I record vocals (vox) and guitar live and get a vocal with the right channel empty, so I convert it to a mono. The guitar is a separate real stereo track. Would it be any different duplicating the mono (vox) then making one left and the other right, and then panning them as separate left and right, say 50% each?
One track: the gtr. stereo, the others: a vox left 50% and an (exact same vox) right 50%. Would doing this (to the vox) be essentially the same as taking just a mono vox and reducing its volume?
My problem is when mixing - the vox and the gtr. usually compete for the same frequencies in the 200 hertz area, will panning help this? I can’t see how … and panning to me seems the same as volume unless you are actually panning one thing one way and something else the other (not duplicates but actual different things), right? … I’m pretty sure I want my vox centered/balanced, as well as my guitar, so, yeah panning is probably a waste of time in this scenario.
Well, if I didn’t answer my own query here please give it a try. Thanks,
I’m not sure if the percentages work-out the same but you should be adjusting the “balance” between the vocals and guitar by-ear anyway.
No, not unless you want the guitar on one side and vocals on the other!
Mixing is done by summation so you have to either reduce the levels before mixing, or you can go to Tracks ->Mix → Mix and Render and then run the Amplify or Normalize effect to bring-down the volume before exporting the stereo mix, or you can export to floating-point WAV (which essentially has no limits). Then re-import that stereo mix, run Amplify or Normalize, and export again to your desired format.
…Multitrack DAW applications are more like analog mixers with faders & meters for each track, plus faders and meters for the output/mix. But still, it’s common to make final adjustments as part of “mastering” after the mix is done.