" I'm asking because I want to be able to pan them left or right. I've only been able to record them left. i.e. my mono tracks won't pan to the right at all.""

 To bad he didn't state this in the beginning. It's a common mistake as those input lists are confusing to the uninitiated. The old use the stereo input mistake.   I see only Daveny and Kalle were paying attention again.  What's with the mini sound man essay's??  

That is interesting Crg about a guitar preamp having two outputs and sending quite different things to those outputs. In that situation recording onto two mono tracks is the right option for sure as it gives you a lot of control to play with later. (you would not have that option if you just recorded that in mono though)

My reference to a guitar preamp was more like a chorus effect that spreads across two outputs in a more normal stereo wide configuration. Then I would use an interleaved track and just record the two outputs onto one track that way.

I think check the manual with the guitar preamp and hopefully there will be some info in there about the presets and how they are sent to the two outputs. 

Synths very rarely send two completely different things to the two outputs. They tend to create wider images that can also be recorded on an interleaved track. Interleaved tracks takes up less room on your arrange page and are easily edited and cut and processed etc..

I always record guitars in mono even if I'm recording acoustic with a dual microphone set up they are in mono and panned accordingly later at the mixing stage.

This may already have been answered as I haven't read all the replies as the thread drifted OT but if you can't pan a mono track it has been recorded as a stereo track with a mono input.

You can bounce the track to mono to sort that out.

mixsit

Bristol_Jonesey


Well, at the risk of repetition, the best way is to simply record them twice - in mono - and pan one left, the other right.

Make sure you get each recording as tight as possible.

If your mono track won't pan to the right then it's because you haven't recorded it in mono -  you have one side of a stereo recording.

Bounce it down to mono and make sure the Track Interleave is set to mono.

Not to nit' but if I asked 'how to record stereo- record (it) twice? 
 
 

Yes well that isn't what he asked. He said "how do you record guitar tracks that in stereo that can be panned right or left?"

I think part of this problem is the way Sonar actually displays or does not display mono tracks. The problem is that the appearance of the track meter remains the same for either stereo or mono and that is a major flaw in my opinion.

The interleave button is also confusing. It is not obvious at first if the track is in stereo or not. Also the input options are confusing. This is why someone can think they are recording in mono but in fact they are only recording on one side of a stereo track and you cannot pan it afterwards. That should never be able to happen.

Sorry to say but Studio One has got this seriously right. Tracks are either stereo OR mono and that is it. A mono track only has one meter (not two, that is dumb) so it is very obvious it is mono. When a mono track is created the stereo input options disappear and you can only select either L or R to record onto that track. When you create a stereo track you get two meters and all the input options. You can never make a mistake in terms of recording either stereo or mono tracks from input sources.

Don't you think this is the way it should be? This part of Sonar's software could be revisited and improved. This is an example of over complicating a relatively simple issue instead of making it easy and foolproof. I have never been a fan of the way Sonar handles this. It is the very reason people get confused and make mistakes here. Of course seasoned users know about it but it can be confusing for the person just starting out.

Jeff Evans


I think part of this problem is the way Sonar actually displays or does not display mono tracks. The problem is that the appearance of the track meter remains the same for either stereo or mono and that is a major flaw in my opinion.

The interleave button is also confusing. It is not obvious at first if the track is in stereo or not. Also the input options are confusing. This is why someone can think they are recording in mono but in fact they are only recording on one side of a stereo track and you cannot pan it afterwards. That should never be able to happen.

Sorry to say but Studio One has got this seriously right. Tracks are either stereo OR mono and that is it. A mono track only has one meter (not two, that is dumb) so it is very obvious it is mono. When a mono track is created the stereo input options disappear and you can only select either L or R to record onto that track. When you create a stereo track you get two meters and all the input options. You can never make a mistake in terms of recording either stereo or mono tracks from input sources.

Don't you think this is the way it should be? This part of Sonar's software could be revisited and improved. This is an example of over complicating a relatively simple issue instead of making it easy and foolproof. I have never been a fan of the way Sonar handles this. It is the very reason people get confused and make mistakes here. Of course seasoned users know about it but it can be confusing for the person just starting out.

Hi Jeff

I'm first to admit that Sonar's input selection can be a little confusing but the meters definitely display correctly. If I have a stereo input selected but record mono into that each side of the stereo is clearly shown with different meter readings. ie. no right signal if mono left is recording.

If I have a mono input selected then the meter is in mono, exactly as I'd expect. Not sure why you are seeing something different.

I very rarely record anything in stereo preferring split mono panned left & right accordingly as it ties in with my mixer in/outs.

  I may have unintentionally screwed this up on the I/O. :) What I want to be able to do is record a single guitar track that I can pan either left or right. So what I do I need to set the Input as in the Track strip? I'm using a brand new Tascam US600 on Win7 64 bit machine, also.

Select the input which corresponds to the socket you're plugging into - this will be either L or R

Set the track interleave to Mono if this hasn't been done automatically - it should be

Record

Pan

Like I said, Its the old "input list that makes no sense to normal people" issue. 

You input list will look something like this. 

Left- tascam us600 - mike 1        = input channel 1 mono    select this to record input 1 in Mono
Right-tascam us600- mike 1        = input channel 2 mono    select this to record input 2 in mono
Stereo-tascam us600 mike 1       = will record input 1& 2 as a stereo track. 
Left- tascam us600 - mike 3        = input channel 3 mono     select this to record input 3 in mono                                
Right-tascam us600- mike 3        = input channel 4 mono      select this to record input 4 in mono
Stereo-tascam us600 mike 3       = will record input 3&4 as a stereo track. 
Left- tascam us600 - Digital in      = SPDIF input L mono  ( your channel 5 ) 
Right-tascam us600- Digital in      = SPDIF input R mono ( your channel 6 )  
Stereo-tascam us600 Digital in     =  SPDIF  -  stereo   

If it does not look like this then are you using the ASIO drivers? 

The confusion is the missing even numbers. 

Mine has both instrument and Line In jacks too and they show as such instead of showing as Mike. 
Looking at the us600 it is not really obviously configured to handle a direct guitar input. I guess the gain control is a wide sweep. They might recommend using the back panel 3- 4 inputs for guitar, read the manual. 

I see only Daveny and Kalle were paying attention again.

I see only Daveny and Kalle were paying attention again.

look again Cactus, as you where not paying attention, again! You missed some members that understood and said the correct way to fix his user errors.

Its funny how you single out a bunch of people for not paying attention, but you where not paying attention when responding.