centred sub + kick, most other things have pan on them, even some kick samples i have tail off in the midrange towards one channel

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just think of your track as a room atmosphere, then you can see where you must or want to place everything...im making this short but it wouldn't make sense to have the kicks on each end of the room becasue thats where you want to place other stuff like hats, fx, maybe a pad, ect..and yes for vynal you must take care with your bass..this is becaus ethe needlw or stylus moves left to right when reading low freaquencies and well stereo is just not good. This all depends on the frequency as well.

Limit Out!

Also since the bass frequencies require more power to output, you'll want to be using the power of both speakers for your bass, not just one.

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Let me see if I understand it right. There's a difference between recording a signal as a mixed stereo signal or recording two individual mono (read: discrete Left and Right) tracks. for certain applications that could actually work better than blended stereo track. It also offers certain flexibility in working with the sound. Nonetheless, I don't think there's a definitive "yes" or "no" answer to your question. You can't say that it's wrong to do something in one way or the other. It either works or doesn't work in a track. That's all. The only way to tell is to experiment and listen.

Don't be afraid to be wrong. The worst thing that will happen is you will build some experience - and that is an accomplishment in itself.

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This mono vs stereo topic is really confussing.

First of all, to be honest, I don't know how really mono works. I know that mono stands for monophonic which means that the sound is only playing in one channel. So does that mean that its only playing either in left channel or right channel? But when you play back a mono sample it doesn't play in one channel, it plays in both (left and right). You can even pan a mono sound. Then, how is this mono? It acts now as stereo, playing in both left and right channels.

Can somebody please do a "mono and stereo explanation for dummies" like myself?

Also, some people say that when switching from mono to all stereo drum/percussion samples, they have noticed big improvement in quality of their mixes. Others say that it doesn't matter. I would really like to know whats better so I know which samples to purchase.

quote:

Originally posted by superddman This mono vs stereo topic is really confussing. First of all, to be honest, I don't know how really mono works. I know that mono stands for monophonic which means that the sound is only playing in one channel. So does that mean that its only playing either in left channel or right channel? But when you play back a mono sample it doesn't play in one channel, it plays in both (left and right). You can even pan a mono sound. Then, how is this mono? It acts now as stereo, playing in both left and right channels. Can somebody please do a "mono and stereo explanation for dummies" like myself? Also, some people say that when switching from mono to all stereo drum/percussion samples, they have noticed big improvement in quality of their mixes. Others say that it doesn't matter. I would really like to know whats better so I know which samples to purchase.

Yeah, now i'm also confused

Does mono mean 'centered' or is it just panned one way??

And in producing, is it better to have all instruments double, and pan one left and one right??

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quote:

Originally posted by superddman Can somebody please do a "mono and stereo explanation for dummies" like myself?

Mono is a single channel and stero is double channel. Both play through both left and right channels of the speakers, but mono will play the same sound in both speakers, where as in stero you can have different sounds coming from the left or right speaker by panning for example.

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Originally posted by TranceMuzik02 Mono is a single channel and stero is double channel. Both play through both left and right channels of the speakers, but mono will play the same sound in both speakers, where as in stero you can have different sounds coming from the left or right speaker by panning for example.

Oh, that explains it more. So a stereo file has extra data included that tells the player which sounds go where? Where as, a mono file has no such data and one sound is routed equally to left and right speaker?

So thats why a stereo file has more depth because different sounds play in different channels.

Therefore, wouldn't be better to use all stereo samples for drums/percussion? Or only use mono for the kick?

ok... let's make clear one thing...

Once upon a time... the first machines that played sound (gramophones and that kind of stuff) only reproduced one channel recordings... why? Because inventions work like that, from simpler things to more complex. So firstly people only demanded to hear sound... then people became more sybaritic and inventors try to offer more things to the people.
Initially, since common humans have 2 ears they thought that 2 microphones will be enough. During a lot of years people lived happily... but some day, pro-audio gurus (and movies majors) agreed that 2-channel audio was not enough for common people and then... that's another story!

So one thing is stereo recording and other stereo reproduction. Stereo players can reproduce both stereo and mono recordings with no loss of quality. Mono players can reproduce both stereo and mono recordings because stereo systems (in FM radio, turntables, casette,...) was designed in a backward compatibility way so older mono systems can 'understand' the mono info embedded on the newer stereo tracks (in the same way as black and white TV can receive colour signal). BUT that doesn't mean that mono can reproduce stereo recordings but only 'extract' mono recording.
How can be done? For example, in turntables L and R channels are recorded as L+R in the same way mono recordings were registered. And the L-R info is recorded in a subtle way that doesn't interfere with the mono player. So a mono player when it's reproducing a stereo recording is actually playing otgether L+R channels (from this derives the importance of checking the mono mixdown). A stereo player only need to do this: L+R + L-R = 2*L (here we obtain the left channel amplified by 2) and L+R - L-R = 2*R.

Mainly we can see stereo as 2 mono systems working together. There are a lot of techniques to register sound field in only 2 channels but we shouldn't mind of it if we are not recording audio but only editing and mixing it. A stereo file usually takes twice space in the hard disk.

There are a lot of audio workstations that need to convert mono files to stereo to work right with them, but this procces only consist of a duplication of the mono channel... there's no really stereo info... (nihil ex nihilo - from nothing you can't get anything).

Is better stereo samples for drums? Stereo samples are always better for everything except for your hard disk (since mono files are smaller). Stereo sample doesn't mean that it will be panned fully left or right but the kick, for example, has been recorded with subtle differences between L R channels, due to room reverbs, micro location, etc...

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So I get the idea that its better to stick with stereo drum/percussion samples.
Is it true that utilities will report some files as mono but its stereo? Or viceversa?

BTW, does anyone know of a utility that will scan large number of samples, and distinguish all mono from stereo?

quote:

Is better stereo samples for drums? Stereo samples are always better for everything except for your hard disk (since mono files are smaller). Stereo sample doesn't mean that it will be panned fully left or right but the kick, for example, has been recorded with subtle differences between L R channels, due to room reverbs, micro location, etc...

Very good explaination shockwavedj...golf clap for that one!!

but what I have quoted from you is somnething to be argued...now true in the sense of subtle dofferences in reverb ect...but in the sense of track placement, you need to find room in your mix to place things and I don't just mean frequency wise, I mean spacial or spectral. You see everyting must have it's own placement to fit properly in the mix so it sounds like one big happy family in the same room...sort of speak. This is why we say mono for kick and not stereo..but it more than likely depends on the genre..dance type music should have a centered placed kick drum just because it is the main driver behind the tune and always needs to be in ya face. Anotehr focal point would have to be vocals..ask any technician and he'll tell you mono babay! simply because of placement...vocals shouldn't get lost in the mix so keeping them mono and it just works out! now we go to freaquency and see what happens..mono kick and lets just say bass line too(my preference), that would be a low end freaquency and placed in the mix as mono...now we get our mono vocals, which can range from 300-5000hz roughly and bam you get no confusion just perfect harmony..I'm not saying this is a perfect explaination because theer is a lot more to explain but it gives the just of it.