Logic Pro 8 Mono export of vocals

M

Midget Ferrara

Logician
Hi, I just finished taping the lyrics for my new album. I recorded them on monotracks, but there's no choice for bouncing mono, just stereo split or interleaved. When the mixer tries to make the mastermix, all vocals appear to be slightly panned. Can anyone tell me how te bounce the right way?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
To bounce mono, you make the output to mono by clicking on the stereo/mono icon at the bottom of the output channel strip under the fader. This will only go to mono if you don't have any stereo plugins on the output.

However, if bouncing to stereo mix, you vocals should not be slightly panned unless you slightly panned them.

I'm not quite sure what would cause that, unless it's a slightly off centre stereo reverb or some other plugin on the output buss.
 
Upvote 0
I see this type of question a lot and, conceptually, the thing to understand is that you are bouncing an _OUTPUT_, not a track. Even though tracks are what we are working with and are the content that are involved in the bounce, technically speaking, it is the output we are bouncing.

So, if you bounce a stereo output, you are going to get a stereo file. If you bounce a mono output you get a mono file. Logic, by default, sets things up with everything routed to a stereo output, so it is sort of presented to us in this way right from the beginning.

As Pete says, you need to create a mono output first. And yeah, panning (or panning related effects processing) would be the only explanation I can think of too that would explain why it is coming more out of one side than the other.
 
Upvote 0
Pete, I tried that, but the only happening is that the fader (I think it's the fader, I mean the light which indicates the volume of the track) doubles, so it must be mono already. And I have no effects on the track (or output), so that cannot be the cause of the unwanted panning.
 
Upvote 0
It might be something further down your signal chain then. But it's all academic if you bounce down from a mono output. You will get a mono file. Period. No panning issues.
 
Upvote 0
Midget Ferrara said:
Pete, I tried that, but the only happening is that the fader (I think it's the fader, I mean the light which indicates the volume of the track) doubles, so it must be mono already. And I have no effects on the track (or output), so that cannot be the cause of the unwanted panning.
Click to expand...

Sounds like indeed you were switching from mono to stereo.

The stereo CS has a figure of 8 on its side icon, mono just a circle, and of course only one channel of meter.

Perhaps your speakers are not in balance, or something in your room behind the speakers is causing this.

I had an issue once, I set a mixing desk in front of a wall with a fireplace. On each side of the fireplace chimney was an alcove, but one was bigger than the other.

The speaker in front of one alcove would be louder (and more bass) than the other one, so really upsetting the stereo image or making mono sound lopsided.

Eli is correct, if you bounce a mono file, it will be mono and sound central unless after the output from your D/A conversion is causing it. Or perhaps your interface has a mixer and some pan control is slightly off centre??
 
Upvote 0
Thanks for the trouble guys, but I still haven't found the answer, the panning is also there when I listen on headphones. I think I'll have to accept it and hope that the listener has an alcove like Pete that corrects it.
 
Upvote 0
Things to check:

Is there any panning on your vocal tracks?

Are your vocal tracks sent to a bus before they reach the master output?

Is there any effects processing on the vocal tracks that could be affecting the panning?

Have you tried bypassing all plug-ins in your signal chain?
 
Upvote 0
Eli, I never pan my vocals, I don't mix them myself, they're not sent to a bus, I don't put effects on them, so there are no plug ins. I just record them and send them to the mixguy as a PCM.
 
Upvote 0
Midget Ferrara said:
Thanks for the trouble guys, but I still haven't found the answer, the panning is also there when I listen on headphones. I think I'll have to accept it and hope that the listener has an alcove like Pete that corrects it.
Click to expand...
Import the bounced file to a new stereo audio track and check the levels with a stereo levelmeter. If both channels of this track are equal, the issue lies outside of Logic.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top