To mono or to stereo?

Ultimately there are Pros and Cons to mono or stereo - it depends on your usage.

For me, whilst I prefer the sound of stereo effects that only really applies to when I am recording.

For live use, more often that not, you only have a single mono feed to the desk. Using stereo effects then become pointless and can result in you losing something important. As an example, one of my patches I use when recording has a stereo delay effect but the right channel also goes through additional filtering and pitch shifting - I use it on stage, but that would be completely missing unless I sent FOH the RH channel, but then I lose the main tone which drives the song.
Even if I have a stereo feed to FOH something as simple as having a ping-pong delay would be completely missed by some of the audience because they would not be in the 'ideal' position to hear the stereo nature of the signal.
 
Bushy said:
are you implying those effects would benefit from a stereo setup?
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Yes, but I was rather implying that these effects can (and possibly will) go all wrong when summed to mono (phase issues, some effects will sound dull). So, if you are expecting your studio patches to translate live well and you are using some stereo effects, go stereo.
I somewhat agree with Shenks about live situation. If you want to be 100% sure about your live sound and you do not know the level of front-of-house technicians, go mono.
But come on! Drummers are also playing live, they have tons of channels going to the desk and mixing guys are able to pan it right, including the fact that people in the crowd will have somewhat not perfect, but still stereo image. I am not saying it will be completely 100% left/right, but somewhat mixed. It will still be much better than summing stereo effects to mono.
 
Stereo is defined by panning of sounds, implying a centered perspective. Because of this there is a lot to be gained from a players perspective, especially when using IEMs so that moving doesn’t affect your placement within the stereo field. From a FOH perspective, it’s a lot harder to manage and get a good image to all except the middle third wedge from stage. That is hotly debated, and I don’t think I’ll convince anyone differently here, so this is my 40 years of personal perspective from both sides of the house (performing and mixing) for what it’s worth to you. I normally move stereo mixes more to center to assure I don’t completely lose half of an effect to half the audience. Be mindful of cancellation issues and it is a full, albeit less stereo, sound out front.
 
Agree with Rick, for me its about perspective. When I set up for stereo, its never hard left / hard right panning, but about using all that space in between C and L, C and R to add depth and perspective. When sitting slightly stage left in an acoustic environment, I tend to hear instruments closer to me a little more, but I can still hear instruments across a stage. I think that's where stereo comes in for me, so that wherever you sit in an audience, the experience and perspective is as natural as possible. I do think that gives our 2 ears a chance to balance and align what we see and what we hear. All of our band instruments that offer a stereo signal will be mixed slightly higher left and slightly higher right, depending on where they physically are. Its a nuance, but I think it makes a difference in our FOH sound that everyone says is always excellent.
 
I'd assume some effects could still be stereo sounding coming out of a mono speaker? Aren't most traditional guitar players almost always use a mono amp? Or it may be a single amp with 2 speakers (like a 2x12), so does that make it technically a stereo then? Is it a different story for other instruments like a bassist or a keyboardist when it comes to mono vs. stereo amplification? I do have a Neo GK 212 bass cab which has 2 12" speakers (is this defined as stereo?).

Should one mono or stereo their vocals?
 
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Bushy said:
I do have a Neo GK 212 bass cab which has 2 12" speakers (is this defined as stereo?).

Should one mono or stereo their vocals?
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Vocals are like guitar. It’s just source signal. Think of it differently. Stereo was created to approximate how you hear with two ears. Because you hear from two different places, you can sense an image. Standing in the center of a stage, you might hear one guitar to your left, one to your right. The vocalist is in the middle. The drum set is where a little of his set is in the middle, and his high hat more left, and his floor Tom a little left. The bass, because of its tendencies, is everywhere.

So, in your mix you might center the vocal and bass, along with the mics on the drums and cymbals in the physical center of the set. You pan one guitar mostly right, one mostly left. The outer portions of the drum set are panned just a touch left or right to match their location. When you listen to this in phones and close your eyes, you can feel the location of the instruments by their “location” in the stereo soundstage.

You can do this with effects on any source that will help mimic that physical space.

So, it isn’t a number of speakers... you can have a hundred speakers divided 50 per side, send them both the same signal, and it’s a big mono system. It is sending different signals, mixed to widen the audible image to the listener, that creates stereo. The debate comes in how much each listener can sense that from their location in the venue.
 
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There's a stereo effect that can be used for mono setting. I think one pans hard left or right to create the stereo effect.

Would using 2 different speakers sound weird even if both were 12" speakers, different brands, similar specs?
 
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Just try it yourself. Go to I/O settings and set Output you are using to Sum L+R or Copy L->R. This will pretty much give you mono output so you can compare with stereo.
You will most probably like stereo more, however you must remember that in order to perceive stereo correctly at all times ideally you must form a equilateral triangle between two speakers and your ears. This is why even having stereo in one cab (which requires stereo power amp or two power amps by the way) will not really work unless you stick your face into the cab's grill.
For mono you will have to take care of how you sum your stereo effects:
  • Sum L+R is prone to phase issues, your signal might be completely lost at times;
  • Copy L->R is obviously hearing only Left channel from both speakers, which is not having phase issues, but you only hear Left.
I'm just using mono delay, no phaser, no enhancer, and going mono into a real cab. No matter if it's 1x12 or 4x12, it's mono. I'm thinking of getting another 1x12 and putting it like 15 ft. away, then I can go stereo since my power amp is stereo.
It is a trade off between somewhat slight and dangerous improvement in sound versus how much stuff you have to care of and carry around ;)
 
Copy L> R is the exact same as keeping it set to a Stereo and only using the Left physical output. Now you don’t ever need to change that setting, and if you want Stereo, just plug in the right side as well.
 
Copy L > R is what is use when playing live. In that way if needed I can adjust Global EQ OUT 1 for FOH without affecting OUT 2 which feeds into my rack amp and Matrix cab.
 
so "stereo" is only true when speakers are in a pair not in 1 cab (even with 2 or 4 speakers)?

khvMX said:
Just try it yourself. Go to I/O settings and set Output you are using to Sum L+R or Copy L->R. This will pretty much give you mono output so you can compare with stereo.
You will most probably like stereo more, however you must remember that in order to perceive stereo correctly at all times ideally you must form a equilateral triangle between two speakers and your ears. This is why even having stereo in one cab (which requires stereo power amp or two power amps by the way) will not really work unless you stick your face into the cab's grill.
For mono you will have to take care of how you sum your stereo effects:
  • Sum L+R is prone to phase issues, your signal might be completely lost at times;
  • Copy L->R is obviously hearing only Left channel from both speakers, which is not having phase issues, but you only hear Left.
I'm just using mono delay, no phaser, no enhancer, and going mono into a real cab. No matter if it's 1x12 or 4x12, it's mono. I'm thinking of getting another 1x12 and putting it like 15 ft. away, then I can go stereo since my power amp is stereo.
It is a trade off between somewhat slight and dangerous improvement in sound versus how much stuff you have to care of and carry around ;)
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Bushy said:
so "stereo" is only true when speakers are in a pair not in 1 cab (even with 2 or 4 speakers)?
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if they are in the same cab but at least 2 speakers have separate "data" then that is stereo, they don't need to be x amount apart.

"stereo: sound that is directed through two or more speakers so that it seems to surround the listener and to come from more than one source."

it just can't be the same exact signal in each speaker. something has to be different.
 
Does a single speaker ever have 2 separate data to make it "stereo"? Does it even exist or it's not possible?
 
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