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Post by sirthought on Dec 20, 2021 8:08:11 GMT -6
I normally track one keyboard or synth at a time, but I'm now working on an album with a guy who has multiple. I usually track synths stereo. My preamps are getting limited.
Do you guys also track stereo or mono?
I admit that during the mix I'll often make it mono, but just depends on the song and how it's building.
This is more 80s styles than modern EDM genre.
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Post by bossanova on Dec 20, 2021 8:34:06 GMT -6
I only track stereo if there's something like a built-in chorus with a very specific sound, or tracking through a hardware FX chain, or if the patch has panned voices for a natural sounding stereo spread. Otherwise it's mono.
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Post by svart on Dec 20, 2021 8:43:10 GMT -6
Stereo for me simply because most synth stuff I've recorded has been backing instrumentation so the stereo field fills in better. I would think the stereo/mono decision in your case would be made based on the intent of the particular track in the mix.
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Post by yewtreemagic on Dec 20, 2021 10:44:26 GMT -6
Apart from monosynths (tracked in mono because there's only a mono output  ) I always track keyboards in stereo, because so many of them have built-in stereo FX that add useful movement. Having said that, after recording, I invariably reduce their stereo width and then pan of most of them to different positions, to avoid any one of them them dominating the stereo image. |
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Post by schmalzy on Dec 20, 2021 14:58:30 GMT -6
I'll echo some others:
If there's any unpredictability in what I should be expecting: lots of patch/sound changes, moving quickly, not getting a good amount of time with a sound source before I track it - really anything that prevents me from knowing or very specifically knowing what it's going to be - I'll take it in stereo.
If I'm short on inputs I'll have a discussion with the player to figure out if the sound NEEDS to be stereo or if the only stereo information is a modulation/ambience effect. I don't need to record a not-very-good-sounding chorus effect. I have a few that are really cool so I'll use those if I need that sort of thing. I'll often dangle the possibility of the synth player coming back in after tracking and running the synths out to my/their pedalboards to play the effects in real time with their hands if they'd like to make something really special and unique.
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Post by Bat Lanyard on Dec 20, 2021 23:03:42 GMT -6
Depends on the part for which I'm going. Juno-60 is usually mono, Ensoniq Mirage as well. Almost always some pedals involved and usually it's parts that are planned to go to one side or another and compliment each other.
Prophet Rev2 is almost always stereo and usually one side gets panned a bit toward the center to make room.
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Post by drumsound on Dec 21, 2021 0:23:47 GMT -6
I normally track one keyboard or synth at a time, but I'm now working on an album with a guy who has multiple. I usually track synths stereo. My preamps are getting limited. Do you guys also track stereo or mono? I admit that during the mix I'll often make it mono, but just depends on the song and how it's building. This is more 80s styles than modern EDM genre. Do you mean that multiple synths are tracked at the same time? If not, go stereo on stereo things is my advice. |
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Post by sirthought on Dec 21, 2021 1:19:24 GMT -6
No it's multiple synths on each track. He's using a Juno 106, Moog Grandmother, and midi doubling the Juno to an Arturia synth. Another musician will play a Korg Minilogue on two songs, which that is mono.
The reason I'm getting short on inputs is they also have drum machines that are also stereo.
I think I'll be able to sort it out, but there are other typical sources to cover (vocals, bass, etc). I just know sometimes I mix a synth, changing it to mono and panned so it's leaving space for other things. I thought maybe I could get away with tracking it mono, but I honestly don't know the song parts well enough to know if that's a good or bad move. I'm aiming for stereo right now.
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Post by javamad on Dec 22, 2021 7:10:08 GMT -6
Is recording the midi for some of the keyboards an option (while monitoring the audio) and then “reamping” the midi later?
You’d need to be confident with your midi I/O etc.
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Post by sirthought on Dec 22, 2021 23:05:19 GMT -6
Is recording the midi for some of the keyboards an option (while monitoring the audio) and then “reamping” the midi later? You’d need to be confident with your midi I/O etc. In this case I don't think so. He's mainly utilizing the hardware synths. But anyhow I've figured out how I can get everything sorted with the input count I have. I'm just going to be using a bit different setup than I'm used to. It's a good challenge. I appreciate everyone's input and thoughts. |
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Post by robschnapf on Dec 23, 2021 15:49:18 GMT -6
The old rule of thumb is f everything is stereo then nothing is stereo.
You won’t be able to feel it if 14 things are washing across the image.
So stuff should be anchored in a position for the other things to be stereo against.
Think of it as an orchestration.
At least that’s what I do….
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Dec 23, 2021 16:04:53 GMT -6
The old rule of thumb is f everything is stereo then nothing is stereo. You won’t be able to feel it if 14 things are washing across the image. So stuff should be anchored in a position for the other things to be stereo against. Think of it as an orchestration. At least that’s what I do…. Agreed the other thing is a lot of stereo synth programs are not all that stereo. I would start by building a sub mix based on you think must be spread out in stereo, then find a nice reverb for atmosphere and build around it. The other thing with a bunch of stereo synths is if you start building a mix with a bunch is that depending on the programming the image can start pumping wide to mono because of unpredictable comb filtering. |
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) I always track keyboards in stereo, because so many of them have built-in stereo FX that add useful movement.
