PLEASE explain the difference between mono and stereo!!

ulrichburke · 06-29-2019, 10:20 AM

Dear Everyone.

I'm a very beginner, wannabe music producer. I also have Aspergers which don't help. Anyway, I'm trying to understand the difference between Mono and Stereo. Here's how Google defines Mono.

"Monophonic audio is audio from one single source"

So if you got a GUITAR and a VOICE they're both mono.

Fair enough. At least till I asked an online mixing engineer who said....

One vocal track sent to both left and right speakers is, simply put, “mono” (technically put: two channel mono).
One guitar with reverb and processing and delays and stuff is “stereo” - as long as the “stuff” on the left channel is different than the “stuff” on the right channel."

"MONO" means "ONE". So surely TWO CHANNEL mono is an oxymoron?

And if you've put reverb and processing and delays (for argument's sake) on the VOICE and reverb and processing and delays on the GUITAR, why is the guitar magically now stereo and the voice still mono?

Another guy said to me if I had 2 instances of the instrument playing the same tune and panned slightly left and right THAT would then be stereo, which makes sense to me because you've got TWO instances of the instrument, one for each speaker. But you've still only got one voice. So the voice by definition, surely, must always be mono? And the guitar's only stereo because you've now gotten two instances of it.

I flat and totally don't get this.

Help???

Yours hopefully

Chris.

06-29-2019, 10:20 AM	#1 (permalink)
ulrichburke Groupie Join Date: May 2014 Location: https://t.me/pump_upp Posts: 8	PLEASE explain the difference between mono and stereo!! Dear Everyone. I'm a very beginner, wannabe music producer. I also have Aspergers which don't help. Anyway, I'm trying to understand the difference between Mono and Stereo. Here's how Google defines Mono. "Monophonic audio is audio from one single source" So if you got a GUITAR and a VOICE they're both mono. Fair enough. At least till I asked an online mixing engineer who said.... One vocal track sent to both left and right speakers is, simply put, “mono” (technically put: two channel mono). One guitar with reverb and processing and delays and stuff is “stereo” - as long as the “stuff” on the left channel is different than the “stuff” on the right channel." "MONO" means "ONE". So surely TWO CHANNEL mono is an oxymoron? And if you've put reverb and processing and delays (for argument's sake) on the VOICE and reverb and processing and delays on the GUITAR, why is the guitar magically now stereo and the voice still mono? Another guy said to me if I had 2 instances of the instrument playing the same tune and panned slightly left and right THAT would then be stereo, which makes sense to me because you've got TWO instances of the instrument, one for each speaker. But you've still only got one voice. So the voice by definition, surely, must always be mono? And the guitar's only stereo because you've now gotten two instances of it. I flat and totally don't get this. Help??? Yours hopefully Chris.