a question about vocals ? stereo or mono ?

U

ufaq

New member
ok so i recorded my vocals for one of my songs today in a recording studio ...
the sound engineer rendered all the .wav files as separate stereo tracks to my usb drive !
and now i'm at home about to mix the stuff (final mix) but i'm stuck up cause the vocals are in stereo and not mono.
we recorded vocals in mono and then he rendered them as seperate stereo tracks so now is it ok to use vocals in a stereo effect or will mono be better ... he uses nuendo and i use reaper so no chance of editing it in my daw.
should i now change all the stereo tracks to mono using reaper and then pan them ... will it make any difference ..? what would be better if i need a rich sounding strong vocals in my track?

thanks ..
 
Rendering a mono source on a stereo track isn't a problem.
Sending a mono or a stereo track to a stereo effect isn't a problem.
Converting a stereo track to mono may cause sound cancellation due different phases on each side.
So keep your tracks as they are.
 
Your tracks aren't actual stereo if they weren't recorded in stereo, its just the same mono track on both channels, there wont be any cancellation if you sum to mono... just make sure the phase isn't inverted on one of the tracks...
 
Make sure they haven't been effected. Coz if you have recorded in Mono and now you have Stereo files then maybe there was an added effect that has stereo information?

Best way to check that there is no stereo information is to solo the stereo vocal, phase invert one of the sides (say left), then finally sum them to mono. If you find there is no sound then it's a mono track with no stereo information. So you can comfortably delete one of the tracks and use the other as a mono source.
 
Just leave them as stereo tracks. There is no problem with that. As stated by others they will infact probably be actually dual mono rather than having separate information L-R. There are quite a number of plugins that only work on stereo tracks (URS plugs spring to mind). ALso if you were to "bounce" your mono tracks, and then re-import them, they would then be stereo tracks anyway.
 
Last edited:
I regularly receive tracks from clients where they have rendered their mono vocal tracks in stereo. In Pro Tools, I will will split the stereo track into two mono tracks and delete one of the channels. It saves on CPU power to work in mono and I find the vocal holds it's central position in the mix better when working this way.
 
themixspace said:
I regularly receive tracks from clients where they have rendered their mono vocal tracks in stereo. In Pro Tools, I will will split the stereo track into two mono tracks and delete one of the channels. It saves on CPU power to work in mono and I find the vocal holds it's central position in the mix better when working this way.
Click to expand...

I really don't understand how it can be that the vocal holds it's central position better.
If there is identical information L--R then it should sit perfectly in the center. Often if I comp together a bunch of vocal takes, and I may bounce them. The resulting bounced file sounds identical to the original tracks ( which you are hearing going through a stereo buss ) except it is now one continuos track rather than a bunch of segments of tracks. I can't see the point in turning this back to mono. Also, like I said previously this then enables you to use stereo processors such as the URS compressors, Waves L2 or whatever else wants to see stereo files.
WE all work in different ways, I just fail to see how it makes a difference to the center image. Maybe I am missing something, but I have worked this way for years.
 
The processors used may introduce a slight phase shift or another small difference to one side of the stereo track. I did a little experiment a while ago where I had 2 versions the same vocal track, one stereo and one mono (L side of the stereo file). I processed the mono vocal until I was happy with it in the mix, then i copied the plugins over to the stereo file, and adjusted the threshold on compressors etc to compensate for the increase in level. When I listen to them side by side, in stereo and mono, I found the mono vocal track cut through the mix nicer and it seemed to hold the centre position better.

But like you say, we all have different methods of working. This is my method and it works for me.

If i'm completely wrong, then I apologise, but to my ears the experiment showed that the mono signal sounded better in the mix.
 
The only way you're actually recording in stereo is you have two different mics picking up your vocals.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top