Drums - Mono or Stereo, and why?

Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
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Re: Drums - Mono or Stereo, and why?

By Menco Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:07 pm
Always sample in stereo, never leave them like that thought.

I always convert them to a mono signal. Sometimes I take the left or the right side (depends on what I need), and sometimes I combine them together to make them mono. Thanx to JJOS.
I like to have my drums mono when I track out my beat. Purely for mixing purposes
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Re: Drums - Mono or Stereo, and why?

By Si-Tone Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:44 pm
JJOS2XL has that non destructive stereo/mono setting. I pretty much sample in stereo, build something, and once ive got a loop playing,flick through stereo, mono etc on my drums and decide whats working. I find what sounds best is different everytime.
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Re: Drums - Mono or Stereo, and why?

By cyrus Tue Jun 21, 2011 6:44 am
Si-Tone wrote:JJOS2XL has that non destructive stereo/mono setting. I pretty much sample in stereo, build something, and once ive got a loop playing,flick through stereo, mono etc on my drums and decide whats working. I find what sounds best is different everytime.


yup, i think thats part of beat making. experimenting. look. if we sampled everything in mono all the time, there would be no variation. sometimes that random snare slightly panned to the right with some other shit going on makes for randomness, character, and goodness to the beat.

listening to some of my favorite soul songs, and ill old school music, alot of the times what i like about it is how the mix creates part of the feeling of the track. when im sampling, thats what im trying to capture. sometimes you can snag it in mono, sometimes stereo, and sometimes flipping it by seperating channels or whatever. depends on what you going for and sometimes there are those happy accidents.

so i say, whatever works.
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Re: Drums - Mono or Stereo, and why?

By Si-Tone Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:29 am
fasttrackpimp wrote:
Menco wrote:and sometimes I combine them together to make them mono.


Same. I do that most of the time for drums.



Im finding L+R combined is often the best as well. Can be misleading though cos of the inherit volume boost when you sum 2 channels. I always pull down track levels and check it is in fact better, as opposed to louder.
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Re: Drums - Mono or Stereo, and why?

By Shostakovich Mon Jul 11, 2011 2:50 pm
Most, if not all drums nowadays, are multi mic'd and then panned into the stereo field.
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Re: Drums - Mono or Stereo, and why?

By Si-Tone Tue Jul 12, 2011 10:09 am
Shostakovich wrote:Most, if not all drums nowadays, are multi mic'd and then panned into the stereo field.


NO doubt. But when sampling pre recorded material (vinyl, CD etc) you only have a stereo mix of those multiple mics to work with.

Re: Drums - Mono or Stereo, and why?

By dtaa pla muk Tue Jul 12, 2011 1:55 pm
haha wat is this thread. if the drums have a good stereo field and it sounds nice, use it. if they are in stereo but sound like they're in mono, convert to mono. if they're mono, leave them mono and pan at will. if it's a weird record from the 60s where the drums are panned all left, eliminate the right channel and use the resulting mono wav.

quotes like "mono drums hit harder" imply a fragile understanding of what mono/stereo means to begin with.
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Re: Drums - Mono or Stereo, and why?

By Shostakovich Tue Jul 12, 2011 8:45 pm
Si-Tone wrote:
Shostakovich wrote:Most, if not all drums nowadays, are multi mic'd and then panned into the stereo field.


NO doubt. But when sampling pre recorded material (vinyl, CD etc) you only have a stereo mix of those multiple mics to work with.


Nope. Many, many records were mixed and released in mono.
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