I'm just wondering how you guys go about mixing your vocal track (especially lead vocal).Alright, here it goes....after recording your vocal on mono track, do any of you open a new empty STEREO track and drop it in there for mixing later? I've experimented both and i found out that dropping it into a new empty STEREO track sounds a lot better! So, i don't quite understand why a lot of people i know & all the video tutorial i watched doing it the other way! So,.....i dont know! Am i missing something?

 

That's actually quite strange. Becuase since the vocals are recorded in mono it should sound exactly the same regardless whether you drop onto a mono or stereo track, because the recorded source is mono. If that's not the case then someone please correct me on this but I would think that unless there are plugins on that stereo track doing something, then it should sound exactly the same.

 

I dont know but when dropping it onto a mono track,....when i pan it hard-right or hard-left, it doesnt actually sound all the way hard-right or hard-left (actually more like 3 o'clock right or 9 o'clock left!).And the vocal track just doesnt sound.......'FULL'.....if you know what i mean,....unlike on stereo track.Plus, i cant have my plugin effect on just one side of the channel if i want! Its a bit limited...i dont know.

 

Any ideas guys? Maybe it's a setting in cubase somewhere? Unless you somehow recorded your vocals in stereo and not in mono then that may be an explanation of what's happening.

 

the vocal track was recorded in mono.....as in the pic it shows the vocal file is mono.

 

Could it be the internal routing of the plug has something to do with it?

 

well, i always record the "Voice" in Mono, than i leave the mono track and duplicate it but on a stereo track, then i can mess around with the Effect Plugs etc.. on the Stereo Track, so the Mono track doesn't need to be touched to much.

But everyone has his own recording styles etc..

cheers

 

so, in other words,...you drop your vocal mono file onto a stereo track? So you can, for example pan your effect delay running from left to right like crazy, right?

 

Absolutely right!
Let the mono track running at same time as the Stereo Track.
The Stereo Track volume should leveled a bit down because the Mono Track is already running. - Mono Track = center power
Then you can add Stereo Effects on the Stereo Track. - Stereo Track = pan power

For me this always worked well.

 

no Mono Vocal tracks are the norm i use Cubase 5 and i record vocals on a mono track and said all my Mono vocal tracks to a Stereo Group channel track

 

Shouldn't matter either way (on mono vs on stereo), volume-wise if your DAW has pan-compensation. Now. IF you're applying effects, it will matter, since any effects like reverb (which might inject some width) might sound different (on mono vs on stereo)

 

I always leave my vocals in mono.. I have lots of harmonies and background tracks that need to be spread out, but then I bus them all together into a stereo track.

 

I always keep At least one vocal track on mono to give the vocal a solid foundation. Then go nuts on the stereo with plugins and fx. That is strange though. Sounds like a recording issue to me. Maybe something went wrong in the recording chain or the Mic was setup improperly.

 

it doesn´t sounds better, it sounds louder it´s the way cubase is handling a mono file in a stereo track. (fixed since cubase 5.5, but i guess you are using 5.2? )

The only real difference of a mono file in a stereo track is that you can use stereo plugins.

To the panning issue : Go under Project, Project Settings, Then you will be able to set the pan laws to 0db, -3db, -4db, -6db. Try 0db, i think that is the effect you were expecting.. but better leave the audio in a mono track because this panning rules will effect your whole project.

Trial and false you´ll get the point.. hard for me to do a deeper explanation... my english is not native, sorry dude.. but i am pretty shure you will get the point real quick...

peace

 

I will answer you buy explaining the difference between mono and stereo it goes like this :
mono mean's one/single practically that means that you hear from both of your speakers exactly the same material/sound by any means ,
stereo means that you hear from each speaker different material/sound by all means even the slightly change like boosting 0.D5 DB !@ 1KHZ on the LEFT side it become a stereo .
so in practice :
if you recored your lead vocal with one microphone = mono = 1 physical input in your sound card
in your DAW that means you can affect/effect and treat the source on both sides the same and the material stays the same .
if you take your mono file and drop it to stereo file , it will sound exactly the same , BIUT ! ! ! you will be able to apply stereo plugins that mean's that you can affect/effect each side differently ....
some DAW (like Logic by Apple) offer to drop stereo plugin on a mono channel and they rifer it as MONO----:>to---->Stereo
and it automatically will change the channel to stereo from this insert and on ....
hope it clear a little bit the difference between mono and stereo