Splitting a Mono track to a Stereo L & R track - Channel Tools

I've done a search on this but still cant figure the easy wasy to do it.
 
You have a typical acoustic rhythm guitar track in mono. You know it would sound cool to pan it hard left and right.
 
How do I do this without creating a new track and panning it to a different side?
 
I know you can right click the clip and "convert to stereo", however I cannot for the name of me get channel tools, to split and pull it either side it seems to be all greyed out? Anyone know a quick solution?
 
Cian
 
 

There is a turn a stereo track to mono in SONAR - I'm not sure about the other way.
 
But Karyn has it right - a mono recording simply cloned isn't different than a simple mono track going out stereo.  You need to slide one side forward or backwards to create a difference, or better yet, play it twice.  That should thicken up the sound.
 
@

Hi, Cian, great to see you around, my friend!
 
Just something simple to check out.  I'm not in the studio at this moment, but I believe If you're using Channel Tools directly on a track, the interleave on the track has to be set to stereo in order for Channel Tools to allow "stereo processing", even if the track is mono.  I always use a MONO TRACK routed to Channel Tools on a STEREO BUS and it always works well for me.
 
Hope this helps, best wishes!
Bob

Bob, That does help, but dont know what you mean by track interleave. I know your not in studio, so no biggie.
 
Batz, Yea Ill do the double tracking method, just wanted a quick * neat mixing trick where I could with as little clicks as possible turn a mono track into a split panned stereo to get it wide out of the way of everything.
 
I think you have let loose one of your guitar mixing secrets there also, score! Probably the most uneducated area I am within DAWs are reverb and sends. Ill really have to get a better handle on that. I still dont even know which type of reverb to put on stuff, usually just lash a plate onto a vox and then whatever sounds good on anything else.
 
Thank you very much guys

Hi, Cian,
 
Not sure which version of Sonar you're using, but in Producer 8.53 in Console View, the track interleave button is the small mono/stereo button directly above the "M" mute button on every track and bus.
 
Although, as I mentioned above I usually use Channel Tools for BGVs using a Mono track routed to a Stereo Vocal Bus, not on individual tracks.
 
Have a good one, buddy!
Bob

whack 
Your trick re panning the dry to one side and letting the reverb alternate in the panning field, the only thing is how do I pan only the dry signal??

Hi Cian
You also asked about reverb bussing/routing in another reply so I give you a quick run down of some reverb basics.
 
There are two* main uses for reverb:
1) as a value added effect on an instrument, like the reverb effect often built into guitar amps.
This type of reverb only affects the instrument to which it is applied and is normally added as an insert in the instrument channel, eg. the FX box or PC.  The wet/dry mix is controlled by the plugin.  A mono reverb will give the same effect as a reverb on an amp with a mic stuck infront of it, ie when you pan the track the dry and the reverb will pan together and will sound mono.  If you use a stereo reverb (and set the track interleave to stereo) you will get the reverb in stereo. The pan of the dry signal will depend on the input levels on the reverb.
 
2) as a global ambience.  You add the same reverb to every instrument to make them sound like they were recorded in the same room/hall/canyon at the same time.  This binds them together and prevents the old "singing into a hair brush" effect where it's obvious that you're singing along to a backing track.
You could do this by simply inserting a stereo reverb into the Master bus, but that's a bad idea. It just adds reverb onto the entire mix.
The "correct" method** is to create a bus, call it Reverb, route the output to the Master bus, then on every channel add an FX SEND with POST FADER which routes to the Reverb bus. Add a nice reverb plug to the reverb bus and TURN OFF THE DRY OUTPUT.  The dry signal from each channel is still going the usual route through the faders, only reverb should be coming out of the reverb bus.
You can now add reverb to any instrument by turning the FX Send you assigned on each channel. All instruments will sound like they're in the same room (same reverb) and you can place instruments around the room left/right by panning (the dry moves but the reverb doesn't) or forwards/backwards (turn up the dry, turn down the reverb to bring forwards).
 
 
There are many tricks you can use with this.  You can tighten up a drum kit by routing all the channels to a drum bus and using the reverb send from that, rather than individual drums, to place the entire kit at one point in the room. Then for any kit pieces that you panned (toms, maybe) add a tiny bit extra reverb using the send on the instrument channel.  That will push it back slightly in physical space and give more depth to the overall sound.
This is very much into the realms of psyco-accoustic tomfoolery and the extra reverb should be added very sparingly, to the point where the casual listener wouldn't know there was extra added, but it's little things like this that are the difference between a great mix and a professional mix...
 
 
 
 
Oh my...  I didn't realise I typed that much.  I'm turning into Danni
 
*Other uses are available
** Yes yes, I know, other methods are available...