Two mono tracks to one stereo

[Jon White]

So frustrating.  How can I combine two mono tracks to one stereo.  Drummer sent me his overhead mics in two mono tracks.  Can't bounce two of them panned opposite to one track.  Argghhhh!

Any help is very appreciated.

Jonas

[Jon White]

Okay, I sent the panned mono tracks to a bus and then bounced that bus to a stereo track.  Great.

In ProTools you can drag two clips/tracks into a new stereo track and they stack up as found.  Was hoping for the kind of graphic editing here.  Any chance?

Thank you!

[reginaldStjohn]

Another way to do this is to route the tracks to an auxiliary track. Then you can record the auxiliary track like you did with the bus or just hide the mono tracks and treat the auxiliary track as your stereo track.  

A couple of thread that explain other ways to do it as well.

http://forum.cakewalk.com/How-to-convert-two-mono-tracks-into-one-stereo-track-m3556324.aspx

 

http://forum.cakewalk.com/How-to-turn-two-mono-tracks-into-one-stereo-track-m3352697.aspx

[Chaps]

1 hour ago, Jon White said:

So frustrating.  How can I combine two mono tracks to one stereo.  Drummer sent me his overhead mics in two mono tracks.  Can't bounce two of them panned opposite to one track.  Argghhhh!

Any help is very appreciated.

Jonas

Pan the tracks left and right, select both tracks, Bounce to a stereo track.

I just bounced a mono bass synth track to a mono track, labeled it L. Bounced the same track to another mono track and labeled it R. Selected both tracks and bounced to a stereo track.

[John Vere]

Personally I like it when the overheads are in a mono track. I have to treat them completely differently and a stereo track would not allow that to happen.

Overheads pick up the kit as it sits and what you'll have is the hi hats on the right and the low toms on the left etc. These may need different EQ and compression settings. I simply hard pan them left and right but everything else is different including the level. 

Stereo tracks are for MP3 players. 

I might have a stereo track for a vintage outboard synth or a guitar processor but mono is the only way to really control a mix. Even when there is a stereo miking involved. 

[RBH]

This is as straight forward as :  Select both tracks - Bounce to tracks and select ( tracks ) as the source. You then can set as mono , stereo or dual mono as the output to a new track.

Edited May 10, 2020 by RBH

[StudioNSFW]

1 hour ago, John Vere said:

Stereo tracks are for MP3 players. 

I might have a stereo track for a vintage outboard synth or a guitar processor but mono is the only way to really control a mix. Even when there is a stereo miking involved. 

AMEN.

Even my "Stereo" mic gets 2 mono tracks...They meet later in the mixdown on a buss. Much more control over spacial characteristics, ability to eq for the cymbals etc. Only things that get a stereo track are instruments that actually emit stereo

Edited May 10, 2020 by StudioNSFW

[LarsF]

I would just keep them mono and pan far left and right.

Then just group faders on them to treat levels the same.

See no need to make a stereo track.

[Jon White]

22 hours ago, Chappel said:

Pan the tracks left and right, select both tracks, Bounce to a stereo track.

I just bounced a mono bass synth track to a mono track, labeled it L. Bounced the same track to another mono track and labeled it R. Selected both tracks and bounced to a stereo track.

I wish THIS worked.  I can in no way get two input tracks to mix to one single track, no matter what I try.

I've panned L-R (two tracks), selected them and tried every combination of settings and it ALWAYs creates as many tracks as I start with.  

[msmcleod]

27 minutes ago, Jon White said:

I wish THIS worked.  I can in no way get two input tracks to mix to one single track, no matter what I try.

I've panned L-R (two tracks), selected them and tried every combination of settings and it ALWAYs creates as many tracks as I start with.  

If you select more than one source, it treated as a batch bounce - so it converts the two mono tracks into two stereo tracks.

There's two ways of doing this:

1. Solo the tracks, and bounce the entire mix:

OR

2. Select the tracks, but then manually combine them afterwards:

[Chaps]

24 minutes ago, Jon White said:

I wish THIS worked.  I can in no way get two input tracks to mix to one single track, no matter what I try.

I've panned L-R (two tracks), selected them and tried every combination of settings and it ALWAYs creates as many tracks as I start with.  

Since we are using the same software and I can do it while you can't, there must be some difference in our methods. I'm not sure what you mean by "it ALWAYs creates as many tracks as I start with". Does that mean it creates two more tracks, or no tracks at all. What might help us understand your problem is if you could post screencaps of every step in your process, especially the menu items you are using to bounce the tracks dialog box. Also it is important that you select Entire Mix as the Source Category. If you use Tracks you will end up with two bounced stereo tracks with audio on one side only.

[msmcleod]

@Chappel - although this works (and to be honest, it's what I quite often do), this may not be what you want if you've got effects or automation on your master bus.

The second method in my post might be more appropriate for simply combining two mono tracks into one stereo one.

[Chaps]

7 minutes ago, msmcleod said:

@Chappel - although this works (and to be honest, it's what I quite often do), this may not be what you want if you've got effects or automation on your master bus.

The second method in my post might be more appropriate for simply combining two mono tracks into one stereo one.

I'm just trying to answer the OP's question in the simplest way possible. The OP can always disable any bus FX, or automation, he doesn't want involved in the bouncing process, either in the Bounce to Track dialog box or manually.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Chappel