Stereo or Mono, which works best?

[Paul S]

There's the ongoing debate whether to sample and track out either in mono or stereo. I've read that Danjahandz' engineer Ms. Lago tracks out in stereo only for all of the sounds Danja employs, mainly for more punch. On the other hand, Jermaine Dupri samples only in mono, and always has, keeping it old school hip-hop. Me, I've done both, picking and choosing sounds that are stereo and mono, and using both methods.

For kick drums in mono, I've seen mixes to where they duplicate the exact track and pan hard left and hard right--and then using the Waves plug-in Bass Ultramaximizer on both tracks to give it that low end thump and punch. You can basically say that is stereo. Lately, I experimented using the MPC 2000 by tracking out only in stereo without MIDI, and for time-saving purposes, I prefer it. Without the MIDI you gotta be careful, and you gotta be pimp tight with your mouse. It just takes too long to route out the sounds through the other 8 outputs (if you have them), and some say (Ms. Lago) that routing it through the other outputs loses some of the sounds' quality to a degree. Now that doesn't mean I always use stereo sounds, and if your PC or Mac can't handle all of those stereo tracks then you're out of luck. So I pick and choose that are mono and keep some as stereo.

Sometimes if I use an 808 kit, the majority of the drums I keep in mono, and pan the hi hat, open hat, crash, and other auxiliary sounds as needed. I started keeping the 808 boom in stereo, and then throwing Antares tube on it, to thicken it up, and may use a low pass filter so the top end of the bass won't conflict with the rest of my sounds.

For instruments, you have to pick and choose what are SUPPOSED to be in stereo and separate them from mono sounds. If there are any effects, I try to leave them off and the sound dry and add them later in the mix; but if the effect is how I like it and if I feel like it won't hurt the track, I usually keep it.

For strings,brass, and polysynth sounds, I keep them stereo; other weird, crazy effects sounds I do the same. Organs may be stereo or mono--guitars and bass guitars, leads, and monosynths are usually mono. The key factor in knowing when and when not to is using your ears, and see if you can hear the nuances between the left and right speakers. If you got one speaker, then go buy another one. Of the same kind.

Written By Bao Pham aka Classic of Da Grindaz