Stereo track vs. Mono track vs. Stereo Interleaved track >>>>>>>>>>>

[peter parker]

can someone please explain to me what, and how these work???!!!

stereo track, mono track, stereo interleaved???

what is each one, what does it do, and how is it used??? Please help me get a grasp on things. [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[peter parker]

I'm working with samples, guitars, vocals.

[Bastiaan]

You think to complicated. [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Mono is mono, and stereo is stereo. Protools calls normal stereo-files stereo-interleaved. So that is what you should choose in your bounce to disk if you want an ordinary stereo-file....

A stereo-track holds 2 mono-tracks. If you use the "import to track" method, protools will first convert your stereo-interleaved file to 2 mono-files.....and put them on the stereo-track

A mono-track can become stereo, if you add a plugin that will output in stereo, like reverbs, delays etc.

[CCash]

Yeah sort of like that. A mono bounce SUMS the tracks - anything panned left or right. This is important!!! Because the bounced file will be hotter than you're hearing or seeing. To test this, set all of your outputs to output 1 only... you'll see how much hotter. Or try bouncing a stereo mix as mono and import it back into your session. Check it out. It's hotter than your stereo master fader showed.

More mono info: A single track set to a mono output will be 2.5 dB hotter than a track set to the 1-2 (stereo) outs. Also, if you pan a mono track to the left or right, it will increase 2.5 dB (whereas most consoles will LOWER the channel's output when it is panned center (mono). If you pan hard left or right it will then come to "full level".

That's mono. Stereo separated with the .L and .R extension will be two separate files. Some programs, like Jam, can deal with these. They look for the .R of the same name when you drag in a .L Use these when you know you're going to use it in Pro Tools again -- like if you're going bounce then master in a new session.

Stereo interleaved "blends" the .L and .R into a single, stereo file. Pro Tools - like Bastiaan said, needs to split these out to .L and .R when it imports stereo interleaved. Stereo interleaved is the standard, generic format for most applications like Toast. A stereo MP3, for example, is a single file... basically a stereo interleaved.

[img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Kickin.da.speaker]

While split stereo files use approximately 200% hard disk i/o performance compared to mono files, interleaved stereo files need only 150%.

[accession]

Originally posted by Kickin.da.speaker:
While split stereo files use approximately 200% hard disk i/o performance compared to mono files, interleaved stereo files need only 150%.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Are sure about that one? [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Say a mono minute's worth of silence takes up around 5MB, while two mono tracks would be 10MB.

But the two tracks combined as an interleaved stereo file would be 7.5MB???

Where does the 2.5MB go?

Phil

[Kickin.da.speaker]

No, the space occupied on the hard drive is the same, still 10Mb. Only instead of having to read two 5Mb at the same time, your DAW now only has to read one 10Mb file. While the data throughput is exactly the same, the stress on the hard disk is lowered (I guess due to the way the data is organized on a HD).

The previous message I posted is an exact quote from Emagic's Logic Audio's manual.

[Freeheel]

CDs use interleaved stereo files too, so if you are burning a file that you have created on protools, you have to make it interleaved before you transfer it into Toast.

[peter parker]

when should i use mono, and when should i use stereo interleaved in the mix?

[peter parker]

what goes to what audio file?