Getting stereo sound froma mono input

[skyloop]

So I've ran into this issue as I'm using an audio interface to record and my synth is a mono instrument, everything sounds great but recorded it is all recorded to the left channel, the only way I can see to remedy the situation is to mirror the track to the other side and panning the track in the opposite direction with the recording in Audacity or Reaper only mutes it so I can't mess with the tracks this way. The interface I have is a Behringer U-Phoria UMC404HD, is there any better to do this than mirroring the track to the other side. The sound levels remain the same but I can't help but think there's a better way to go about this that sounds better I don't know about.

[theworldisawarfilm]

If I've understood your post correctly...

In REAPER: Right-click -> Item Properties -> change Channel mode from "normal" to "Mono (Mix L+R)"

Maybe this is helpful too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXbKq2Aob-w


Note: technically 'mirroring' in the way you describe will give you a 'double mono' (identical signal both channels) not a 'true' stereo signal which would have slight differences/variances between L/R. A good move in this case can be to EQ each channel slightly different and/or introduce a very small delay which should give it more stereo 'width' by inducing some differences in phase between the two tracks. Our brain calculates the differences between sounds reaching our ears which are incurred by position of the source and our ears etc. (interaural time difference) and uses this to localize the source in space.
 

[skyloop]

If I've understood your post correctly...

In REAPER: Right-click -> Item Properties -> change Channel mode from "normal" to "Mono (Mix L+R)"

Maybe this is helpful too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXbKq2Aob-w


Note: technically 'mirroring' in the way you describe will give you a 'double mono' (identical signal both channels) not a 'true' stereo signal which would have slight differences/variances between L/R. A good move in this case can be to EQ each channel slightly different and/or introduce a very small delay which should give it more stereo 'width' by inducing some differences in phase between the two tracks. Our brain calculates the differences between sounds reaching our ears which are incurred by position of the source and our ears etc. (interaural time difference) and uses this to localize the source in space.
 

You read me right and thanks that was just what I was looking for and it sounds so much better. You're a hero!

[Euro Trash Bazooka]

I do that with a stereo delay pedal. Mono in, stereo out with a very slight delay and modulation. That pretty much the only reason why there's a pedal in my setup.

[skyloop]

I do that with a stereo delay pedal. Mono in, stereo out with a very slight delay and modulation. That pretty much the only reason why there's a pedal in my setup.

Yeah that's what I heard, some people use those just for stereo, I actually like working with just hardware and having all that control right in front of me. It's just a more free and fun way for me to play and learn what does what as I go. Usually I just like to deconstruct things and try them in different ways just to take notes of then so that if I want a specific sound, I have a way to go back there directly. Though when things really get going sometimes it gets a bit out of control and I have no idea what I just did to make this happen and now it's there until I worm my way out, but that's sometimes part of the fun too.

[skyloop]

Ok now I'm having another problem when I made my first demo with my audio interface, the sound when I put the 1/4" connector from the last pedal into my mic input on my sound system sounds fine but through the audio interface it sounds very flat and changing the EQ around in Reaper didn't do anything, nor did the mono mix setting. When I was monitoring it I had a 1/4" cable going from the headphones jack on my interace to the same slot on my sound system and it was definitely the audio directly coming into the device itself. I tried the various modes on the input as well as adjusting the volume and each but this of course did nothing but make it louder or quieter. The only thing I did not do is enable that +48V mode, should I have done that? Otherwise I'm not sure what could be going on here and there is only one recording option I have when the thing is wired to the back of my PC through USB. The interface is a Behringer U-Phoria UMC404HD. If there is no solution here is there a more accurate way I can record this cause I'm just not happy with it.

[Theodore]

I am not suitable to give recording advices since i dont do it myself but I didnt understand, when you were monitoring [from your interface to your sound system] you liked the sound but you dont like what was recorded finally ? This doesnt make sense. Dont know about interfaces, i just have a Scarlett 2i4 that i only use it for recording if i want to rip something, and i never monitor. Monitoring is done analog>digital>analog or just the analog input is 'splited' ? I bet the way it's done is the 1st mentioned, otherwise interfaces wouldnt mention latency. So if you didnt like monitor and recorded sound, you dont like your interface analog-digital convertion. But again your connections are weird. Why you use headphone output / mic input ? Your interface has RCA outputs and your system RCA inputs, right ? Try this way.

If anything else fails, try pedal in sound system, sound system's output to interface input.

[skyloop]

I am not suitable to give recording advices since i dont do it myself but I didnt understand, when you were monitoring [from your interface to your sound system] you liked the sound but you dont like what was recorded finally ? This doesnt make sense. Dont know about interfaces, i just have a Scarlett 2i4 that i only use it for recording if i want to rip something, and i never monitor. Monitoring is done analog>digital>analog or just the analog input is 'splited' ? I bet the way it's done is the 1st mentioned, otherwise interfaces wouldnt mention latency. So if you didnt like monitor and recorded sound, you dont like your interface analog-digital convertion. But again your connections are weird. Why you use headphone output / mic input ? Your interface has RCA outputs and your system RCA inputs, right ? Try this way.

If anything else fails, try pedal in sound system, sound system's output to interface input.

Yes as weird as it seems, it sounds COMPLETELY different, almost like this signal becomes really squished together and sounds overly digital if that makes sense. There's a lot more static to it and no depth or crunch, the audio clarity is fine so it's almost like an internal processing issue. I don't care how little sense it makes since it just the most convenient option I got since I don't have good headphones and just want to hear what is going into it and it just works since from audacity no matter what I do the internal monitoring doesn't play anything even though it records just fine (checked my sound settings and everything). The sound from those mic inputs on the sound system goes right to the speakers, there is no way through the thing to directly record that. I have just had an idea of getting a mic stand and putting the microphone wired to my interface and recording the sound directtly from the tower and seeing if thatt does me any better though. 

[Theodore]

The headphone output's level isnt for mic inputs. You will have distortion and what you hear it's not what it is recorded / played on your PC. So before you conclude you dont like your soundcard you have to listen it right first. Even then, your interface and your sound system are too different devices, with different characteristics, so dont expect your pedal to sound exactly the same with each of them.

[Cementimental]

When I first started out I used to make some sort of fake stereo from mono recordings by just delaying one side of the stereo by a few milliseconds / samples. Completely 'wrong' i think as it could cancel stuff out if it's made mono during playback, but kind of worked :)

[skyloop]

Ok so an update here and I was doing it all wrong, I gave in bought an Orange 8" amp and that's legit all I needed. Bought a multi-track tascam DP-006 with a SENNHEISER E906 for recording (which will record in stereo in a far more efficient fashion at that). Yeah I'm selling this digital interface, thing is trash for harsh noise, maybe for some podcasting sort of stuff or gaming but that's it.