How to make a recording from mono to stereo?

[Superdave]

Hey,
I've got a Tascam Portastudio MF PO1 4 track, which we just recorded most of our new stuff on. Instead of doing it track by track, we set up around a mic and recorded on one track.

Now, the tape seems to be recorded in mono for some reason, maybe the result of recording on one track? Anyways, I can't get it to go to stereo when I'm mixing it down to Cool Edit Pro II.

Can anyone help me out?

 

[Pako]

Greets... You have to take that one track and mix it to a stereo bus. It will be hard to get any sence of debth, or stereo imaging with only one track, but if your luck, perhaps you can add a 20ms delay panned far right, with the original track panned far left. That will help.

In the future, if you want to record live and in stereo, use a minimum of TWO mics, and TWO channels, positioned in the room to best capture a stereo image.

Good luck.

 

[Johnalex]

panning, which can be done with amplitude or time of arrival (delay). I am pretty sure your recorder has a pan pot, which is probably amplitude panning, so use that to work your tracks up to stereo.

Also like previusly said, try recordign soem things in stereo, acoustic guitar, drums, piano..ect.., and that will make a stereo image for you. ..just pann each mic to its direction respectively.

 

[Superdave]

Pako, any idea on how I could do that? How can I mix it to a stereo bus?

John, how can I 'pan' it? There's a pann right/left knob, a level roller (for each track), input level and a master control.

 

[Treena Foster]

Originally posted by davealktrio
Hey,
I've got a Tascam Portastudio MF PO1 4 track, which we just recorded most of our new stuff on. Instead of doing it track by track, we set up around a mic and recorded on one track.

Now, the tape seems to be recorded in mono for some reason, maybe the result of recording on one track? Anyways, I can't get it to go to stereo when I'm mixing it down to Cool Edit Pro II.

Can anyone help me out?

Read this HERE

Invalid Link Removed
Treena

 

[Superdave]

Thanks.

 

[nil]

Pull the mono track into your PC, then apply some (my favourite) stereo reverb to the track. Brings out alot.

There are also plenty of plugin FX that can help - Stereo Imagers, Surround processors, etc...

The signal coming from your 4-track's outputs is actually "stereo" (assuming the panpot for your recorded track is centred), but each side carries the same signal at the same level, making it sound mono.

 

[Superdave]

The thing is, when I play the tape, it comes out of one speaker only, for every tape player/computer I use.

 

[nil]

You're playing the tape in another player (not the 4-track)?

4-tracks lay tracks onto tape differently...they don't differentiate between mono/stereo until you do a mixdown to another tape unit or PC (ie get the track levels, EQ and panning all nice, then route the stereo output of the 4-track to another tape deck, etc).

Normally a 4-track will lay track 1 onto (what would normally be) the left channel of side A, track 2 the right of A, 3 the left of B, 4 the right of B (if you get my drift). 8+ track tape units need to squeeze even more tracks in, which is why decent big trackers run onto 1/2" - 2" wide tape.

 

[Superdave]

Alright, I see what you're saying. I usually mix it down to another tape, but I never noticed that it was coming out of one speaker.

 

[Droog]

If you used one mic and its not a stereo mic then you have a mono recording and you always will. If all you want is dual mono, basically the same signal coming out both speakers then just dump it to cool edit and duplicate the track and pan then hard left and right. If you want a stereo recording then use two mics or a stereo mic going to two tracks of whatever format you dig. Stereo micing is a technique that consists of two capsules arranged in a fashion to capture a stero image of the sounds source. One mono mic cannot capture an image of sounds and their sources. Well have fun at any rate.

 

[Superdave]

Well, I mixed it down to another tapedeck, then I recorded it through CEP 2.0.

The first few songs came out in stereo, but some came in with either no sound coming out of the right speaker, or a distorted muffled sound (sometimes a quarter into the song) out of the right speaker.

Now, when I was recording, the 4 track tape had band screw ups on it, so I would stop it, then find the next full song. When I was doing this I accidently hit the record, and play button on the four track, rather then just the play.

This was on the song that the distortion started. When I listened to the song over the 4 track, there were no problems, no blank spots like it should if it was recorded over.

Any ideas?

 

[nil]

What does it sound like on the 4-track thru headphones?

Have you tried recording directly into CE from the stereo or headphone outputs of the 4-track (bypassing the other tape deck)?

I thought that unless tracks were armed for recording, hitting record accidentally wouldn't affect existing tracks? Perhaps it was caused by hitting record, but with *no* tracks armed?

Hard to say what the problem actually is...you might want to start from the beginning - record on the 4-track a simple bassline, then record another track (guitar, etc). Get this mixed on the 4-track so one track is panned hard left, the other hard right. Make sure that thru headphones the 4-track mix sounds correct.
Then, record into CE (make sure you're recording in stereo, if CE has that as a separate option). You should get a stereo recording, sounding just like the 4-track. If not, there could be something up with your soundcard and/or 4-track outputs.