Adding Outboard Effects - Part 2

[Rick Shepherd]

Now that I have figured out how to add outboard effects, there are other questions I have related to this about how to adjust the tracks for the best results.

Typically, I have always recorded two dual mono guitar tracks, left mic panned left, right mic panned right, depending on what sounds good. But, now that I have a separate corresponding outboard effects track, it brings up more questions.

To begin with, before recording the outboard effect, should the dry tracks for guitar be panned L or R, or just Centered?

Should the wet effects track be recorded as a stereo track, or a mono track.

Should the wet effects track be panned the same as the dry track?

[sdelsolray]

There are several variables available:

1) the panning of the two original tracks before they are sent to the fx unit;

2) the routing chosen in the fx unit (dual mono or stereo, perhaps others); and

3) the final panning of the two resulting fx tracks at mixdown.

The ultimate answer is, "There are no rules. Do whatever sounds best."

[Rick Shepherd]

sdelsolray,

I initially thought to set up the outboard effects as dual mono for starters, since I had two mono guitar tracks, but I was told it would be better to set the effects processor configuration to stereo. I know I can still pan the effects to whatever side sounds best, no matter what the effects processor is set to.

I like playing around with different options, but I don't want to waste time on options that might compromise the end result.

[sdelsolray]

I would suggest that you "waste the time" to experiment. It's the only way to connect the dots among and between the technical aspects, the aural aspects and the aesthetic aspects, i.e., your gear, your ears and what you want.

[Rick Shepherd]

I need to clear up something else:

I know this is a very newbish question, but I am confused. When I connect up my SDC pair to both pre inputs, which is dual mono, then into my computer to record, can both mics be recorded together in one track as stereo?

Again, this may seem like a very rudimentary question, but I am not clear on this.

Also, how do you record a single mic track in stereo, doesn't seem to make sense to me if the mic is connected to a mono pre input?

These may be dumb questions, but I really don't understand this, becasue I can still pan a mono track to center and hear it through both speakers.

[runamuck]

In your DAW, create a stereo track rather than a mono track and assign both
your inputs to it, Left and Right.

As to your second question, you can't record a mono input (s single mic track) in
stereo.

Jim McCarthy

[The Colonel]

Rick,

Unless you have a matched pair in fixed X/Y position, I think recording each mic to a mono track and individually e.q.-ing each track gives you more flexibility in terms of getting a good stereo sound from you guitar.

I would simply take the wet stereo signal from the outboard effect and feed it into the mix panned center, even if the dry tracks are panned harf L/R.

[Rick Shepherd]

I agree, thanks! I just got used to doing things a particular way for so long, that I never really explored or learned about other options until now, which is why my questions may seem very newbish.

[sdelsolray]

Rick,

Think of stereo as a mix of dual channel mono (actually, it can be a mix for 40 tracks of mono). This requires a stereo mix bus. When you chose to pan a track, the stereo mix bus puts a certain percentage of the mono track in the left channel and the remaining percentage (of 100%) in the right channel. You must have a stereo mix bus to create stereo from mono sources.

You play back stereo with a dual mono amp.

Recording to a "stereo" channel is really just recording to a dual mono track with software pan controls available for later use when mixing. Its really no different than two mono tracks.

[Doug Young]

On many DAWs, there're are quite a few advantages to recording to a stereo track. Many plugins expect work on a stereo signal, for example. in some cases, it's fundamental to how the plug in works, in other cases, it's just more convenient. Having to constantly route to busses or have two effects applied to each channel just gets complicated. Some effects, you absolutely want to operate on the stereo track, like a compressor (having separate compressors on each side, can cause the signal to bounce around oddly, unless you side chain them - again, more complexity).

If you're working in stereo, I'd just record to a stereo track so you can work with the track as a single entity. You can always split them into 2 mono tracks if you need to, but I've never needed to do that yet.