Helpful ReplyRock Guitar: Mono or Stereo when stereo effects are present?

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csnack
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2018/09/28 23:47:05 (permalink)

Rock Guitar: Mono or Stereo when stereo effects are present?

I've read a lot on mono vs stereo as pertaining to guitar tracks and I'm seeing that for some guys the style of music will dictate mono/stereo for guitars, so I was hoping for input re my particular genre, which is a kinda stoner doom twang rock/metal something like Type O Negative and Failure meets Dick Dale. I have this twangy metal sound going and I play a Warmoth baritone strat and use vibrato chorus, delay and octaver a lot but not always so I was thinking to just do my guitars in stereo all the time for the sake of the prospective effects and not worry about it beyond that. But idk, would you record these guitars in mono despite any stereo effects on the signal? Only when stereo effects are on the signal? BTW, the baritone sounds huge on its own so double tracking is the most I'd probably ever do in a song with it if that. Using primarily amp sims here and I think those are all stereo by default... Thanks !
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    Bob Oister
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    Re: Rock Guitar: Mono or Stereo when stereo effects are present? 2018/09/29 00:37:28 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby seriousfun 2018/09/30 18:36:57
    Hi,
     
    When I first started recording with Sonar and joined this forum back in '08 I was in the same type situation and learned a hard lesson, until the really helpful guys in the Songs Forum got me straightened out.
     
    I originally recorded everything in stereo and it ended up cluttering and drastically messing up panning, clarity and definition in my early mixes, which ended up sounding like a wet blanket of cloudiness was thrown over them. 
     
    Now I record all my instrument tracks (except drum overheads) in Mono and then send the Mono tracks to a series of Stereo Buses, (Guitar Bus, Vocals Bus, Drums Bus, Keyboards Bus, etc.)  The stereo effects are then added to the various instrument buses, or to group effects buses with sends to the instrument buses.
     
    This makes it much easier to get a cleaner, decent mix with the ability to pan your individual tracks to where you want them without clutter problems, and still get the stereo effects to sound right on your final output from the Master Bus.
     
    Anyway, that's how I do it, and I know everyone does things differently and opinions are subjective.
     
    Hope this helps!  Have a Rockin' weekend! 
    Bob
     

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    bitflipper
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    Re: Rock Guitar: Mono or Stereo when stereo effects are present? 2018/09/29 02:36:27 (permalink)
    Straight from the horse's mouth. Bob knows how to record guitars!
     
    The general rule for any instrument is that you only record a stereo track when the source is truly stereo. A guitar pickup generally is not stereo, and most stompboxes are not stereo. The exception would be something like an inline stereo delay or reverb - a unit with two outputs. Anything else, stay mono. 
     
    But even if you have a nice stereo effect on your pedal board, you might elect to bypass it in favor of adding the stereo effect after recording. You can then record in mono as nature intended, but still add some cool stereo effect such as a ping-pong delay or chorus afterward - in the box where you can experiment and have full control.


    All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. 

    My Stuff
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    Anderton
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    Re: Rock Guitar: Mono or Stereo when stereo effects are present? 2018/09/29 03:43:52 (permalink)
    Unlike some DAWs, Cakewalk handles mono > stereo with stereo effects very well. I record guitar in mono, but dry. I add all the effects in CbB, and that's where the stereo does/does not happen, depending on what's needed.

    The first 3 books in "The Musician's Guide to Home Recording" series are available from Hal Leonard and http://www.reverb.com. Listen to my music on http://www.YouTube.com/thecraiganderton, and visit http://www.craiganderton.com. Thanks!
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    csnack
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    Re: Rock Guitar: Mono or Stereo when stereo effects are present? 2018/09/30 16:44:07 (permalink)
    Awesome you guys are making me smart and this clears it up for me. Thanks.
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    sock monkey
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    Re: Rock Guitar: Mono or Stereo when stereo effects are present? 2018/09/30 20:37:31 (permalink)
    As said if I'm recording my guitar from my amp there's no point in stereo because the amp is mono.
    And even when I split the signal so I record with the amp and a DI those 2 trax will be recorded mono. Way easier to work with mono tracks at this stage and then run these through stereo plug ins to create a stereo sound stage. 
     
    I've sometimes put up to 3 mikes on a guitar amp at different distances and these are recorded mono and then panned to make a very wide stereo sound stage. 
     
     
    Generally it's real easy to make a mono track stereo later in the mixing. 
    It's real PITA to work with stereo tracks when you want control over the panning. 
     

    Cakelab - Sonar X3e Studio   
    Singer Songwriter, Solo Performer, Acoustic Duo and semi pro Sound Monkey.   
      
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    csnack
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    Re: Rock Guitar: Mono or Stereo when stereo effects are present? 2018/09/30 20:53:51 (permalink)
    Thanks, because yeah initially I was under the impression that if a track is ultimately going to be stereo then the track shoukd start out stereo, but now I'm learning that a track can be made stereo later on down the line and doesn't have to start out that way. Thanks again.
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