fake stereo?

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
1

I have a mono source, an old 78 rpm record player. I want to record, using Audacity, “fake” stereo. I want the result to play sound through both left and right speakers. I realize this isn’t real stereo, but it is adequate for me.

There is apparently a way to take a pre recorded mono recording, and then go back and somehow make it appear on both tracks, but I don’t understand the process.

Question - is there a way to make a single channel input record itself on both channels? I am using 2.1.2, and Windows 7. I hope to set up Audacity so that a single mono signal appears on both channels, without re working the recording later on to get fake stereo.

Thanks in advance for your answers

2

If your one-track recording is only playing through one speaker …

#1. Check you haven’t accidentally slid the L-R [pan] slider to one side.

#2. Check that “Mono” has been selected on the drop down menu ( rather than Right or Left )

http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/audio_track_dropdown_menu.html

#3. Try a different pair of headphones which you know are working OK.

There is a pseudo-stereo effect which gives mono recordings a 3D feel.
To apply the pseudo-stereo effect you need to duplicate the mono track, to create dual-mono pair, then apply the pseudo-stereo effect.

3

In the drop down that shows the items you specify,Mono, also left and right are “gray”, and won’t respond to mouse.

4

There is apparently a way to take a pre recorded mono recording, and then go back and somehow make it appear on both tracks, but I don’t understand the process.

There’s no need to do that… Virtually every stereo format is mono compatible and will play a true mono file through both speakers equally…

If you have a stereo file with one silent channel, the easiest thing to do is click Tracks from the main Window and select Stereo Track to Mono. Since this “averages” the left & right channels together, use the Amplify effect to bring-up the volume of the new mono track.

Or, if you select mono in the [u]Device Toolbar[/u] you should get a true mono recording.

5

Those options are greyed-out if you have two tracks [stereo].
If you chose “split stereo to mono” from the menu, then discard the the track you don’t want …
demo of ''split stereo to mono''.gif

6

I still don’t get it - as near as I can tell, you are describing how to record ONE channel . But I want to record BOTH channels, even tho one is a clone of the other (or, as I called it, fake stereo.)

I want to wind up with a recording that fills both right and left channels with the same recording.

BTW, thanks for your patience

7

What do you have? One channel or two channels with one channel blank?

But I want to record BOTH channels, even tho one is a clone of the other (or, as I called it, fake stereo.)

I want to wind up with a recording that fills both right and left channels with the same recording.

Why??? You said you wanted the sound to play from both speakers and a mono track will do exactly that.

Once you’ve split to mono and you have two mono tracks, you can edit the tracks separately so you can select all of the audio from the “good” track and copy-and-paste to the other track.

Click the little drop-down arrows again to assign one track to to the left and the other to the right, and than again to “Make Stereo Track”

8

That’s usually called “double mono”.

“Fake stereo” is a mono recording with some fake stereo effect added.

Especially with 78 rpm records, I would avoid that. 78 rpm’s already have character and most fake stereo effects rely on a hifi recording that just isn’t there with 78 rpm’s. But that’s just me. You might like it… :unamused: