Stereo vs 2x mono track

[aquataur]

I have been recording a hand drum with two different mics for tonal comparison.
On a stereo recording the two channels seem to interact upon playback even if panned hard left or right.

This is not the case if I record two mono channels.

I would not have expected this. Is there anything I misunderstand about Stereo recordings?

-helmut

[Mark Bliss]

Hmm, not sure what you mean by "interact" Helmut.

Did you record the stereo track attempt with each mic on their own channel, one armed left and the other right?

It might be better for A/B mic comparison to record it as two mono tracks maybe?

[aj113]

And I'm not sure what you mean by 'stereo recording'. What's that all about?

[AHornsby]

I'm thinking that the overwhelming stereo signals are generating some unsavoury harmonics and is also probable with 4 mono channels as well. -h

[Acoustica Eric]

Everything in an audio project is generally recorded in mono, not stereo. You pan mono tracks to create a stereo output/final mix.
What you are probably hearing is phase issues because of mics facing each other and recording simultaneously.

[aj113]

...What you are probably hearing is phase issues because of mics facing each other and recording simultaneously.

Phasing - or more accurately phase cancellation - is nothing to do with mics facing each other, and everything to do with being positioned at different distances from the source.

[aquataur]

I used a contact mic and a conventional mic on inputs 1&2 on my preamp for comparison.
In Mixcraft those channels appear as stereo/left/right.
Normally I would, as suggested, select the first one left and the second one right, making them appear as mono channels.

A "stereo" recording would show to separate lanes stacked, with a split meter that showssthe volume of the left and right channel respectively. You normally would not do this on single tracking, but my interface offers the option.

For simplicity on my test recording, I chose "stereo" and compared the two channels by panning from left to right fully during playback.

Logic would dictate that this should yield the same result as recording two mono tracks, but funnily both of them seem mixed to an extent, as if panning were not 100% (i.e. 0 % of the other channel) but somewhat less.

Is this the case?

The meter certainly shows "0" for the other channel, but not the audio.

It worked fine with two mono channels, but there remains an uncertainty of what the pan control does.

-helmut

[Acoustica Dan]

Hi there,

You're asking a good question, so it's important to understand the difference between panning and balance. What you're expecting is a balance control, which you might use on a stereo system to hear the right channel and not the left channel. But Mixcraft's pan control will indeed mix both channels together to place the audio in the stereo field. Imagine you had a stereo recording of a piano (bass strings on the left speaker, treble strings on the right speaker), but for your mix you wanted it mostly to be heard on the right speaker. If Mixcraft's pan control worked as a balance control, then panning the piano to the right speaker would remove most of the bass -- this would not be desirable, and wouldn't be what you intended. That's why panning mixes the signals together.

While Mixcraft doesn't have a balance control persay, you can right-click on a stereo sound, select Channels, and choose either the Left or Right channel to hear only that audio. So you can easily turn a stereo recording into a left mono or right mono recording.

Hope that helps,
Dan

[Mark Bliss]

Yes, that is why it would be best to A/B the audio in two channels, using the mute/solo functions instead of panning. (Or using a third party plug in that toggles the signals for quicker reference without the delay caused by using those buttons.)

Another thing to be aware of, (Helmut and others may likely know this, but some other readers getting into mixing may not) is the effect of pan law.
With no level compensation, the apparent loudness of the audio would roll off accordingly as you panned toward either side, (simplified: due to more of the sound that was coming out of two monitors now coming out of one).
The perceived loudness for example, would become 50% fully panned to one side. So there is an algorithm applied in an attempt to compensate for this called pan law.
One example reason you need to be aware of this is that if you had a stereo signal in your mix and the track was set at for example -5.3dB (peak), and then you panned it all the way to one side, it would now be peaking at over 0dB which could have ramifications on your main level and mixdown.

Test it out.......

[aquataur]

Great stuff, thanks folks.

I never thought deeply about this control and I indeed thought it was a balance control.
And Mark, no I was not aware of that. Never thought about that. I was taking this function as a given.

Normally I use two separate tracks by intuition, but for this test it just so evolved.

I am not sure if I understand what happens on a single track though with pan control. Does it revert to balance function?
I guess there is no stereo split function built in - seldomly needed I presume.

I could have used audacity to split it but recording a new track was faster.

-helmut