Hi all
 
Hope you're well.
 
I'm looking for a bit of advice and guidance.
 
Say I have a mono recording of a guitar, either with a cab and mic or DI then an amp sim added, is it good or proper practice to make the track it is on also mono by clicking the interleave button?
 
I know that when I do the guitar actually sounds pretty awful but I wonder if that's because I'm so used to hearing it in stereo in my headphones.
I also know however that my mixes are muddy and messy when I have multiple guitar tracks playing and wondered if this is because I have all the tracks as stereo.
 
Just wondering what the usual method is.
 
Thanks for your time and any advice.
Cheers.

If it is a mono source, record it as mono track. If you use stereo FX on it, turn it to stereo but you may need a plugin to reduce its width in the stereo panorama.

Muddy mixes are a different story. You tackle that with subtractive EQ but that can't be explained in a short post. There are full chapters about it written in books. Probably many videos out there as well ...

Thanks Rob
 
Yes I understand the importance of EQ and I'm learning as I go.
The mess I think may be because I am recording a mono signal onto a stereo track...hope I'm explaining myself properly here.
 
So simple answer is mono recording click the interleave and make the track mono, that right?
 
Thanks.

If you recorded the track as mono leave it as it is. Clicking the interleaved button will turn any you have to mono which isn't what you want usually.

When you record with ASIO drivers you are given a choice of inputs - 1 left, 1 right or stereo 1-2.  Choose whichever "single input" the mic is on, 1 left or 2 right.  It will record it as a mono track but shows up as a stereo output on the track meter, a mono source coming out of both speakers.  Then you can pan it between the two sides, which is one way to separate guitars.  It is easy to get confused and record choosing the ASIO stereo source for a mono input.  But then the output meter will show activity only on one side of the stereo meter.

Thanks all.
 
I was getting confused after watching tutorials with people using protools, where they insert a mono track to record some DI guitar.
I understand now that Sonar doesn't designate tracks as mono or stereo but takes its lead from the input.
 
I am setting the track as mono input so all good there.....just need to learn the other 20 years worth of knowledge and then I might start to record the sounds I truly want 
 
https://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2007013269/Selecting-Stereo-versus-Mono-Inputs-for-Audio-Tracks
 
Thank you again
Cheers 

Nifty9993
just need to learn the other 20 years worth of knowledge and then I might start to record the sounds I truly want 
 

that's part of the fun