mono vs stereo

craiguitar said:
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4. Most of my patches are set up in stereo, and when I tried (Yes I did try to go) L+R Sum, something wierd happened to most of them. Levels differed, and some of them sounded 'squashed' somehow. I'm no expert, but I know I didn't like it.
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What you got was phase artifacts from stereo effects squashed into mono. Some effects blocks have this side-effect (the Enhancer is one of them).

Important note, however: leaving your patches as stereo to avoid this phasing artifacts has some risk: you might blindly think that everything is fine, and feed two cables to FOH... but if the FOH is mono, or if the sound tech does not pan your two feeds hard left and hard right, then those phasing artifacts will be present in FOH, and that nasty sound you were hearing is what your audience will hear. Meanwhile, you will be oblivious to all that, and have great stereo sound on stage, thinking everything's cool (but out front, it isn't). Just thought I'd mention it.
 
As a sound guy, I have no issues with accepting a stereo feed from a guitar player.. and I'll happily take XLR's - either mono or stereo. If I'm given L/R, then I try to make sure the player understands the limitations of doing so in regards to effect in FOH. My system is dual-mono, so ping-pong delay in the guitar signal will cause sound on one side of the stage to be on-again, off-again while that effect is engaged when panned hard L/R on each console channel. Even panned center, the phasing will still be evident to the audience. Definitely NOT the intended experience for them. Problem for me is, they thinks its a sound problem when it happens :(

Unlike many sound guys, I believe my job is to amplify the signals I receive to the best of my ability and equipment, not add tone shaping [EQ for FOH is OK] or add artifacts to the feeds.

YMMV
 
I run stereo live. It doesn't matter too much what side of the stage the audience is on. I have one amp model L and one amp model R, but they both sound good individually. For cleans, it does make a huge difference to run in stereo. If the sound guy wants to only mic L or R that's fine. but those up close (and me most importantly) can hear the stereo effects and it makes me play better. But I play just as many gigs where we don't mic any guitar cabs (smaller venues). And everyone can hear the stereo effects on clean channels.
 
I almost never play in venues where there is a FOH sound system. My bassist and drummer are un-mic'd 95% of the time. I run a mono amp/cab-sim down the center of my mix with stereo modulatory and ambient effects mostly post cabinet-sim. I keep my two FRFR cabs on stands behind me at head height, not too far apart, and spend my nights in 'sweet spot' land. My typical venue size allows me to thoroughly enjoy stereo effects while still providing my bandmates and audience with a huge, beautiful, balanced sound.

I have a duplicate set of my main soundscapes, optimized for mono effects, stored in a different bank. On the occasion I go FOH at a larger, louder venue I use the mono bank for the evening.

In my case, at the levels I play at, stereo has no drawbacks or negative room balance issues.
 
I run my cab/direct feed mono for live shows as well, for reasons already stated. Further, it keeps things simple - fewer things that can go wrong during setup/sound check, the better.
 
Stereo can be great live. I 'm usually mono, for various reasons. Mono is easy. Though, sometimes I'm in a situation where I can run stereo, which is slightly more work. Stereo can really open up sounds if you use it right. It can sound particularly good in a small band or solo situation, and especially outdoors. It's a matter of how/where you use it. I agree it needs to be controlled to the venue.

If the stage and equipment you have to work with allows good separation and audience positioning, give it a shot. If FOH then getting some buy-in first from whomever is running sound is advisable because it may not work with the equipment you are dealt. Soundcheck. If not working out either during soundcheck or later then it is usually easy to go back mono.

Any room you are in will create it's own natural effects -- so particularly with stereo you may want to go easy on the fx levels. Think of stereo as another strong effect you are adding to your sound and so you need to plan for it and make space for it.... for example, try turning reverb off and limit delay repeats on your stereo patches.

Keep stereo versions of your mono patches and use them when you can!
 
I usually go stereo in small places and mono in bigger ones but I'm thinking to go mono for both after I read Scott Peterson cab setup so I don't have to change my patches. Now the question is: how you or the FOH man pan your band to mantain each sound separate from the others? I think this is another great problem and players with a lot of experience (and I think there are amore than one in this forum) can help the "younge" ones. Unfortunately in Italy you have to play in places where the FOH man is not so good to setup the sound image of the band :( . All I have learned is when I played in U.S.: maybe I was lucky but I found a lot of great FOH tech :) .
 
In my part of the world there aren't many rooms that have a house system so we carry our own. We run stereo @ 15kw per side.
I run my rig in stereo to FOH and on stage into 2 powered wedges (for ambient noise) and into iem's, in smaller venues I get a hard pan, in larger venues I get a soft pan. This seems to work well for us and have had positive comments on some of the stereo fx that I'm running. Most of the audience doesn't know the difference, but I do and some of what I do is for me.
I used to own a regional production house and have had some FOH for the headliners ask that I pull the x-over back 15% for the opener, some of my crew had reported similar situations, but not all foh guys are that way.
I've opened for some names (won't drop them tho) and some the band foh techs and management really cared about everyone having a solid mix, even to the point of making sure we had enough room on stage.
If something doesn't sound right to you, don't be afraid to say something, but don't be an ass about it.
 
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