Stereo Or Mono???

i wanna record tracks onto pro tools and was wondering is there a major difference b/w the two quality wise...now dont start w the sacrcastic "mono means one and stereo means two" replies I KNOW THAT!i just wanna know what do most of yall record in for final mixing?it seems like stereo only sounds a bit louder and takes up more memory in my laptop...lets get this debate going...

Every "final mix" I've ever known was stereo.

Final mix meaning "mastering" makes me think it's either a final stereo
file, 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1.

ok so if i record into pt mono, duplicate each track in my edit window, and pan each track to the left/right would that make it stereo?

No, it would give you a louder mono track. To get the stereo effect, you need different stuff happening in the left and right area. So what you do is either record stereo sources that already have that stuff happening, or record mono sources and pan them over the stereo field. For example, that hi-hat could be panned a little to the left, a guitar somewhere to the right, a rhodes on the other side. Kick, snare, bass and lead vox are mostly kept in the middle of the stereo field.

is the 8 outs board 8 stereo or mono outs?if its stereo then ill be good cuz on my 60 i had to use 2 outs for one stereo track so it was like i really had 4 outs instead of 8...

It's 8 mono outs, but they can be used as 4 stereo pairs, or a combination of mono and stereo pairs.

thanks again Rob...not sure if u know much about pro tools but ill ask anyway...could i record thru the 8 outs into PT all mono and make them 8 stereo tracks afterwards thru the options in PT?or will i have to record 4 stereo tracks at a time and double my workload?

I don't work with PT, so I can't really tell you.

But it comes down to this:

- If you have a stereo source in the MPC (a stereo sample), assign it to a stereo output (either the main outs or 1/2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8 from the 8-out card) and record in stereo in PT.

- If you have mono source, assign ot to a mono output and record in mono in PT.

- Afaik, there's no need to convert a mono track in PT into a stereo track. Mono and stereo tracks should work together in a single PT composition. Just make sure to pan the mono tracks the correct way.

- Depending on your audio hardware you use with PT, you can record all 8 outputs together in one go (if you have that many inputs in PT), or in pairs of two (if you have only 2 inputs, like many of us).

"4 stereo tracks at a time and double my workload?"

That's your only option for 4 stereo (to use 8 channels in your Digi). No work around for that one.

mfbeta wrote:i wanna record tracks onto pro tools and was wondering is there a major difference b/w the two quality wise...now dont start w the sacrcastic "mono means one and stereo means two" replies I KNOW THAT!i just wanna know what do most of yall record in for final mixing?it seems like stereo only sounds a bit louder and takes up more memory in my laptop...lets get this debate going...

Two points are you going to mix in pro tools or outside pro tools?

EQ, Effects, Level, Pan, and Duration of the part.

If you mix in pro tools it is to your advantage to have each part of separate tracks from separate inputs to eq, level, effect ans so on then bounce it down to stereo tracks.


If you have an external mixer between pro tools and your mpc then run the stereo master of your mixer into pro tools and use it as the mastering program. Use a stereo input on a stereo track. You may know this already but I would recommend The Desktop Studio by Emile D. Menasche

And yeah I mix in Pro Tools (got to get a midi controller eventually) and master in Peak 4.

mfbeta dude you gotta take that image of the banana eating **** out.. I'm having serius problem reading the thread.. but I'll throw down some basic rules of thumb when talking about sterio & mono,

first off if you have multiple ins in your daw get an out exspasion for the mp its extreamly flexible and will save you loads of time..

now for some mixing tims
usually your drums are always in mono (a mix of drums (a beat, a sub mix of multiple drums, or a sample loop would be in sterio under nomal condissions, but induviduasl hits mono,

bass mono (its usually in the miuddle anyway, but some styles might sound right with a big sterio bass, but if we are talking low end: mono middle,

vocals come in mono (unless you know a two headed singer) of corse you might be dealing with a sterio sample of multiple vocals, but the things is with vocal is that they usually sounds better in sterio so valid way would be two mono samples panned L R and your vocal is in sterio..

but there are no real rules, anything goes its is up you&your mix