Think of a piano in a rock band situation where you are trying to duplicate a live sound feel. Examples: individual vocals, individual drums, solo orchestral instruments, etc.Īnother 'rule' that I use is to think about how an instrument would arrive at someone's ears in the situation for what is being reproduced. If the source isn't really larger than your head, then you can save yourself quite a bit of grief by recording mono as a standard practice. Example, vocal groups/choirs, solo piano, overhead mics for a drum kit, orchestras, etc.
If the sound source has the ability to generate audio that is wider than the space between your ears, it's worth the effort to try to record in stereo, but the mic'ing technique will matter for phase issues.
This is my rule of thumb, not something I read as a general practice. Here's a little rule of thumb that seems to work well for any 'record in mono or stereo'? I probably shouldn't call it a rule of thumb because that implies that it's generally accepted.
