Importing mono files to Pro Tools 8, cant do it without converting to stereo?

[ammaringnyc]

I had someone record drums and I believe they used garage band. They sent them to me as aiff and wavs. Kick, Snare, bass drum, etc. When I go to file import audio they are forced to convert them to stereo, but I want to keep them mono so I can pan the bass drum to one side and the snare to another, etc. What shoud I do?

[Darryl Ramm]

You are probably not being forced to convert anything to stereo, they are likely already stereo. If you check the file info, what does it show? If they are panned well L or R in their individual tracks you could just use that side of the audio without any worries about stereo mixdown or phasing effects. Stick the file on a stereo track, you can still pan the L and R channels independent of each other wherever you want, just see how it sounds.

Or even simpler get the person to provide you with mono files... but I'm not sure you can even create a mono file in Garage Band. But at least get them to try panning place their recording on one channel of their stereo tracks if they are not already.

[albee1952]

I have had the same issue with GarageBand files(so far, nobody I know has found a way to export a mono file from GB). My solution is to split them to mono, select the original stereo file and 1 of the 2 mono files and delete them. After this, just reset the PAN as you wish and move on with the project