Cubase le 4 Mono to stereo recording

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Member Since: Feb 09, 2010

Hey guys,

I picked up the h4n Zoom recorder which comes with a copy of cubase le 4. Very handy little device, it's done everything we've asked of it in the band. Ive been tracking guitars seperately and putting them on cubase via an sd card and everything comes out perfectly in mono but for some resaon we can't rerecord in to stereo when we were able to before. Has anyone else had this problem? I d like to assume i accidentally clicked something that i shouldn't have but nothing seems to work and ive combed the manuals and seemingly tried everything i can. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Rick

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Member
Since: Sep 30, 2009


Feb 09, 2010 11:47 am

Click an audio track. Look at the menu on the left. something should say "Stereo in" and "Stereo out" right below that. If it says mono, there's your problem.

Next go to the menu bar on top. Click "Devices" then "VST Connections" after that. On the input tab, It should say stereo in beneath the bus tab. Then look at the device port tab, beneath that should say "send 1" and "send 2". Make sure both are there.

Now try "devices" menu again, this time go to "DEVICE SETUP." Click on the option below the VST Audio system (its name will reflect which sound card you're using). Make sure send 1 and send 2 are both active.

Thats the most basic troubleshooting i can give you. there are some other things that may be wrong with it as well.

I am not a crook's head
Member
Since: Mar 14, 2003


Feb 09, 2010 04:45 pm

If you're recording individual guitar tracks, then you want to record them in mono. Recording your whole band, that's a good application for recording in stereo. But a guitar is a mono sound source, so you want to record it in mono.

Or is it that once you started recording in mono, you can't get it back to stereo mode to record band practice?

If you're importing tracks into Cubase, it will automatically set the track according to how it was recorded. So the problem may be with your Zoom unit. Make sure that it is recording in stereo. When you import the file into Cubase, Cubase will automatically create a stereo audio track for your stereo .wav file. If you recorded in mono, then Cubase will automatically create a mono audio track for your mono .wav file.

So check your Zoom recorder and make sure that the mono/stereo option is set according to how you want to be recording.

Member
Since: Sep 30, 2009


Feb 09, 2010 05:27 pm

Oh you do? hmmph. News to me lol. I always have been recording everything in stereo. Can you tell me anything specific as to why you want guitars mono, and does the same go for basses, vocals, and acoustics (DI & mic'd, i blend each)? I understand that everything i record is from a mono source, one at a time (except acoustic guitar). But what would be the difference in the outcome of the project if i'm recording a mono wav, and panning that, compared to a stereo wav and panning it?

Sorry for the hijack, dreadlock. I figured it'll help each of us out so why not post in here.

Member
Since: Feb 09, 2010


Feb 09, 2010 06:08 pm

Thanks for the tip Fragile I'll try it out tonight and see if it works. We record guitar tracks in MTR mode on the H4N recorder because you can multi track with 4 seperate tracks. You know play a nice guitar diddy and then go to track 2 to do some overlaping and so on. MTR mode recording begins as a mono track and then we use cubase to bounce multiple tracks to stereo so we can pan it and make it sound nice. Also we can add a click track for me to be able to do my drums in the stereo part of my H4N. Just need to get it recording to stereo format again, so thanks again and I hope it works.

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Feb 09, 2010 09:02 pm

record everything and bounce everything to mono tracks.

I am not a crook's head
Member
Since: Mar 14, 2003


Feb 10, 2010 09:17 am

Yeah, anything that's not a stereo source (like a stereo microphone, some keyboards, even some effects returns that use stereo effects) should be recorded in mono.

Think of the stereo field of your recording. Your final recording will be a stereo .wav file. All of the sounds in that stereo field are mono signals that are panned somewhere left or right to varying degrees. That just decides how much this mono signal shows up in the left side versus how much it shows up in the right side.

When you record everything in stereo, you're going to run your computer out of system resources more quickly. If you keep your stereo track panned in the center, then record it, you end up with two identical mono .wav files: L and R. So every time you record one stereo track, you're actually recording 2 mono tracks that will be paired together.

Almost always, you want to record in mono. A single microphone only captures a single signal, so there's no sense in recording it as two signals.

Hopefully that makes sense, it's early and I can't sleep so I geek out on HRC instead :)

Member
Since: Sep 30, 2009


Feb 10, 2010 10:38 am

Ah, so stereo isn't any worse then. Its just not better so there's no sense in doing it. Makes sense! Thanks tad! And if i pan a stereo signal 50R, its going to sound the same as a mono signal 50R, correct?

Final question for me, passing guitar into Pod Farm with some spacial effects, like a different delay value in each ear or something, it still won't matter that the files are mono? But then when i bounce something like that (or my drum program), then i'd want to bounce it in stereo? Am i understanding everything right?

I am not a crook's head
Member
Since: Mar 14, 2003


Feb 10, 2010 01:53 pm

As far as I know, you've got it right with mono vs. stereo panning. Behind the scenes, it's probably different. But to you and me sitting at the keyboard, it's the same basic idea to pan a stereo track as to pan a mono track. I'm open to correction if I'm wrong since I don't really work with panning stereo tracks. The only stereo tracks I work with are mixdowns during my poor-man's mastering sessions. I've done a couple of projects with a drum submix that was mixed to a stereo wav file, but all of the panning was already done prior to mixing down that sub-mix. So I left it dead center as a stereo file once it was in my main project.

Now the POD might be different. I dont have much experience with modelling so I don't know what all your options are as far as tracks coming out of your POD. For the most part, I'd still stick to recording mono tracks.

Now one thing I have done is applied a ping-pong delay to a mono guitar track. The effects itself was stereo and needed no special treatment to bounce between the L and R sides of my mix, even on a mono track. But I can't guarantee that all software will handle this type of thing so gracefully. To at least make a slight attempt to stay relevant to the thread topic, this was in Cubase SE1.

The drums, yes, if you're going to mix them down into their own sub-mix, do it in stereo. That's because the drum set exists in a stereo field, where the individual pieces of the kit each have their own position in the stereo field. In order to preserve that, you need to mix it down in stereo. Mixing down a drum submix in mono will make everything panned dead center. That's probably not what you want with something like a drum mix.

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