stereo field question

Jesse_mtl · Post by **Jesse_mtl** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:21 am

having a hard time wrapping my head around this... the pan control on lives mixer, does not control mono L/R ... so what what exactly should it be used for ?

also, should i bother activating my soundcards mono inputs AND outputs on tracks? Im really confused about stereo and mono for some reason.. i think its the terminology... but also the uses.. Like is there any sense in using the " pan " control on the mixer to move a stereo samples play back to the left or right..

hope someone can clear this up in laymans terms..

Inductive · Post by **Inductive** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 3:57 am

panning a mono sound moves it around in the stereo field, panning a stereo sound does too, you can use track pan for both stereo and mono samples/instruments. I'm not sure what your asking.

longjohns · Post by **longjohns** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 4:03 am

panning stereo may be more of balance than pan - i mean moving to the right is lessening the left channel until it's zero - not suddenly creating a mono sum and moving it towards the right speaker

Jesse_mtl · Post by **Jesse_mtl** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 4:33 am

ok and a mono sum... gives u the difference between left and right channels ? reason being, i never got into using mono samples... and im wondering if i should for cpu reasons?

examples, when working with drums and impulse, i load up all my samples, treat them with individual panning, and then route them each to their own separate tracks.

as u know each track has its own ... ( pan ( but i guess its onlya balance , since tracks are stereo pairs ) ), so i shouldnt fuck with these ?

when people say bass should be centered.. does that mean a mono sample, or is it the same as a stereo sample that is centered, basically i just get confused..

last example being.. lets say i have an audio file that only has a left channel component. when i load it into an audio track and play it, without touching the balance pot, it should play left. if i move the balance pot until it sounds like somewhat in the middle of my speakers, has it now become stereo? or is this like pseudo stereo ?

i hope these are not too many questions and it seems blatantly obvious, its just something for me thats difficult to grasp. i tend to just grab samples that i want, throw them in, and up till now havent thought about my stereo image.

Inductive · Post by **Inductive** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 5:55 am

if you load a mono file, it wont only play on one speaker, there just wont be any stereo diffrence. when you load a mono sample into live, think of it as a stereo track with the left and right side identicle. when you talk about a stereo sample, it means that the left and right channel have diffrences. this will make you percieve it as a more uh, realistic sound. honestly, dont worry about the whole mono bass thing, if you end up cutting a record it can be fixed by you or a tech after the fact. given the choice I would always use a stereo sample, if it sounds too wide use a Utility audio effect (built into live) and lower the width controll. that makes if closer to mono.

is that what your asking?

longjohns · Post by **longjohns** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:02 am

nah, it is definitely confusing. i think you might be overthinking it though

try it - pan something stereo hard left and then resample that into another track

when you listen to the new track, there's only left signal, and when you pan it right, the sound doesn't move right - the left signal just fades out.

so if a stereo sound, let's say a ride cymbal mic'd from overheads or something - is sitting way to the left, you can probably move it somewhat right, but are limited to how much signal exists on the right channel. and the overall loudness will decrease. i suppose you could flip the signals too

Inductive · Post by **Inductive** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:19 am

when i end up with a sample panned hard like the ride you are talking about, you can pan it closer to stereo, but sometimes you can get away with boosting just the lower volume channel. personaly i would edit the wav file in sound forge or something then reload it into live, but you could split the into two tracks, one with only right, one with only left, boost the lower volume track, then resample the whole thing. i'm just confusing things now though.

Jesse_mtl · Post by **Jesse_mtl** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 7:16 am

no no, totally makes sense now. so the utility thing really is like an isolator i guess. and mono is a centered file, with equal information on both sides. so the panning just decreases intensity of one channel. so will i gain or lose cpu ressources by acitivating or deactivating my sound cards separate mono inputs ? at the momment i use my stereo 1& 2 pair in and 1&2 out to my main speakers , and the stere o3/4 out for headphones...

thanx for the above clean cut answers

Ska_Mike · Post by **Ska_Mike** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 4:50 pm

A quick question on this topic. (warning...new user)

When I'm recording my guitar through my M-Audio 410, It is registering as a mono signal, so when I hear it played back in Live, it is played through my left headphone only. How can I fix this so that it plays in both?

thanks!

edit: hehe, nevermind. I foudn the Utility folder. Sorry 'bout that.

ejectorset · Post by **ejectorset** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 5:14 pm

ska_mike, that actually isnt the problem.

you shouldn't need to use utility, just set your audio input to just 1 or 2 (depending on your interface) instead of 1+2.

then when you record your mono guitar signal, live will record it mono which will by default playback panned dead center.

what happened before was live expected a pair of inputs and a stereo source (1+2) instead of the mono signal on only one mono channel from your guitar. as such you end up with a stereo recording in live that only has audio information in one channel (probably left). when that plays back in stereo, it only comes out 1 speaker.

Ska_Mike · Post by **Ska_Mike** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 6:16 pm

ohhh, okay. That solved it.

Thanks alot

hmm...so, if I was recording 2 guitars simultaneously, and clicked 1+2, I'm guessing that one guitar is on the left, and one on the right?

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 6:36 pm

no dont do that.

arm two audio tracks and set one of them to record from input 1, set teh other audio track to take its input from input two.

that way you can edit them separately and they wont be panned hard left/hard right