Mono or Stereo?

[Copland]

Hey guys and gals,
I am working on a project for Science where I record me and a friend playing some (science) songs, and I've just got a quick question:

I am planning on recording on my MacBook C2D. Is the input jack on the side mono or stereo?

I ask because basically our set-up is two guitar amps close-miked and one vocal unamped, and this is all being fed into a cheap little mixer. Then, I have the output (a 1/4" mono plug) going into the computer, which necessitates an adapter for this 1/4" mono to the MacBook's input.

Thanks!

 

[sahnert]

I am pretty sure the line-in jack is stereo, but since you are running mono out of the mixer it won't matter.
If you are using garageband, you can do some simple multitracking to achieve stereo separation.
Also, if your mixer has L and R outputs, you can get an adapter that will connect those to the computer's stereo line-in. Then if you pan one guitar hard L and the other hard R (on the mixer) you can tell garageband to record these on two different tracks, which you can mix from there. Does that make sense?

From your original post I'm not really sure what you are trying to achieve, but if you need more info let me know.

 

[zimv20]

seems to me the issue is more about multi-tracking vs. on-the-fly-mixing rather than mono vs. stereo.

 

[Copland]

Sorry, I wasn't too clear about what I wanted

I just want the recording to come through both channels without having to mess with the balance in GarageBand.

I was messing around with recording on a Windblows machine a while back and the sound (when played back) was only coming through the left speaker, which was kind of pissing me off.

I didn't know anything about audio at the time, so I just figured it was the computer, but I have since learned that having a mono jack in a stereo input will do this. That's correct, right?

So if I wanted an adapter to do this, should I get:
1/4" mono>1/8" Stereo

 

[Copland]

seems to me the issue is more about multi-tracking vs. on-the-fly-mixing rather than mono vs. stereo.

I don't really want to do too much multi-tracking, but we will do a bit because there are only two of us.

We play better at the same time, and it seems kind of pointless to be doing it one track at a time when we could be doing two, and possibly 3 if we can sing/play at the same time.

 

[zimv20]

if you record parts to separate tracks, even simultaneously, it still counts as multi-tracking.

i'm not trying to talk you into or out of anything, but it seems to me you're talking about stereo not so much as a spatial effect, but in terms of number of tracks.

if you're going to do a mono mix in the mixer while you record, then don't record to a stereo track in GB, record to a mono track. on playback, it'll play the same signal through both the left and right speakers (assuming you have it panned up the middle).

 

[Copland]

if you're going to do a mono mix in the mixer while you record, then don't record to a stereo track in GB, record to a mono track. on playback, it'll play the same signal through both the left and right speakers (assuming you have it panned up the middle).

Thanks! I'll keep this in mind when we start recording.

So, in theory, it doesn't matter whether the input jack is mono or stereo, correct?

 

[zimv20]

So, in theory, it doesn't matter whether the input jack is mono or stereo, correct?

all that stuff does matter. at least, you've got to keep all that stuff in mind and understand it so that you can create such workarounds.