Getting Mono in Reaper, from Stereo recording

[crcrossen]

I am using Reaper. I recorded my friend Sarbaga Falk reading Wind in the Willows in 2011, for her friends and family. Sarbaga has since passed away. Now I want to put her delightful reading up on Librivox.

I recorded her in Stereo, and now I need to make it Mono. I would prefer to do this using Reaper, if possible, as I am familiar with it.

I tried using Reaper's Stereo to Mono Downmix feature. It changed the look of my track from showing two waves to showing just one--so I thought I was good. When I rendered this file, I chose "Mono" for Channels. You might already know -- these steps did not result in a Mono file; it's still rendered as a stereo .WAV file.

I googled this, and couldn't tell if any of the advice given there would be how I should do this, for the best sound in Mono, for Librivox.

I am moderately technical, but non-technical sound language, step by step, would be much appreciated. If there is a reasonably clear video or link out there that you think would help me achieve my goal, please send me the link. I'm happy to try it.

I have been so appreciative of Tricia and Librivox for all the great help I've gotten so far. Thanks in advance for any help on this one last issue I need to solve.

[crcrossen]

One more thing: I have gotten the volume of my recording adjusted perfectly. I am using a High Pass filter to improve sound quality. If you know, can you tell me -- when I change from stereo to mono, will the volume and quality still be the same? If I will need to re-adjust these factors, and you have advice on the best way to do this, please let me know. Thanks!

[InTheDesert]

I am using Reaper. I recorded my friend Sarbaga Falk reading Wind in the Willows in 2011, for her friends and family. Sarbaga has since passed away. Now I want to put her delightful reading up on Librivox.

I recorded her in Stereo, and now I need to make it Mono. I would prefer to do this using Reaper, if possible, as I am familiar with it.

I tried using Reaper's Stereo to Mono Downmix feature. It changed the look of my track from showing two waves to showing just one--so I thought I was good. When I rendered this file, I chose "Mono" for Channels. You might already know -- these steps did not result in a Mono file; it's still rendered as a stereo .WAV file.

I googled this, and couldn't tell if any of the advice given there would be how I should do this, for the best sound in Mono, for Librivox.

I am moderately technical, but non-technical sound language, step by step, would be much appreciated. If there is a reasonably clear video or link out there that you think would help me achieve my goal, please send me the link. I'm happy to try it.

I have been so appreciative of Tricia and Librivox for all the great help I've gotten so far. Thanks in advance for any help on this one last issue I need to solve.

Here are the settings that matter for LV in the Reaper render window. When I rendered it, it definitely output a mono file.

[sjmarky]

One more thing: I have gotten the volume of my recording adjusted perfectly. I am using a High Pass filter to improve sound quality. If you know, can you tell me -- when I change from stereo to mono, will the volume and quality still be the same? If I will need to re-adjust these factors, and you have advice on the best way to do this, please let me know. Thanks!

I also use Reaper. Exporting in mono won't affect sound quality. Unless you are using a stereo mic or recording in two channels, your recording is already in mono. You record in one channel I assume?

[crcrossen]

Thank you, InTheDesert and sjmarky, for your helpful replies. What I ended up doing was getting Audacity and using that for the last step of converting my .WAV file to a mono .MP3. Audacity was super simple to use, compared to feature-loaded Reaper.

InTheDesert, I will try this in Reaper -- big gratitude for the clear, illustrated explanation that I can understand. It will be nice to do everything in Reaper, rather than having to go to Audacity. I really do like Reaper, but don't understand everything it offers, and the explanations in their Help forum often go over my head.

sjmarky, I did use a stereo mic when recording, so I do have two tracks to shift into Mono.

Thank you both for responding to my thread. Hopefully your answers can help others too!

Cynthia

[lurcherlover]

When you render the file in Reaper you get various options, including "stereo" or "mono." This comes up automatically when you go to >File>render.

[sjmarky]

And a helpful tip: At the top right of the render window you can save your settings as presets.