like I'm doing things wrong, while the other half thinks I'm probably overthinking this whole thing...

What do you guys do?
Click to expand...
Hi mrcrayl
 
Unless I have a particular sound (tone+effects) that I absolutely KNOW is what I want for the final product/mix, I always record just what gets me the tone I'm looking for (basically everything up to the cab in the chain). You can always add "after the cab" effects later....Once you record those effects, you can't take them back. If you're using delays to get your track from mono to stereo, record the output of the delay to a separate track (or add the delay at mixdown). Oh, and I always record a separate dry track of whatever I'm doing. That way if I get a great take, but don't particularly like how the tone winds up sitting in the mix, I can re-amp and change it. I always try to leave myself with as much flexibility come mixdown as possible.
 
There’s not necessarily a right or wrong, but that said things will get really washy real quick if you start stacking a bunch of FX-heavy stereo guitar tracks on top of each other (which is of course fine if that’s what you want).

For my own stuff, I only ever track stereo when I’m recording a single track with stereo effects, like a big spacey clean tone or a lead/solo part with stereo reverb/delay. Any and all double-tracked (or more) parts, whether they’re rhythm or lead or anything else, get recorded in mono and panned appropriately.

I’ll still use mono sometimes even on single center-panned tracks just for the narrower perceived space in the mix it takes up, too, especially if there’s already a ton of FX-drenched sounds happening in the rest of the stereo field.
 
I re-amp everything in stereo. I can always narrow the stereo field in the DAW but to widen it takes filtering that I don't like or a delay. The AXE has a delay in processing dependent on the patch which I use a plug-in in Logic to compensate for.
 
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