Fw 410, Luna Microphones And Mono, Noob Problem Options

[uvbnskoold]

Hey there, I'm hoping you guys/gals can help me out.

I have a firewire 410 and 2 m-audio luna microphones, hooked up to my powermac g5. If I'm using one mike, and when I listen via headphones/speakers I hear stereo sound. When I record and playback, it goes single channel (and I notice when I look at the signal monitor in say, Garageband, it also confirms single channel, depending on which mike input I have going at the time). My dillemma is that I want to be able to control this... but mostly I only want to have to use one mike to get stero sound. 'Can' I set it up so that one microphone will record in stereo, or am I doomed to 'have' to use two mikes to get a recording stereo sound? I'm pretty sure I should't have to use 2, but as I noted in my title... I'm a noob and I need some help.

Thanks!

Uvee

[kaboombahchuck]

Yes, you will need to use 2 mics to get a true stereo sound (ie left and right). Mics only record from a single area, therefor are not stereo... They do make stereo mics, but I don't think that's what you are actually looking for. A mic will always be recorded as a mono track, unless you are using some sort of stereo effects prossesor, and then it is the prossesor doing all the stereo work.

[straydog]

It is not clear to me why you would want to record stereo with one mic anyway (same input-> same sound on both channels), but if this is what you're looking for you can always copy+paste your mono track to two mono tracks or one stereo track, and then make the sound split (sound different on each channel) using panning, reverb and equalizing (quite a delicate process). Although even then it is better to actually play and record the same track twice... If you give us more info on what you intend to do perhaps we can be more helpful in our suggestions...

[uvbnskoold]

Actually that pretty much answer's my question... tho I'm still confused as to why I hear it in both the L and R headphones! I'm aware that mikes really only capture one signal (L or R), but this headphones thing is driving me nuts. how come I hear it in stereo if it isn't truly in stereo?

[kaboombahchuck]

It is recorded, or heard as a mono track... same sound comming through both speekers or sides of the headphone. Mono tracks can be panned left or right, depending on your needs. Also you can duplicate the mono track to have 2 mono tracks that could be spread out left and right... This will spread the sound in the stereo field.

[uvbnskoold]

Cool, alright then. Thanks for the info!