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RealBand
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 349
Journeyman
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OP
Journeyman
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 349 |
Any pros and cons to setting RB Audio track to stereo or mono for recording vocals?
Carkins
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RealBand
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Joined: Jan 2002
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 7,913 |
Solo vocals should be recorded mono.
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RealBand
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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If you record them mono and then pan them to both channels, why not record them stereo?
In a thread some time ago I asked about this, saying that I record my vocals onto 2 channels because I can have a lower gain level (to avoid any kind of clipping) and then have the channel volumes up higher. In that thread I used the logic that 1 = 1, but so does 2 x 1/2 = 1, the theory being that 1 channel recorded hotter should mathematically be the same as 2 channels recorded at half volume but summed (2 x 1/2). On that post you replied that in audio 2 x 1/2 is not the same as 1, but never got into the reasoning why that is true.
Bottom line is that I won't say what I do is technically record the vocals in stereo as much as I record it mono onto 2 tracks and then sum them. I do not have a powerful voice and my vocals, though I record them to the point where the Real Band VU Meters are hitting the red zone, are always was too quiet for the music. And if I turn a single channel up to "11", they start to distort. But 2 channels at 5 1/2 give me the same 11 without either one of them clipping and getting distorted. At least that is my logic.
Scott, why is that logic not correct?
Also note that this technique was born from too many people saying my vocals needed to be further out front when I had no headroom to put them there. Also note that if I have vocals in tracks 7 and 8, they are both panned dead center and I never make one louder than the other. They are direct parallel vocal tracks. Not done for stereo effect, just to have more amplitude there to work with.
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RealBand
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 22,460
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I record to mono also for what it's worth.
Eddie, use a compressor; your voclas will jump out front.
What you are doing is not recording to stereo if you use two mono tracks and pan them both center, you just duplicated a mono track.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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RealBand
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,157
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Mono - Some DX FX will only work on a mono wave file  Trax
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RealBand
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 7,913
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Joined: Jan 2002
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Eddie,
FIRST, EQ the low end out of your vocals. High pass them at 80-150 Hz, adjusting the cutoff frequency to taste.
Then use compression to make the quiet parts louder as rharv suggests. No need to burden the compressor with unusable and unimportant frequency content.
Your method is not recording stereo. Stereo means there are definite signal differences in the two different channels. Simply copying one channel to another doesn't do this, and doesn't provide the cues your hearing system uses to say 'that's a multi-dimensioned sound'.
Your method is still mono, just a summed mono approach. Shouldn't need to do this. Turn your other tracks down.
Recording mono is standard practice for ANY source that is 'small sized' in terms of where the sound comes from. Example: Trumpet, saxophone, most wind and brass instruments for that matter.
When you listen to a solo trumpet standing at a safe distance - does it sound wide, or can you point directly to where the trumpet is? You can point directly to it, unless it's in a reflective environment.
Now, contrast that with a 'wide' instrument, like a piano. If you are playing the piano, you hear low notes coming from one part of the piano, and high notes coming from a different part. It begs for more than a simple mono recording technique.
When you hear a solo singer, you do not hear them coming from more than one location - but a point location. Ideally suited for a mono, point-source recording technique.
Look at any studio photo you want to look at where a solo vocalist is being recorded. I'll make it easy for you. copy/paste this into Google "recording studio vocals" and click the images link.
99% of the time, the pros are using a single mic to capture the sound. Sometimes, they might put up a few different mics, but this is not to make the sound stereo, but to take advantage of the coloration that the different mics put on the recorded signal so that they can decide after the fact, which mono recording they will use to dominate the sound, and which mono recording they might bring in underneath for support.
Contrast that with 'wide' instruments. You'll see an x-y pattern, or blumlein, or M/S or other stereo micing technique being used to capture the width of the source. Type this into the google image search and you'll see all kinds of stereo and more mic techniques "recording grand piano mic placement" .
The big pro to recording in mono for mono sources, is the file size is half.
Oh, back to Eddie - another way to make your vocals 'jump' is to double them - by recording two takes and using both - worked for the Beatles, it can work for you.
-Scott
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