Ableton Forum

I'm a total newbie when it comes down to homerecording and I've been wondering lately when to record a signal in Mono and when to record it in Stereo.

Like for example: When panning a single guitar track to the left, does it need to be Mono or Stereo?

Could someone please explain to me?

Thanks in advance!
Joshua

Please help!

If you record your guitar with a stereo mic in front of your amp, then record it in stereo to preserve the natural stereo image.

but generally one would record a guitar with just one mic (or DI it) i guess, so record it as mono.

There are stacks of good articles on the net about mixing - try google.

Simple rule to et your started - if it an effectively mono signal, then keep it mono on a single track, or it stereo because it a synth where left and right are guenuinely carrying different signals (diffently panned oscs for eg) or an output of a stereo sound processor where left and right are different, then keep it in stereo.

In the case of Live, wiith I nearly allways end up stick a utility module on the audio track to control stereo width and gain, though its widening effect is IMHO rather dodgy, but for narrowing which is what I normally want to do - its fine.

One thing to consider when mixing and panning in stereo - you can easy use the stereo spread to make lots of room for sounds that would otherwise occupy the same space in the frequency sprectrum so do check you mix in mono as well to make sure that you have EQd sounds OK so that it doesnt turn to mush when reproduced on a system with poor stereo imagining or worse - mono.

Since no one else is addressing this I will give my 2 cents. Unless a channel has spatial information emedded in it (like an autopan, or a drum loop where different elements of the kit have spatial placement), I try to do everything with mono channels. Then I pan to taste. In your case I would think you would record the guitar in mono. An engineer buddy of mine does primarily heavy music and he swears by having the guitarist track twice and hard panning the two channels to beef the sound up.