Playing straight into a PA: Stereo or Mono?

steer

I play straight into a PA via some pedals including amp sim etc. Nothing too out of the ordinary in my setup. Some of my pedals have stereo out including my delay. The last pedal in my chain is an amp sim, which only has mono output, and the whole pedal board is setup as standard mono. 

The new sound guy had 2 DI's setup for me, and was seemingly disappointed when I only wanted to go mono. My only reasoning is that I have never played with Stereo out from my pedalboard, and I don't even know where to begin, and whether it is worth the bother or not. Unless I am going to be using some weird panning effects (clue: I am not), is it worth going down the route of stereo out?

In my ignorance, am I missing anything amazing by sticking with Mono? 

Danny1969

I would always go  stereo as the sound guy can always pan you to mono anyway. Even if he does you can still be stereo in IEM's if you use them. Some venues don't  really suit anything stereo due to speaker placement and layout but in proper venues like theatres and dedicated live music venues a single guitar with some stereo effects sounds bigger than a mono one. 

TheBigDipper

You might find this article helpful. 

https://origineffects.com/2022/11/10/tech-tips-stereo-direct-rigs-making-complicated-stuff-simpler/

Sporky

steer said:

The last pedal in my chain is an amp sim, which only has mono output, and the whole pedal board is setup as standard mono. 

[snip]

In my ignorance, am I missing anything amazing by sticking with Mono? 

Not with your setup, no. You don't have a stereo signal to give to him.

CaseOfAce

Not wishing to sabotage the thread - but the most punk rock thing I ever saw was a guitar, drums, girl singer trio playing in a Bangkok bar - where the guitarist was plugged straight into the public address system contraption and playing at ear splitting volumes. Just hilarious but you had to admire the intent...

Musicwolf

We have two Helix direct to PA plus vocals and backing tracks.  Loads of inputs on the digital desk so we used to have both guitars as stereo outputs (plus the backing was stereo) and I used to mix the whole lot as 'narrow stereo'.  The trouble was that in so many of the venues that we play (pubs) virtually none of the audience could hear the stereo mix (think L shaped rooms where the speakers were placed orthoganally).  It made no sense to have anything in stereo so I remixed all of the backing as mono and we take a single, mono, feed from each Helix - all straight down the middle.

steer

Thanks for your input(s) people. 

maltingsaudio

Hardly ever mix a guitar or keyboards for that matter in stereo live. The reason is in most venues the separation is lost on most of the audience so it sounds odd. Rack toms are normally panned but more and more bands are only using one so that’s gone out the window too. The man exception to this are Queen tributes playing Brighton Rock and Now I’m here 

ICBM

Mono unless you're playing Wembley or somewhere like that. Maybe even then.

In an average venue most of the audience will be much closer to one speaker or the other so they won't hear the stereo properly if you use fancy effects, and it will make it harder to 'place' the guitar in the mix. If the soundman wants a bit more 'air' in the guitar sound they can always add a small amount of stereo reverb at the desk.

viz

Mono’s fine!!!

JCA2550

Why not try the amp sim before the stereo delay and sending l and r to the PA? 

steer

Thanks all.

I think I will stick with Mono. I could in theory get Stereo working, but to do so would involve re-ordering much of my pedalboard. And I would have no chance to properly test Stereo sound at home where it all goes through one standard amp - the thought of testing a brand new setup from scratch during a brief live soundcheck does not really appeal to me. 

From the sounds of what people have said there are no real life changing benefits of going stereo and indeed some potential pitfalls. 

Danny1969

As I mentioned earlier any stereo source can be collapsed to mono with the pan pots ... so there's never a downside to stereo. From an FOH view it's like a mic on the hi hat ... you don't need to use it but it some cases it's nice to have it. 

There are some tricks you can do that are quite useful .... if you have a dry ish side and a wet ish side then FOH can balance the level of effect coming from you to suit the room. This isn't easy to do from the stage ... often what you think is enough is way too much. Sometimes, with some people, it goes the other way. 

For a nice IEM mix then always guitar effects in stereo, keyboards panned in stereo and toms panned across the stereo field. IEM's sound terrible in mono which is what puts a lot of people off them. We aren't used to hearing mono really. An IEM mix should be panned like a studio foldback mix so the brain can separate things. 

maltingsaudio

Danny1969 said:

As I mentioned earlier any stereo source can be collapsed to mono with the pan pots ... so there's never a downside to stereo. From an FOH view it's like a mic on the hi hat ... you don't need to use it but it some cases it's nice to have it. 

OT but the groove is in the Hihat , for choice would always mic the hat, the snare will always be there bleeding into bass drum and hat mic

mike257

maltingsaudio said:

Danny1969 said:

As I mentioned earlier any stereo source can be collapsed to mono with the pan pots ... so there's never a downside to stereo. From an FOH view it's like a mic on the hi hat ... you don't need to use it but it some cases it's nice to have it. 

OT but the groove is in the Hihat , for choice would always mic the hat, the snare will always be there bleeding into bass drum and hat mic

Yep, I hear loads of engineers talking down about the hi-hat mic but it's where all the magic is. I couldn't live without it!

fretmeister

With the current trend for bullshit boomy low end, the high hat is what the bassist is listening to.

Mic that bastard up.

ScreamingDave

KISS.  Stay mono, in my book

PolarityMan

maltingsaudio said:

Danny1969 said:

As I mentioned earlier any stereo source can be collapsed to mono with the pan pots ... so there's never a downside to stereo. From an FOH view it's like a mic on the hi hat ... you don't need to use it but it some cases it's nice to have it. 

OT but the groove is in the Hihat , for choice would always mic the hat, the snare will always be there bleeding into bass drum and hat mic

But the same is true of the hihat in all the other mics too. Its a fucking loud little bugger. 

koneguitarist

Always mono for me.