I guess when I set up my tracks prior to recording I set them up as stereo even though I assigned mono inputs. Now I’m ready to start mixing and I can get any panning to work.
In past projects I would build a stereo group channel and then run my mono tracks into it to get proper stereo imaging but now my tracks are all stereo and I can’t get any panning to work. It’s weird how there’s a bit of signal present on the R and a lot on the L. Where did that R signal come from and why isn’t it the same as the L? What happened and how do I get out of this mess?
in Cubase you can record a mono source onto a stereo audio track. The waveform will be shown as a single (i.e. mono) waveform. If the destination of that track is routed to a stereo channel, the signal will be dsitributed, by default, evenly to both left and right.
If you use the ‘normal’ Stereo Balance Panner and set it either to L or R you should hear the signal only on your left resp. right speaker.
I admit I don’t understand the rest of your description: in what way can’t you pan?
Here’s my issue. I have two drum overhead tracks. When I pan the track labeled OH L to the left and the OH R to the R they’re both still coming out in the master as mono. I don’t hear any separation.
I assumed this has something to do with the twin circle stereo indicators above the track name that’s visible in the mixer.
In past projects those track indicators showed a single circle meaning the track is mono and I’d run them into a stereo group channel to get stereo effects to work properly. With this project all the tracks were set up as stereo despite being recorded as mono.
If I set up a group track for these drum
Overhead tracks and pan one left and one right they still sound mono. If I pan the group track right and left I don’t hear any difference.
Is the group track stereo? It does sound like a routing issue.
There are benefits of having mono recordings on stereo tracks. Using stereo insert plugins e.g. without having to first route the mono track to a stereo group track.
I don’t use mono tracks for any of my mono recordings anymore. The only benefit as I understand it is that you may save some processing power if you use dedicated mono plugins as inserts.
Yes the group track is indeed stereo. When I have the group track panned to the right and I pan both the feeding channels to the right the sounds is much quieter and sounds out of phase. If I then pan both feeding tracks to the left it’s silent as I’d expect since the group is still only processing right signals. Then when I pan the group track to the left I get what sounds like the full signals from both the feeding channels. It’s weird and I’m not getting what the heck is going on here.
Interesting that you always use stereo tracks in Cubase even for mono signals…. Maybe I have something else going on here.
