This is the rule of thumb: If your source is one, like a guitar, vocal, bass, violin, tuba, sax, kick drum, snare drum, hi-hat, tom and so one (you get my point), its recorded in mono as these are mono by nature.  These instruments (and most others) occur naturally in mono, not stereo. Most instruments are mono with the exception of some synths, room and overhead mics (for drums)
 
Cj
 

 
Doesn't it also depend on whether the interface makes mono inputs available ?
 
I believe if it doesn't, you'll only get stereo tracks.

SONAR will create a mono track from the left or right channel of any stereo pair, if the track input is set up accordingly in the DAW.

bitflipperI'd say it's just the opposite: use a stereo track only if you have a good reason to do so.

 
Thanks. I guess that clears up that point.
 
One thing, though... I just had a look and I don't see any way to set a track to mono or stereo BEFORE recording. I'm assuming, then, that conversion can only take place AFTER the recording is done.
 

bitflipperYou just have to get into the habit of verifying that the interleave is correct for the source,

 
I've read other posts where the term 'interleave' was bandied about, and I know how interleaving relates to a video/audio stream, but what exactly do you mean by 'interleave' in this context?
 

bitflipperthat you know your plugins well and take care to choose mono versions for mono tracks and stereo for stereo.

 
Ah-ha. Good point. I guess I'd better do some digging on this subject as well. Thanks.

CJaysMusic
This is the rule of thumb: If your source is one, like a guitar, vocal, bass, violin, tuba, sax, kick drum, snare drum, hi-hat, tom and so one (you get my point), its recorded in mono as these are mono by nature.  These instruments (and most others) occur naturally in mono, not stereo. Most instruments are mono with the exception of some synths, room and overhead mics (for drums)

Makes sense, but as I mentioned in my reply to bitflipper, I don't see any way to set a track to mono before recording. Am I just not seeing it or is it just not there?
BTW, thanks, CJaysMusic, for stating what must seem to you guys to be the bleeding obvious.

Paul P
Doesn't it also depend on whether the interface makes mono inputs available ?
 
I believe if it doesn't, you'll only get stereo tracks.

Maybe this is my problem. I'm using an EMU 0404 and perhaps I don't have PatchMix set up properly. Could that be why I only get to record in stereo?

rontarrant
 
One thing, though... I just had a look and I don't see any way to set a track to mono or stereo BEFORE recording. I'm assuming, then, that conversion can only take place AFTER the recording is done.
 

The input selection in the audio track determines if the track is recorded in mono or stereo.

scook
SONAR will create a mono track from the left or right channel of any stereo pair, if the track input is set up accordingly in the DAW.

Thank you, scook. Okay, now I see how to record in mono. Just set the input to either left or right. (d'oh!)
 

Thanks for starting a great, informative thread, Ron!

It's important to realize that many hardware synths output a lot of "fake stereo". Like if you record some brass patch out of a synthesizer, 99 percent chance that they didn't actually sample the trumpet in stereo (why would they) but just slapped on some chorus and output it as a stereo signal. Same goes for most analog synths and their VST versions - often it's the effects that make them stereo. There's nothing inherently stereo about a sawtooth wave and apart from the MiniMoog Voyager (stereo filter section only) I don't know of any analog synth that has a stereo signal path (meaning separate oscillators, amps, filters for the left and right sides), though you could pan the oscillators on an OBX I believe.

In these cases, adding those as a stereo signal to your mix will usually only make it harder to mix properly (especially with the fake chorus stereo of ROMpler synths) and it can be helpful to record them in mono. So I agree - think about your source, is it really stereo, in effect does it make sense to have a different left and right side for that sound, and then go stereo. Otherwise stick to mono where possible. You can always reintroduce fake chorus stereo through a VST effect if you feel a particular sound needs to be bigger/wider.